Originally Posted by
Scrooge McDuck
Reminds me to the British guy I met a long time ago in NZ who asked me if my car was also assembled wrong, i.e. wipers and direction indicators being interchanged. I have the feeling that all cars in Europe have the same set-up, in contrast to the cars in down-under.
Driving on the wrong side of the road, i.e. the left side is the right side, is not that complicated. One gets used to it pretty quick. The main trick for us drivers on thre right side of the road is to use the middle-lane as an idicator.
Most cars in Australia and NZ (Australian, Japanese and Korean, to name the most common makes), have the indicators on the right and the wipers on the left, given we sit on the right side and rive on the left.
As you would be aware, countries where they sit on the left and drive on the right have the indicators and wipers the other way around.
Lazy European manufacturers move the steering wheel but do not swap the indicator and wiper stalks. Given the commonality of European cars on our roads, it's quite common and you get used to it. This also occurs in the UK, hence your mates comments (European cars are very common there!). Clearly he is more used to European cars where the manufacturers have been lazy!