bias to the left?

[Eoghan]

Driving on the left here in the UK I notice that when driving in a straight line the steering wheel is not perfectly aligned and looks as if you are turning slightly left. If it was one car only with the steering wheel turned slightly left I would assume the cars wheels were slightly misaligned but it seems to hold true regardless of which car I am driving.

I suspect that it is something to do with the camber of the road designed to allow runoff. If that is true then Americans driving on the wrong side of the road should find that their steering wheel is turned slightly to the right when driving straight.

 

[Eoghan]

If I am correct can anyone explain why a slope to the left on the road (UK) leads to me countering it by steering left? Surely this should be a slight steering to the right, up the slope (UK).

 

[Grant]

If that is true then Americans driving on the wrong side

Maybe, but it seems like the UK may be driving the wrong cars!

Seriously though, to me it sounds like you have a car(s) that needs an alignment. If my answer fails, I have a sneaking suspicion that @Joshua has an answer.

 

[Edm]

Is the road crowned? Shaped like ^ or are both lanes slanted like /. Obviously much less so than my keyboard capabilities allow me to ask.

 

[Regi Addictissimus]

Sounds like the problem we have with American media. A bias towards the left.

 

[Jack K]

If it's the car's alignment or curvature in the road, the car should drift when you let go of the wheel for a moment. If that happens, you could then take the car to a flat surface like a large empty parking lot (I realize you may have fewer of those than we do in the US) to experiment and learn which it is.

If the car does not quickly drift when you let go of the wheel, perhaps the wheel was mounted a few degrees off. And finally, if it happens with every car you drive while others don't experience the same, it can only mean the driver is a few degrees off kilter.

 

[Eoghan]

Check when you are driving on the right "cousins".

I don't believe it is wheel alignment because it is constant regardless of which car I am driving. We just had "four wheel alignment" done in any case!
My own solution is to drive on the other side of the road (overtake) and see what happens. The centre of the road is the high point with a camber on either side ^ (as I understand it).

 

[Edward]

It sounds counterintuitive. If the street is crowned, I would think that a slight right input would be needed in your case, not a left. If the road is flat, and the designer put in a slight turn to the right to keep the car straight on a cambered road, I could see needing a slight left turn.

So, follow up question - are the roads in your area cambered or flat?

 

[jambo]

It's the camber on the road that causes this. On a quiet road, and I am sure there are plenty of them around Wick, drive in the middle of the road with half the car on either side of the centre line and lift both hands off the wheel a wee bit and see how straight the car runs. if it does run left or right then check tyre pressures and wheel alignment.