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Comment by TheSmiddy | Hacker News Reader

An an Australian who's travelled a little I can tell you that in their hearts of hearts people yearn to drive on the right. In no other country do I find myself doing the hallway shuffle more than this one. If we drove on the right that would at least eliminate the conflict between what people want to do and what the rules say we should.

I don't think it will happen anywhere major without buy in from a few countries at once. Australia might swap if Japan ever decides to swap as they currently do supply a large number of our vehicles. Having said that I see a pretty rapid switch over to Chinese cars over the next 10-15 years as they leapfrog Japan in regards to EV powertrains so we might be willing to switch independent of that to gain access to newer models faster.

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Australia will 100% not be swapping. There is zero debate about this, there is zero will and there are far more pressing issues to deal with than adding this significant cultural change.

And I have no idea why Japan changing would be the catalyst.

Without Japan the market for those cars might no longer be tenable. Australia and New Zealand buy a lot of Japanese cars.

I don't think Japan will change drive lane in the future, but possibly used car export could be decrease for BEVs. Japan adopts CHAdeMO for fast charging but other countries don't, so it will become harder to export. Also China is becoming very strong BEV manufacturing country. For new cars, after EV transition and steer by wire system become popular, LHD/RHD will become minor difference for car designing.

6 of the 10 top manufacturers of cars in Australia are from Japan. That said I can't imagine Japan doing that, and to be honest it's not uncommon to see LHD cars on Japanese roads (American cars).

Australia doing that would weird, as I think it'd an eight jurisdictions to sign up to it. That said, I can see WA doing it absolutely.

What do you mean? What is the hallway shuffle? I can’t say I’ve ever wanted to drive on the left, as an Aussie, and don’t hear this sentiment even from people who collect LHD cars. I even own an LHD car, so I’m not being dogmatic here. I just can’t see the tangible advantage you allude to.

Yeah I am joking about the yearning as it's obviously not a thing people think or care about. The hallway shuffle happens while walking down a hallway when someone is coming at you so you move to the left to let them pass but they move to their right (your left) and then you do that stupid little dance as you both swap sides at the same time two or three times before you laugh and move past each other. In countries where people drive on the right this happens far less frequently, almost everybody consistently moves to the right and it's not an issue.

As a different Australian, I can tell you I have no inclination, latent or otherwise, to drive on the wrong side of the road -- I'm very happy to continue to walk, ride, and drive on the left-hand side.

If you're suffering hiccups of thought where you need to work out what to do when driving on the left - the hallway shuffle as you call it - this may indicate something more concerning.

(The Romans were right - and we dismiss their legacy at our peril! : )

Why do people yearn to drive on the right? Hasn't been my experience in the UK and Australia at least

Japan marches to their own drum and very stubborn. They’re never changing imo

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