"Left isn't Right!"

Hot Rods and Racing Cars #79
May 1966

There was at one time a saying, which in one of its forms went like this: "He's so dumb he doesn't know his left hand from his right hand." You may smile and remark that we all do know which is right-and which is left. Back in elementary school days the teacher would have the class stand. Then we were told to raise our right hands. Then our left hands. "And never forget, which is which," admonished teacher. "Because it can be very important to you."

With most of America behind the wheel of a car it can be a matter of life and death to a driver. This week end, on a tri-state trip, I had a very close brush with disaster. Just because the female behind the wheel became confused with right and left. We were driving on the left lane of a two lane highway going north. Suddenly there were warning signs and barricades. The signs read: "Squeeze right." They were fixing the left lane and that meant a single lane of traffic all going in the right hand lane.

There was a car slightly ahead of me in the right lane. I figured I would squeeze in after this car. Then suddenly, the driver made a turn into my lane! There was no place for me to go. Down went my foot all the way on the brake pedal. Meanwhile the other driver realized her mistake. She was going to smash into the barricade and it looked as though I would smash into her car. She made a sharp turn back into her lane. Let me say our seat belts certainly helped with that quick stop. I had that terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach for some time.

Now let us take another instance wherein the driver of a car gets confused and thus invites the possibility of a bad accident. You are in the right lane of a two lane road. The right lane is for cars that are going to make a right turn at the corner of the intersection. The left lane is for the cars that will make a left turn at the same corner. The car on your left is slightly ahead of you and you see the turn signal on the back of the car informing you the car going to make the left turn. And then suddenly that car shoots out ahead of you and makes a right turn! What you think of that driver can't be printed here.

You sometimes get a dose of this even on a major speedway with three lanes. Where suddenly the driver on the extreme left lane cuts across the center lane, the right lane, and heads for that exit road. Definitely, here we have proof of the saying that fundamentally it is the driver behind the wheel who can prevent or cause an accident. Regardless of what improvements we put into cars-unless we make them completely automatic so that they do all the thinking for the driver. And the day isn't too far off when we will do this with a "programed trip" controlling the car.

The other day we were driving through the city. The car on my right even had his front wheels turned to the right while waiting for the red signal to change to green. We were alongside the car.

"Ask him if he is going to turn left or right?" I remarked to my wife.

Which she did and the driver answered: "Left." Now go figure that one out. However here is an analysis of what does cause this confusion among some drivers:

In one of our adjacent states, the highways go through a variety of towns and villages. The clover-leaf pattern is used to get a driver off the highway. Which means if he wants to go left, he gets into the right lane. Then makes a right hand turn and goes a short distance. The road may then run under or over the main highway. Or he simply finds himself into a lead road which then crosses the main highway when the light turns green. But the basic confusion in the brain cells is this: To turn left-you turn right! When this driver comes to our state, I notice he often gets confused. So I become a bit wary when I notice this particular license plate on the back of a car driving near me.

Then again, there are drivers who just do not know where they are going or even how to get there. With an assist from the back seat driver who shouts: "Don't turn right at this crossing. Turn left!" So you get a shocker when the car swings back into lane and cuts across your car. Probably this has happened to a lot of us.

Notice how often the turn signal light doesn't go off when the other car has changed lanes on a highway. And should it continue to blink, and the driver not signal again, you have trouble! At present about all we can do is to be extremely careful.