14

I always wondered if this ever mattered at all to left-handed people. Like would it matter? Would you feel more confident about driving?

I know they also drive on different sides/lanes in some countries compared to the US where they drive on the right and wheel is on the left seat.

Would it impact you? Would you feel better with wheel on right side, driving right side while being left-handed or does it change when you have to drive on the left side as well?

This is assuming you are primarily left-handed but would also be curious if right-handed folk feel like driving on one side is easier/better than the other. I feel like I'd be very dyslexic if having to switch and drive on the other side I'm not normally driving in.

top 14 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] HumanDent@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 months ago

I am left handed. That would be irrelevant.

[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

It's a wheel so it would feel the same to your hands, but different to your sense of space since now you're in a totally different position than you're familiar with.

The same could be said for right-handed people in the US driving a car in the UK, on the opposite side of the vehicle and the opposite side of the road than what they are used to.

[-] seathru@quokk.au 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

The same could be said for right-handed people in the US driving a car in the UK, on the opposite side of the vehicle and the opposite side of the road than what they are used to.

And then there is the USVI's "left hand side (euro style) driving in right hand drive(US style) cars".

[-] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Does it make any difference to a right handed person?

The challenge is merely from what you're used to, not your handed-ness.

For me, driving on the other side of the road is OK on large roads with limited access. But my ego has no issue handing the keys to my Brit friends once we're across the channel. I can drive to the city, but dammit engrained habits/perspectives are hard to overcome, and driving in a city isn't a place to do it.

I could see it being a little easier from a shifting point of view, except anyone who learned to shift right handed - even a left handed person - would find shifting on the other side challenging at first.

Watch Top Gear when they have Americans on - its always something they laugh about.

[-] sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.today 2 points 2 months ago

I live in the USA and have driven LHD and RHD manual cars. It didn't take more than a few minutes of driving RHD before my brain adapted and it wasn't really that strange or awkward.

[-] Evil_Incarnate@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 months ago

I drove on the left for about fifteen years then changed countries and have about fifteen years experience on the right.

My only problem is confusing my left and right, my brain just swapped everything over.

[-] tiredofsametab@fedia.io 2 points 2 months ago

I am right-handed and grew up driving on the right side of the road (so wheel on left). I now live in a right-drive country. It makes no difference. I haven't driven manual here so it might be weird learning to shift with my left hand (I drove manual in the US for 15+ years), but I could get used to it. If I ever needed to joust or shoot someone from my car, having my dominant hand be closer to the window is generally helpful (and why some say that driving on the left with the driver at the right became a thing).

[-] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 months ago

In my childhood I learned having the driver sit on the left was so that the person riding "shotgun" would be better able to fend off attacks without elbowing the driver. Probably starting before shotguns, because it would be even more important with a sword. Although they could use the whole road/trail back then, it would make sense to pass an oncoming wagon on the side where the drivers could see how much room they had between them.

[-] mech@feddit.org 0 points 2 months ago

Where the wheel is makes no difference. It just has to be opposite to which side of the road you drive on.
What does make a difference are the pedals.
On a manual transmission car, you use your left foot for the clutch, which is the pedal that needs the most fine motor control.
And as a lefty, I also have more control in my left foot. So manual cars are actually set up for lefties.
On an automatic, the left foot does nothing, so they're set up for right handed people.

[-] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I don't see how the pedals are any different than the wheel/shifter. You learn whatever it is. The gas and brake pedals definitely require precise control for a smooth ride. I'm right-footed (kick with my right) and right handed (throw with my right). My left foot handles the clutch just fine and my left hand does nearly all of the steering, regardless of transmission, in a left-wheel right-drive country. Shifting takes some accuracy and finesse, but only a handful of times per drive. Steering requires it all the time. I've also trained my left foot to drive a right-footed auto as well in case of emergency. The angle is wrong, but the competence is learned.

[-] mech@feddit.org 0 points 2 months ago

Sounds interesting. If you trained your left foot to operate the brake, would it not be better to always use it for braking in an automatic?
That way you wouldn't have to move your right foot over for emergency braking and could react faster.

[-] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

The angle is wrong and the brake pedal sits a bit higher up/closer to you than the gas pedal. In practice, my left foot tends to continually tap the brake due to this while also tiring my left hip inductor muscle, though I'm sure this would be fixed with practice. If you see a car randomly tapping their brake lights without ever slowing down or holding them on while accelerating, chances are, their left foot is hovering on the brake a little too close. Holding the gas isn't such a big deal because you're already holding it all the time. Oscillating between 35-40% gas isn't as noticeable as 0-5% brake, especially with flashing the lights.

From a safety standpoint, while youd be able to get a ~250ms advantage by having your left foot ready on the brake, you're not going to leave it there. It's probably going to rest on the foot rest like it always does because the floorboard is arranged like that to hold a neutral leg position. While this kills the speed advantage, it also loses another major advantage: positive placement of your feet. When you use your right foot for the gas, you know exactly where the brake pedal is in relation. When you float your right foot against your seat to flex your knee, you lose that positive location. If you have to panic brake, you now only have a pretty good idea where the brake pedal is. It works out 99.999% of the time. When it doesn't, we get videos of "runaway" cars plowing through buildings. It's usually someone mistakenly mashing the gas pedal because they lost their foot location references. So while you could train your left foot, it has to cover twice the distance - more room for error. It's also pretty cramped in there with current designs, so when I've tried exsctly this, I had a tendency for my right foot on the gas to cause interference with the brake pedal being depressed.

There's definitely times in racing where left foot braking is used at times when you need gas and/or brake in rapid, planned succession/concurrence. Yes, there's times for gas and brake together. Most cars are 2 wheel drive, all cars are 4 wheel brake. This means you can alter the balance of the car by applying both pedals. I've driven 40mph go karts with left foot brakes. Even though I lay competitive lap times, I don't think the left brake is a significant contributor. It's just a compact design choice rather than a performance point. The pedal heights are equal though, unlike normal cars. But that's not to say it's a bad design, just that normal cars aren't designed that way, so the benefits are lost, or even become a hindrance. Perhaps the pedal box design is a carryover from when the standard transmission was standard

[-] joshg253@fedia.io 0 points 2 months ago

As a U.S. right-hander, shifting with my left hand would be super weird, and I'm sure driving on the left side would take some serious getting used to.

[-] sanguinepar@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

As a UK right hander, shifting with my right hand would be super weird! Completely used to doing it with my left ๐Ÿ˜

this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2026
14 points (100.0% liked)

Ask Lemmy

39397 readers
257 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, toxicity and dog-whistling are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS