Why do we drive on the side of the road that we do?

Question

OK, In the UK you drive on one sde of the road, drive off the ferry in Calias, and it all changes. Forgive me if my facts are not quite spot on, but its the jist thats important here....If Henry Ford invented the car, he was from the US, they drive on the right, in LHD cars, why then, did the UK decide to change sides? Why build the cars the opposite way to Henry Ford and drive on the other side? Who decided this and why?

I know what its like to drive an 'opposite' car on the roads, IE a UK vehicle on French roads, but wondering why we took the decision on the first place...

Answer 1

There are many countries that drive on the left hand side other than the UK, Austrailia, Japan, and New Zealand drive on the left.

In days of old logic dictated that when people passed each other on the road they should be in the best possible position to use their sword to protect themselves. As most people are right handed they therefore keep to their left.

UK Government to introduce the General Highways Act of 1773 which contained a keep left recommendation. This became a law as part of the Highways Bill in 1835.

Answer 2

OK, firstly Henry Ford did not invent the motorcar. The Italian Leonardo da Vinci came up with plans for one over four hundred years earlier! A Frenchman, Nicolas Cugnot, built the very first self-propelled vehicle in 1769, powered by a steam engine. In the 1830s the Scotsman Robert Anderson invented the first electric carriage. A whole string of inventors can claim credit for parts of the internal combustion-engined car, but the two who are most widely accepted as the fathers of the modern day motorcar are Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz, two Germans who not so coincidentally founded the Daimer-Benz car company, better known these days as Mercedes-Benz.


As to your question, the UK did not decide to change sides - it was most of the rest of the world that did so, starting with revolutionary (ie, Napoleonic) France.

The reason why we drive on the left is historical, and dates back to men on horseback.

Most people are right handed, so for knights and other mounted warriors it would be natural to wear their swords on the left hip for ease of use. When you mount up, you don't want the sword or scabbard between you and your steed, so if you wear your sword on your left side, you would also prefer to mount from the left as well, to keep your sword out of the way.

This becomes even more true in the case of armoured knights, who needed mounting blocks to assist them on board, as it were. If they needed to mount from the left, then the mounting blocks were on the left pavement also.

Once mounted, they didn't want to have to cross oncoming traffic to get into the correct lane, so having mounted from the left, they would ride on the left.

This became the established custom for riders and horse-drawn vehicles long before it ever became the law of the land, and was simply carried on when motorcars took over.

So in short, we started driving on the left because historically it had made sense to ride on the left, and we never switched over to the other side.

What would be far more interesting to me is why other countries took to driving on the right!

Answer 3

It's because we are part of the Commonwealth. I think that they decided that we should drive on the left and all Commonwealth countries except Canada as far as I'm aware drive on the left too. The US may have invented the car, but they didn't invent roads and road systems.
Have you ever noticed that all spiral staircases in castles in the UK wind up the same direction?

Answer 4

Because the steering wheel is on the right, and it would be a nightmare for overtaking and junctions ect if we drove on the right. I dont actually know why we are one of few countries who still drive on the left, along with Australia i think there are only a couple of others, Sweden changed from L to R over night back in the 50's, now that would be a nightmare

Answer 5

In each case, it's intended that the driver face oncoming traffic at or near the center line.

It's easier for the eye to to see the center line and maintain clearance from oncoming traffic.

Sorry, can't give you the reason why Europe chose the left.

However, Europe, excluding England, changed to the right, I think, sometime in the 60s-70s.

They had advertised by every means, for a year, to advise the public, that on a certain day at noon, all traffic in Europe would stop, and change lanes.

Think of the cost for road signs, etc.

Answer 6

I think all of Europe used to be on the left side, like we are in England, when we still used to get around on horses.
Knights needed to use their swords and most people seem to be right handed.
Napoleon was left handed and changed the side of the road to be used in Europe but couldn't do it in England.
Hope this makes sense

Answer 7

"I basically observed an upload on t.v merchandising a jeep and he became utilising on the remarkable of the line and then some text cloth got here up approximately it....'filmed distant places'... LOL yep." Errr youchronic on the remarkable area of the line in u . s . a .!! right here in eire wechronic on the left. verify the link under, tells you which of them nationschronic the place.

Answer 8

im sooooo sorry i do not know the answer to your question but hello !! and if I drove on the other side of the road surley I would cause an accident ! anyway i coundnt because the police took my car off me on monday for driving with no insurance ( it ran out at the begining of the month and i couldnt renew till nxt month) !

Answer 9

Because the cars coming in the other direction tend to get in the way?

Answer 10

Purely coincidental I would imagine; because it really makes no difference which side--just a matter of convention.