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Random thought about highway/car saftey....

vi edit

vi edit

Elite Member
Super Moderator
I've had to do an aweful lot of traveling the past couple days for work on two lane highways. This driving, combined with seeing/reading news stories sort of worked up an idea about a way to cut down on highway deaths.

The idea is this - have the driver placed on the left side of the car while still driving in the right lane.

For me anyway, 90% of my driving is by myself, and 90% of it is done on two lane highways. My biggest risks of crashes/wrecks would be a person in the other lane crossing the center line resulting in a head on collision. Since both of the drivers are in the "middle" of the road, they are both close to the place of impact. MANY head on collisions at highway speeds result in the death of at least one driver, if not both. My question is, would deaths from head on collisions be reduced if the drivers were on opposites sides, therefore putting them both at the farthest point from the collision. It sounds good in theory. Anyone else agree?

I've thought of two negatives for it though -
1) Off road collisions with stationary objects. By this, I mean running off of the road and hitting a tree or a utility pole. If the driver is on the "outside" of the car, they will be then be closer to the point of impact if they go off the road and hit a pole or tree.

2) Poor depth perception of center line. Basically, you don't know as easily how close you are to the center line.

I'm not including the costs of vehicle redesign.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions? 🙂
 
Sounds good in theory. Sucks to be a passenger, but most commuters don't have any. Too damn expensive to realistically apply of course.
 


<< OuterSquare >>

, yeh, it would suck being a passenger. What would really make it hit home though is knowing that you as a passenger are put on that side of the car strictly for the purpose of cannon fodder.

But, then again, it really is no different than being in the drivers seat under the current driving layout.

I wish I could dig up a link, but I remember reading that the percentage of time that only one person is in a vehicle was insanely high. Something like 80% of the time it is only yourself in the car.
 
How about just making sure people are trained to be better drivers? Can't begin to tell you how many times I've been behind some damn teeny bopper on her cell phone talking to Buffy and trying to put on makeup at the same time all the while driving at nearly the speed of light. Don't even get me started on all the blue hairs out there that can't even see over the steering wheel to drive.
 


<< yeh, it would suck being a passenger. What would really make it hit home though is knowing that you as a passenger are put on that side of the car strictly for the purpose of cannon fodder. >>



Yeah that's the only downside I can think of. A work around is to sit in the back, either side, so there is that extra metal protecting the passenger. But then they don't get to ride shotgun and that ain't cool 😉
 


<< It would be harder to make a left hand turn from a center turn lane >>



It's no different than making a right turn from the further out turn lane at an innersection with more than one right turn lane.
 
shinerburke, this thought was more a derivative of dodging &quot;wide load&quot; semis and extra wide trailor towing trucks on narrow highways. If you had a head on with a semi, it's &quot;hasta lasagna, don't get any on ya&quot;. In situations like that, instead of cutting a car in half with the driver being the gooey filling in the middle, the driver of the passenger vehicle would be more safely tucked away on the other side of the vehicle.
 


<< Subaru imports right-hand drive models to the US by special order. I hear they're popular with rural mail carriers. >>



LOL! 😛 😀
 
vi_edit,

how are you going to see the car coming from the opposite direction without getting fully into the opposing lane if you are on the right hand side? the idea is that from the left seat, you can see all that you need to when driving on the right hand side of the road. if you weren't there, you'd be SOL the vast majority of the time and still eating the front of that 10ton gravel bomber coming head on at 60mph.
 


<< The idea is this - have the driver placed on the left side of the car while still driving in the right lane. >>

Am I missing something, or isn't this what already happens? Driver is in front-left of car, cars stay to the right of the road divider (where applicable).
 
Lots of people tend to center themselves in the lane, rather than thier car. Under our current setup, this makes the car sit closer to the shoulder of the road. If we switched it, lots of people would be driving with thier body in the middle of the lane, and thier wheels on the double yellow. Doesn't sound too great to me.

Also, I sure as hell am not learning to shift with my left hand.
 
You could always go buy a surplus postal jeep, and test your theory. The government sells them for about $900.
 
yeah pretender that is what already happens, my point is that if you switch it, regardless of what people are used to, you create a visibility problem. :Q crash
 
warlord, I'm not getting the visibility problem. Are you saying that you can't judge how far over the median the other driver is while on the right side of the car? Or are you saying something different?
 
It's a bad idea! If you get hit head on your and the other person's car still has the possibility to spin out of control and get hit by other oncoming cars or have the car roll all over the road. If that doesn't happen you could also get internal injuries from the force of the impact. If you're in a car crash it's a good idea to go to the hospital and have yourself checked out. Many people are walking wounded without even knowing it until it's too late.
 
IBuyUFO, please explain to me how those same things are avoided under the current implementations.
 
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