Indian cars have wheels on the wrong side

When I was little, I asked my father why cars had the steering wheel on the right? Why not in the middle? The apparent assymetry felt a bit unsettling. To this he responded, “It’s to make it easy for you to overtake other vehicles.”

He explained how it was easier for someone driving on the left side of the road to get past another car from their right side. “When you are sitting on the right egde of the car, you get a better view of the overtake lane.”

Now after having driven for over 15 years on Indian roads, I am quite certain that our car have the wheel on the wrong side. Let me explain.

Dad’s assumption – like that of lakhs of other well-behaved citizens – that the rightmost lane is for high-speed vehicles is as false as it is laughably innocent.

The reality is that the rightmost lane is exclusively reserved for tractors, scooters, and trucks – basically anything that moves at 40-50 km/hr. That lane is for the slowest vehicles because, well, why not.

That means us poor car drivers who dream of traveling at speeds more than 50 must overtake from the left. That’s the unsaid rule of the Indian road.

Having the steering wheel on the right just gets in the way. It makes overtaking from the left difficult.

Have you ever seen a tightrope walker? They carry their hearts in their hands. Crossing a chasm on a rope requires an incredible amount of 2 Cs – concentration and confidence.

Those are the same 2 Cs that one needs to overtake from the left with the wheel foolishly on the right.

I hereby appeal to our policy malkers to wake up to this reality. Kindly instruct all car manufacturers to make amends, please?