Patent ID: 7428943

Claim:
A material handling vehicle, comprising: an operator compartment including a floor; a steering mechanism accessible to an operator standing in both of a fore vehicle direction and an aft vehicle direction; a fore operator control handle for selecting a direction and a speed of travel, the fore control handle being mounted at a first end of the operator compartment and configured for operation in the fore vehicle direction; an aft operator control handle for selecting a direction and a speed of travel, the aft operator control handle comprising a twist grip handle mounted to a second end of the compartment and configured for operation in the aft vehicle direction; a floor switch mounted to the floor in a position accessible by an operator using the fore control handle and the aft control handle, and a traction system controlled by the fore and aft operator control handles to drive the material handling vehicle in a selected direction, wherein the steering mechanism is mounted to be accessible to an operator facing the first end of the operator compartment and controlling the fore operator control handle and to an operator facing the second end of the compartment and controlling the aft operator control handle, and the floor switch is selectively activatable to enable operation from both the fore operator control handle and the aft operator control handle.