A question of history. Why do some country's drivers, drive on the right and some on the left.?

Answer 1

There's a comprehensive explanation at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_on_the_right

Answer 2

I guess most cars were made for right-handed drivers and his passengers. Since its unsafe to drop the passengers on the street, the drivers then start driving on the left.

However in right-driving countries they do it the opposite, the drivers on the left.
Its not because they are not as wise, its that there are many other obstacles, like bicycles, carts, herds.. and its difficult to ask every1 not to drive on their right hand side.
So the driver found they could not use the right-handed wheel in these countries, since they want to keep passengers safe, and ordered to have the left-handed ones made.

I'm living in a right-driving country and to be honest, I see both left-handed and right-handed wheels on the street!!!

Answer 3

I believe that it goes back to the time of transportation by horse. Typically, people were right handed and would ride on the left side of a horse path as to keep their right hand which held their weapon closest to others that passed. This was a precaution against thieves and the like. England has kept this historical way of doing things, as do the original countries in the empire. I read this somewhere, think its right.

Answer 4

Many many centuries ago the highways were frequented by fiercesome men bearing swords and other weapons, wielded usually with the right arm. The custom therefore grew up that you passed by an approaching stranger on the left side of the highway so your right arm was handy to fight him if he turned out to be an enemy.

I believe Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France in the early 19th century, started the change from left side to right in Continental Europe but have got no idea of the reasoning behind it.

Answer 5

Most of the commonwealth countries drive on the right side.
Allies of US is on the left

Answer 6

No, I think its just people in the US who claim that 'everybody else id driving on the wrong side of the road' everybody else actually drive on the left & pass on the right. Sorry for not giving you the historical details.

Answer 7

Uk drive on the left so that when we are passing other coaches we can draw out swords with our right hand.

Answer 8

The most important factor seems to be the relative dominance of different types of animal-drawn carts and wagons. Most people are right-handed, which leads to a natural tendency to favour one side of the road or another depending on the means of transportation being used.

Many people who discuss this topic focus their attention on the role of wearing swords by mounted knights and samurai in the middle ages. However, the role of the sword may have been exaggerated by modern romantic ideas. Medieval road traffic would have been dominated by commoners on foot and transporting goods in carts, who would not have worn swords. The only people who would have routinely worn swords would have been the aristocracy and their troops, and when their wagons rolled, right-of-way was probably determined by rank, with commoners scattering into the ditches. Medieval knights were relatively few and far between on the roads, and even if they preferred to pass one another in a certain manner (probably more for ceremony and to show respect than out of a real perception of danger) the protocols they followed would not necessarily have translated into rules applicable to the entire population.

Walking: keep right. Most people appear to have a natural tendency to keep to the right. Right-handed swordsmen, however, may prefer to keep to the left in order to have their right arm nearer to a potential opponent, and to reduce the chance of the scabbard (worn on the left) hitting other people.

Riding a horse: keep left. A right-handed person finds it easier to mount a horse from the left side of the horse, and it would be very difficult to do otherwise if wearing a sword (which would be worn on the left). It is safer to mount and dismount towards the edge of the road, rather than in the middle of traffic, so if one mounts on the left, then the horse should be ridden on the left side of the road. Horsemen armed with swords prefer to keep left of each other in order that their sword arm is nearer their opponent -- and, more often, to offer one's right hand in friendship.


Light armoured jousting division competion, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, July 2000. Photo from the Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts
Jousting: keep right. Jousting knights held their lances in their right hands, and it is sometimes assumed that they must have therefore ridden on the left, as swordsmen did. (Kincaid's book makes this error.) In fact, riders in jousting contests rode on the right (or if you prefer, pass their opponent left shoulder to left shoulder), hold the lance in the right hand, and aim by pointing it to their left, across the horse's neck. See, for example, photographs of a joust at a tournament from the Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts, the Free Lancers of the Cimmerian Combatives, or the article "how to joust" from the About.com Medieval History section. I have only found one exception to this: a mention of the southern Italian style of jousting as described by the Free Lancers. Thanks to Paul Erik Leopold for pointing out the misconception. However, jousting is a tournament activity, and far from an example of normal transportation.

Leading a horse or a cart: keep right. It appears to be a universal practice that people, being right-handed, tend to lead horses with their right hand while walking on the left side of the horse. To best control the horse and to avoid collisions between wide carts, it is best for the person leading the horse or cart to walk between the vehicle and oncoming traffic, thus keeping the cart or horse to the right. This also facilitates conversations between people meeting, and it is more comfortable for the person walking to be in the centre of the road than to be at its edge.

Wagon teams with postilion riders: keep right. In some countries, teams of horses pulling a wagon were driven by a person riding one of the horses in the team. This is called postilion control. A right-handed rider mounts from the left and controls the team with a whip held in the right hand, and therefore must mount the left-rear horse of the team. From this position, the driver has the best view of the distance between his vehicle and oncoming traffic by keeping to the right.

Wagon teams driven from the wagon: keep left. In some places, teams of horses pulling a wagon were driven by a person sitting on the wagon. A right-handed driver controls the team with a whip held in the right hand, and so must sit on the far right-hand side of the vehicle, or the whip will hit the vehicle and anyone else seated on the wagon. From the right-hand side of the vehicle, the driver finds it easiest to maintain separation with oncoming traffic by keeping to the left. It is also easier to quickly turn the team to the left than to the right if the whip is in the right hand, so it is better to keep left so that a quick left turn can be made off the road in case of a potential collision.

The choice of sides seems to have been governed by the time of introduction of these different modes of transportation and their relative numbers, as well as by social and political influence. Most often, left-hand riding was the initial standard. In areas where carts and postilion riders became dominant, right-hand driving was adopted. In areas where wagons driven from the vehicle became dominant, left-hand driving remained the norm.

The next logical question, of course, is why different countries adopted different types of vehicles. Kincaid gives few clues to the answer, providing in some cases a chronology, but no broadly applicable theory. For example, the passenger coach (a wagon driven from a seat on the vehicle) appears to have originated in Hungary, so its earlier appearance there reinforced left-hand driving in much of central Europe. In France, on the other hand, cart-drivers and postilion riders dominated traffic so that the later introduction of wagons driven from the vehicle did not change the established pattern.