Eli5 why driving on one side of a car is more practical than driving in the middle of one. Surely, the middle gives you better spacial awareness but things like the Monza SP1 exist and you still sit on one side of the vehicle
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We sit on the left and drive on the right here, and it’s the opposite in Britain. The flow of traffic and traffic laws are designed to yield to the centre of the road. Also, the posts in a car that hold up the roof would be at a dangerous angle if you were sitting in the centre. If you are on a collision course with another vehicle that’s behind those posts, you will have them in the blind spot created by that post all the way to impact. Offsetting the driver to the centre of the road means greater visibility to the centre, which as mentioned is generally where one is yielding to.
Not just in cars. On motorcycles you are trained to ride on the side of the road, not the middle. While this is partially due to less debris on the road where car tires mostly run, the biggest benefit is visibility! You’re better able to see the traffic ahead of just the car directly in front of you. Their brake lights come on before the car directly behind them touches their brakes.
Being on one side makes it much easier for a front seat passenger. Most people need that or would at least like the option of it.
Just to mention, the Tesla Semi has the driver in the middle, based on the images released. For visibility of oncoming traffic, being in the center vs. off to the side probably matters a lot less for a large truck like that, because you need to keep a lot of open space ahead of you anyways. Also this truck will have a lot of tech assistance for visibility.
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If traffic only moved in one direction, and no one cared about using the space inside the car efficiently, then you’d be right!
But, there are such things as two-way roads. And lots of us care about fitting more people inside a car of a given dimension.
Humans are better at judging short distances than long distances, so sitting near the side of danger makes it easier to avoid.
Before cars became common, the major danger was the ditch on the side of the road, so it was common to drive your wagon from the curb side.
This convention carried over to the first cars, [you drove on the curb side](https://automotivehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/july30-1-wintonad-1024×933.jpg).
When introducing the Model T, Henry Ford thought it made sense for passengers to enter/exit on the curb side, and moved the driver to the left. Safer for the passengers, and because the driver was now in the middle, easier to judge the center line and avoid head-on collisions.
That was a pretty good idea, so everyone did it, and it’s now universal to drive on the side of the car closest to the middle of the road.
The McLaren F1 had a center seat and Jay Leno says it’s way better for visibility, but most cars that aren’t super cars are centered more around families, so they’ve found the best way to fit 5 people into a car.
Passing is the biggest reason. Not all roads have multiple lanes in one direction. Passing on a single lane highway would be tantamount to suicide if the driver’s perspective was centered. You have to be able to see if something is coming on the opposing lane.
Youll notice that regardless of which side the driver is on, they nearly always drive on the side closest to the median of the road.
Sitting in the center gives no advantages while limiting ones ability to see around vehicles in front of them.
Special awareness is not a significant factor in car design. The driver sits on one side instead of the middle because that leaves room for a passenger and makes it much easier for people to get in and out of the car.
The Ferrari Monza SP1 looks like it does because it’s based on the normal, two-passenger SP2, just with a body panel stuck over the passenger seat space. It’s not built to be a single-seater.
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