India and the World -- Right Hand Drive & Left Hand Drive Cars

My Dear Young Indians,

You would have seen cars where the steering wheel is on the right side. This is called a Right Hand Drive car (RHD).

Have you seen vehicles where the steering wheel is on the left side ? This is called a Left Hand Drive car (LHD)

• Why do we have cars with different placements of the steering wheel ? -This is because of different set of traffic rules in different countries.

• In India, we drive our cars on the left side of the road which is called Left Hand Traffic (LHT) and the cars that we drive are Right Hand Drive (RHD) cars which means the Steering Wheel is on the right hand side. This way the driver is better able to see the vehicles approaching from the opposite direction.

• At a Traffic Round About ( यातायात गोल चक्कर ) we move in a clockwise direction. Because driver is seated on the right hand side inside the car he can get a better view and it becomes easier for him to turn the car around the Round-about.
  

• In some countries like the USA, cars move on the right side of the road meaning Right Hand Traffic (RHT) hence the cars are Left Hand Drive (LHD) cars with the Steering Wheel on the left side of the car. This again gives a better view of the approaching traffic.  
  

• Traffic rules in the UK mandate a LHT. India was ruled by the British for a long time so we have continued to follow the traffic system of the UK.
  

• In the early years of independence in India, one could see RHD as well as LHD cars on Indian roads. Automoblie industry was at a nascant stage then. Most of the cars were imported from different countries....some were LHD and others RHD  

  Now this is an interesting part of our history......
  

• I am sure you would have seen "Mahindra Scorpio" vehicles on the road.

  • The company that manufactures "Scorpio" is abbreviated as M&M- that is Mahindra & Mahindra. 

  • This company was formed in the year 1945 as Muhammed & Mahindra (M&M). This was a Steel Trading Company.

  • Brothers Jagdish Chandra Mahindra and Kailash Chandra Mahindra along with Malik Ghulam Muhammed created Muhammed & Mahindra (M&M).

  • In 1947 when Pakistan was created, Malik Ghulam Muhammed migrated to Pakistan and sold off his share in the company to Mahindra Brothers. 

  • Malik Ghulam Muhammed went on to become the first Finance Minister of Pakistan.

    

    Jagdish Chandra Mahindra

    
     

    

    Kailash Chandra Mahindra

    
    

    

    Malik Ghulam Muhammed

    
    

  • In 1948 the name of the company was changed to Mahindra & Mahindra......as we know it today. The company started assembling Multi Utility Vehicles (MUV) under licence from Willys Jeep ( a US company).

    
     

  • These vehicles were initially Left Hand Drive (LHD) vehicles because these were manufactured on assembly lines (in other words, production machines) that were imported from USA. Remember, cars in USA are LHD cars. Later Mahindras started manufacturing vehicles under the brand 'Mahindra'. These were Right Hand Drive (RHD) cars as per Indian conditions......Mahindra Commander, Mahindra Major, Mahindra Bolero, Mahinda Scorpio, Mahindra Xylo, Mahindra Thar, Mahindra KUV, Mahindra XUV 500, Mahindra XUV 300 😥....are some of the names

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In 1985 the Indian Cricket team defeated Pakistan and Ravi Shastri was declared the "Man of Series". He won a 'Audi' car. Thankfully this car was a RHD car (Steering Wheel on the right). Had it been a LHD car, would it have been a problem for Shastri to get his car registered in India ? 

 

In 2002 Sachin Tendulkar received a 'Ferrari' car as gift from the Fiat Car company. Thankfully this car was also a RHD. Had it been a LHD car, would it have been a problem for Tendulkar to drive the car in India? 

 

It would not have been a problem for Ravi Shastri but it would have been a problem for Tendulkar. 

 

It would not have been a problem for Ravi Shastri but it would have been a problem for Tendulkar.

 

Why ?   

 

In the year 1988, India enacted the new Motor Vehicles Act. It replaced the old Motor Vehicles Act of 1939. According to the new Act Left Hand Drive cars are not allowed in India except under some special circumstances.

 

• 30% of the countries in he world have Left Hand Traffic (LHT) with RHD cars (like UK and India) while 70%  of the countries in he world have Right Hand Traffic (RHT) with LHD cars. 
• Interestingly, all European countries except UK, Ireland, Malta and Cyprus drive on the Right side of the road (RHT). 
  
• Many countries in Europe were earlier LHT (like India) but later changed to RHT. For example, Italy changed from LHT to RHT in 1921.

• A car manufacturer will either make a LHD car or a RHD car. If a company wants to manufacture both kinds of cars then they would have to set up two assembly lines which would be a waste of money.

• But Volvo Cars has now done something interesting ! They have designed a car with a sliding steering wheel. So if you are driving in India you can slide the steering wheel to the right and if you are driving in USA you can slide steering wheel to the left !! .......Volvo has filed a patent for sliding LHD/ RHD steering wheel.

  
  

  My Dear Indians....... I hope you found this interesting.

   

  Jai Hind !!