riskiest driving move....

[jimotis4heisman]

...is a left hand turn. ups trains their drivers not to make them, instead using loops of right hand turns to get to their destination. 50% of intersection accidents involve a left hand turn, 4% for right hand turns.

 

[jwinslow]

so they're not ambi-turners?

 

[morbitzerker]

...is a left hand turn. ups trains their drivers not to make them, instead using loops of right hand turns to get to their destination. 50% of intersection accidents involve a left hand turn, 4% for right hand turns.

I doubt this happens this frequently in parts of the world other than North America.

 

[jwinslow]

I doubt this happens this frequently in parts of the world other than North America.

The refusal to turn left? Or the accident prone streets?

 

[morbitzerker]

The high percentage of left hand turn accidents. I highly doubt the left hand turn is the riskiest driving move in the world.

 

[jwinslow]

What would you say is the riskiest driving move then?

 

[elliemae]

I also heard it saves on gas,less idling,etc! This was on the news last year & my neighbor dispatches for UPS as well.

 

[morbitzerker]

The right hand turn in an intersection.

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

Confirms my long-standing routine of organizing errands in a manner such that I don't have to make a left turn.

I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've attempted to make a left turn onto Stringtown Rd without a traffic light.

My wife laughs, but I'm very good at avoiding them.

 

[cincibuck]

1. Making a right hand turn in Britain.
2. Driving next to someone who is smoking and talking on a cell phone. A couple of weeks ago I got stuck behind one who was smoking, talking on a cell and still putting lipstick on. Coulda,shoulda killed her.

 

[jwinslow]

1. Making a right hand turn in Britain.

same thing.

The right hand turn in an intersection.

Why is that more dangerous?

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

I doubt this happens this frequently in parts of the world other than North America.

Most of the world drives on the right side of the road, if that's what you are getting at....

Countries with left-hand traffic
Alderney

Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Australia
Bahamas
Bangladesh
Barbados
Bermuda
Bhutan
Botswana
Brunei
Cayman Islands
Christmas Island
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Cook Islands
Cyprus
Dominica
East Timor (drove on right 1928-1976)
Falkland Islands
Fiji
Grenada
Guernsey
Guyana
Hong Kong, China - unlike mainland China
India
Indonesia*
Ireland
Isle of Man
Jamaica
Japan (Okinawa 1978)
Jersey
Kenya
Kiribati
Lesotho
Macau, China - unlike mainland China
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Malta
Mauritius
Montserrat
Mozambique
Namibia (1918)
Nauru (1918)
Nepal
New Zealand
Niue
Norfolk Island
Pakistan
Papua New Guinea
Pitcairn Islands
Saint Helena
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Seychelles
Singapore
Solomon Islands
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Suriname
Swaziland
Tanzania
Thailand
Tokelau
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Turks and Caicos Islands
Tuvalu
Uganda
United Kingdom
British Virgin Islands
U.S. Virgin Islands - unlike rest of U.S.
Zambia
Zimbabwe
* Until late 1960s, imported vehicles from USA were fitted with left-hand drive layout
​

Total: 75 countries
Countries with right-hand trafffic

Afghanistan

Albania
Algeria
American Samoa
Andorra
Angola (1928)
Argentina (1945)
Armenia
Aruba
Austria (1935-38)
Azerbaijan
Bahrain (1967)
Belarus
Belgium
Belize (1961)
Benin
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
British Indian Ocean Territory
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burma (Myanmar) (1970)
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon (1961)
Canada (1920s)
Cape Verde (1928)
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
China, mainland (1946)
Colombia
Comoros
Congo (Brazzaville)
Congo (Kinsasha)
Costa Rica
C?te d'Ivoire
Croatia
Cuba
Czech Republic (1939, details)
Denmark 1793*

Djibouti
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea (1964)
Estonia
Ethiopia (1964)
Faroe Islands
Finland (1858)
France (1789)
French Guiana
French Polynesia
Gabon
Gambia (1965)
Georgia
Germany
Ghana (1974)
Gibraltar (1929)
Greece
Greenland
Guadeloupe
Guam
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau (1928)
Haiti
Honduras
Hungary (1941)
Iceland (1968)
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Italy
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Korea DPR
Korea (1946)
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos

Latvia
Lebanon
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Madagascar
Mali
Marshall Islands
Martinique
Mauritania
Mayotte
Mexico
Micronesia
Midway Atoll
Moldova
Monaco
Mongolia
Montenegro
Morocco
Netherlands
Netherlands Antilles
New Caledonia
Nicaragua Niger
Nigeria (1972)
Northern Mariana Is.
Norway
Oman
Palau
Panama (1943)
Paraguay (1945)
Peru
Philippines (1946)
Poland
Portugal (1928)
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Republic of Macedonia
R?union

Romania
Russia
Rwanda
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Samoa (1960s)
San Marino
S?o Tom? and Pr?ncipe (1928)
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Sierra Leone (1971)
Slovakia (1939-41, details)
Slovenia
Somalia (1968)
Spain (October 1924)
Sudan (1973)
Svalbard
Sweden (1967, details)
Switzerland
Syria
Taiwan (1946)
Tajikistan
Togo
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United States (1792)
Uruguay (1945)
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu[13]
Vatican City
Venezuela
Vietnam
Wake Island
Wallis and Futuna
Western Sahara
Yemen(1977)**

*1758 in Copenhagen, 1793 in the rest of Denmark
**In South Yemen
​

Total: 164 countries

 

[morbitzerker]

Because most left hand turns in any country other than America would be with the flow of traffic. Merely stated, I believe the frequency of right hand turns around the world would make the right hand turn more dangerous, though the percentage of accidents may or may not be the same.

I have no data however.

 

[BUCKYLE]

No wonder there are so many wrecks in NASCAR.

 

[morbitzerker]

Most of the world drives on the right side of the road, if that's what you are getting at....

Precisely what I'm getting at.

I now have some slight data.