LEFT HAND DRIVE - 792

                   LEFT HAND DRIVE 

I hold an Indian Driving License for Two Wheelers for close to 50 years and for the Four wheelers for the last 25 Years .

Being in the mid seventies , I must confess a few things  .   I am pretty Comfortable while  Driving the Two Wheelers  but this unfortunately has not been the case while driving the Four  Wheelers . Advancing age plus  not being confident enough to judge the space on either side of the Highway or Road  for one and secondly   the Road Traffic that  have increased many times over during the last couple of decades have all been the contributing Factors .

Except for Riding a Two Wheeler while  in Sri Lanka officially , I have not ventured to drive any vehicle on their two or wheels , during my various durations of stay abroad .

Both my Son and Daughter have  now settled in Canada  and I am  used to  staying there with them  over  long periods of time . The thought of getting my Indian Driving License Ratified in Canada has never crossed my mind for one very obvious reason .

Left Hand Drive  is what they have here , this means that the Steering Wheel is on the Left and you drive on the Right Side of the Road . Being an aged Indian Driving License Holder your Mind and Brain is so much attuned to just the opposite on the  Indian Roads , Steering Wheels on the Right and Driving on the Left side of the Road . 

That put at rest my intentions to try my hand at getting a Driving License in Canada .

An interesting afterthought comes to mind . Some 3 decades back , I was on an official visit to Paris ,  France which included a side visit to London , UK .  

The itinerary involved Travel from Paris to Calais  by Bus before crossing the Channel on a Ferry . The interesting part is that The Bus we travelled in , came along with us on the Ferry. On reaching Dover , the same bus again took us to London .The plans for The  Euro Tunnel was just beginning to be conceived and crossing the Channel was only by the Ferry which took us 90 minutes .

The most interesting part is that France and UK have opposite Road Rules . In UK one drives on the Left just like us , where as in France they drive on the Right just as they do in the US or Canada .

The same VEHICLE and the same DRIVER on both sides of the ENGLISH CHANNEL .

It is beyond me to marvel at the skills required for the same .







Comments

  1. Anonymous19 September 2025 at 18:29

    True, learning new skills becomes a challenging task but not impossible if compelled to do. With choices we try to avoid . Good write up

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous20 September 2025 at 23:15

    Nice write up to share the feelings

    ReplyDelete

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