In America, the motor car steering wheel was once on the right hand side

[Naturally]

Yesterday, I looked at a vintage photo from 1912 and posted on Shorpy.
I thought, wait a minute, every motor car in that photo has a steering wheel on the right hand side ?!?!?!
How can that be ??
I examined the photo to see if perhaps the image was in reverse.
Nope, the steering wheel of all those motor cars are on the right hand side

Manhattan circa 1912. "Fifth Avenue at Forty-Second Street, New York." Looking north with the spires of St. Patrick's in the distance ...
(I'm not going to blur the faces out of privacy concerns because not a single person in that picture is alive today)

So I was shocked to find this revelation and did some research while curious I'd never noticed that before ...

Brief history:​

• 1890s to early 1900s: Some of the earliest American cars, especially those influenced by horse-drawn carriage designs, had the steering on the right-hand side, just like carriages did. This layout made it easier to see the edge of the road when passing oncoming traffic, which was common at the time.
• By around 1908–1915, most American car manufacturers had switched to left-hand drive (steering wheel on the left side), which makes more sense for driving on the right-hand side of the road.
  • Ford's Model T, introduced in 1908, had left-hand drive, and because it was so popular, it helped standardize this layout across the U.S. auto industry.

Summary:
In the U.S., right-hand steering was mostly phased out by 1915. After that, left-hand drive became the norm, aligning with the country's practice of driving on the right side of the road.

 

[hollydolly]

Funny, because I"ve seen many vintage photos of cars being driven in the USA.. and never noticed that about the steering wheel...probably because that's where our steering wheel is, so it just never registered in my head...

 

[Sunny]

At first, I thought maybe the picture was in reverse. But the numbers would have been backward, and they weren't. Interesting fact about cars.

 

[ChiroDoc]

Fascinating picture. Judging by the garments it may have been in the Fall.
Never knew about the right handed drive then. But of course the cars still drove on the right.

 

[Naturally]

Looks like just to the right of the pedestal clock in the left hand sidewalk is a double-decker bus. Cars hadn't been around that long. They sure wasted no time in gearing up for public transportation by bus.

Most license plates back then were porcelain enamel in New York (Pennsylvania, Maine, and a few others) and are quite valuable today if you can find one in mint condition.

 

[Naturally]

There are two mounted policemen in the picture. The obvious one on the right is headed toward another officer who has dismounted beside some vehicles. An accident perhaps ??

 

[Naturally]

Here's a link to the image on Shorpy. Click on the image there, to make it MUCH larger ... Up the Avenue: 1912

 

[Naturally]

This is what 5th Ave at 42nd St in New York looks like today.
You can't even see the spires of St. Patrick's in the distance from there anymore.
... but there is still a bus going down 5th Ave ...
Google Street View, 5th Ave at 42nd Street

 

[Naturally]

Of course vehicles are still produced in the U.S. with right hand steering wheels but they are used for postal delivery and street mailboxes are an easy reach.

 

[hollydolly]

This is what 5th Ave at 42nd St in New York looks like today.
You can't even see the spires of St. Patrick's in the distance from there anymore.
... but there is still a bus going down 5th Ave ...
Google Street View, 5th Ave at 42nd Street

that's incredible. To us today the image now of the road, is normal, but if they'd shown the future road to the drivers in the first picture, they would have been astonished at how futuristic it would become