boB:
FYI - In the years prior to WW2 the Italian Grand Prix cars had the gas
pedal in the middle. That killed a few famous British GP drivers when
they accelerated instead of slowed down at corners and around other GP
cars.
Thus the German GP teams of Auto-Union and Mercedes pushed the Italians
to move the pedals so "everyone" was using same foot arrangements. The
British drivers were faster and had a better training system because of
more local races than on the Continent.
US - Dept. of Transportation did a similar thing to British motorcycles
in the late 1960's or early 1970's. - All the Japanese - Italian - and
US made bikes had their gear shift on the same side. The early British
mfg. like Triumph & Norton had theirs on the opposite. There were
several highly publicized accidents that attributed the gear shift
position not being easy to remember when the rider switched bikes.
Having built some race bikes for local road racing in the early 60's I
can tell ya it was occasionally very foolish feeling to switch brands
and miss a shift - also made more than a few parts break in the engines
or trans too.
The "new" Triumph bikes have their gearshift on same side as all the
rest.
I think this became a world standard even for motorcycles sold in
Britain, Hong Kong, China, and Aussieland. I could be wrong on that one?
What it shows is any UI - user interface - is also a popularity oriented
criteria and may force a minority to work with what the majority deems
is "correct" - even though the older method could be more efficient or
effective...
Later, John O
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