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Comment by bee_rider | Hacker News Reader

I’m amazed it is legal to own a car that doesn’t match the local orientation.

This seems like the kind of joke suggestion that somebody in engineering might make in response to an annoying decisions made in the levels above them.

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It's pretty common for some low production cars. For instance many Lotus cars in continental Europe are RHD, because RHD Lotus are much more common and less expensive.

Can't see how that would be possible. All postal trucks in the US are RHD.

USPS has a unique position and a pretty unusual task, I assumed they’d just gotten an exception or something.

Its common to see UK plates all around western Europe. They all are RHD. Its a bit tricky for the first time but you get used to it quickly (or the opposite as I've found out ie in Australia, straight from airport rental into congested highway with tons of roadworks, I forgot that 11h jetlag due to all the adrenaline pumping).

I recall a number of imported cars in England from the USA during the 90s. These were road taxed and MOT'd insofar as they also had British license plates. For added emphasis, these were huge vehicles from the 80s on tiny English roads.

Wait, why should it be illegal to own a car that doesn't match the local orientation?

Safety obviously. Same as how you can't sell a car that doesn't have airbags anymore (barring some exceptions).

It’s not really a significant safety difference. The visibility difference isn’t that big.

It’s nowhere near on the level of removing airbags.

There are massive safety differences in terms of visibility especially at night. I don’t think they should be banned but heavily restricted and definitely not to be allowed to drive after dark.

It’s more hazardous to drive?

Yeah, but it's exactly what I've come to expect from Tesla.

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