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What does left-hand driving mean? Does it mean the steering wheel is on the left side of the car?

Sure that's not Britain?

Look at the traffic flow and the direction of the lanes, it's not a left-hand driving country.

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closed as general reference by tchrist, Carlo_R., Mahnax, jwpat7, MετάEd Jul 26 '12 at 23:03


I don't think people often use "left-hand driving" in that context. I take my car over to the Continent 3-4 times a year - invariably with 2-4 passengers, who vary from trip to trip. I can't recall anyone ever using this expression. We often speak of "left-hand drive" cars, or places where people "drive on the left/right". If Wikipedia wants to call those LHT/RHT (Left/Right Hand Traffic) that's fine by me, but I don't use that expression either - people on the Continent just drive on the wrong side, so far as I'm concerned. –  FumbleFingers Jul 26 '12 at 19:12

1 Answer 1

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From Wikipedia:

Vehicles are usually manufactured in left-hand drive (LHD) and right-hand drive (RHD) configurations, referring to the placement of the driving seat and controls within the vehicle.[7][8][9] Typically, the placement of the steering wheel is opposite to the rule of the road: LHT countries use RHD vehicles, and RHT countries use LHD vehicles. This is so that the driver's line of sight is as long as possible down the road past leading vehicles, an important consideration for overtaking (passing) manœuvres.

So, yes, a left-hand drive car means that it's a car made for a country which drives on the right side of the road, and vice versa. Wikipedia also has a section dealing with wrong-hand drive vehicles.

A tenuously related aside:

Post Office cars and vans in some countries such as the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden have the steering wheel on the opposite side to normal vehicles. This is so drivers can easily drive up next to post boxes or get out straight onto the pavement without having to walk around their vehicles, or put post in boxes without getting out of their vehicles at all.

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