EnglishClub ESL Forums

I understand that the English Club boss Joe is from England, which uses left-handed side traffic, so I have a question to ask because we also have the same problem.

Hong Kong is now part of China and its traffic system is the one used in most of the Commonwealth countries, that is, on the left-handed side. So the vehicles of that area and of England see the steering wheel set at the right-handed side for easy control.

But now with the English Channel tunnel and the Hong Kong-Macao-Zhuhai Bridge in operation, both of which connect the continents or cities with opposite traffic sides, how can one vehicle of France (or of Chinese mainland) that uses left-handed wheel safely ply on the streets of England (or of Hong Kong or Macao) where traffic is kept on the left-handed side, when crossing the tunnel or the bridge mentioned above?

I used to live in Paris, France and drove a French VW Golf with steering wheel on the left like all French cars (and Chinese mainland cars). I regularly drove my car to England via the Channel Tunnel and I never had any problems driving in England. It doesn't matter which side the steering wheel is. As long as you use your head you have no trouble, especially when there is lots of traffic. That's because you just follow the traffic and stay on the correct side automatically. It could become tricky if there is no traffic and you forget where you are. That's when you have to use your head

The most dangerous part is, when you travel for a long while on a remote area suddenly a car comes at you, you without realizing what you are doing get your own vehicle to the side you are used to, but the side is wrong in that different country or area. It is not a matter of using your head or hand, it is a matter of habit.

An old driver I know very well refuses to drive a car in such a new area for the reason given above. People's reaction comes more from habit than momentous thinking and judgment.

I see. So that seems pretty conclusive then.

How do drivers change from driving on the left to driving on the right when they go from Hong Kong to Mainland? And vice-versa?

I think those drivers are superheroes, they can shift their sense of direction freely.

In China, "an old driver" is a word full of implications, mostly meaning an old hand in handling male-female sexual relations; "a woman driver" means "killer on the road", as a saying goes, "there is not a leaf of grass surviving after a woman driver passes"; "to get on a vehicle" means something dirty is to be talked about; "stop, let me get off, that is not the vehicle taking me to my kindergarten" means I am still young, but please go on with your dirty talk.

In England "campus" means the grounds and buildings of a university or college and by extension all the members thereof.

Safari wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2019 5:18 am In England "campus" means the grounds and buildings of a university or college and by extension all the members thereof.

Thank you for the enlightening.

I also notice that in work sites of construction of some countries people also use this word to describe the compound where the crew stay and the building materials are stocked.

Our teachers told us that in the world there are only two varieties of English, one British, the other American, but after some years, I found that I was deceived totally. Even in Asia, there are so many varieties, like Australian, New Zealandic, Malaysian, Indian, Philipino, Bangali, Pakistani, Chinglish..., which contain a lot of words that you hardly find in a decent academic dictionary, such as lakh, thana, halal, jiaozi...

My name here means one of the campuses of my college and complies with the meaning you gave.

Indeed there are many varieties of English.

I believe the noun "campus" can be traced back through French to Latin (an no doubt further) and originally meant a field or open space (where an army or other people could "camp").

i have never drove before. furthermore, my mum did. she had an international driving license. she told me quite a lot about it. she said it is hard to adopt to it. however, it doesn't like a big problem to me lol

Joe wrote: ↑Fri May 10, 2019 10:17 am How do drivers change from driving on the left to driving on the right when they go from Hong Kong to Mainland? And vice-versa?

Yes I'd like to know that too

Traffic problem is a universal problem

drive like this