Which side of the road???

Question

I know this has been asked before probably more times than anyone can count, but I have not been able to catch it to get the answer.....Why do some countries drive on the left side of the road rather than the right side of the road, and also why is the drivers side on the right instead of the left

Answer 1

Drivers sit on whichever side is closest to the middle of the road so they get the best view of where they are going.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_on_the_left_or_right#History has the historical reasons for why different countries use different sides of the road.

Answer 2

I find it useful to be on the side closest to the middle of the road, because then I may go too close to the pavement but I won't go too close to the middle of the road. If you hit the pavement, you bump into it so you know you've hit it. But if you hit the middle of the road, you don't know until there's an accident or you realise. So it's good to be close to the middle of the road so you can keep an eye on the dangerous side.

BUT, I have only been driving for like 8 months - I don't know what other people think of this. It isn't illegal to drive right-handed cars on the right side of the road (and people do) in right-handed countries. So obviously it doesn't make that much difference.

And roads are so big in the USA that I suppose you haven't even got this problem! But in the UK where they're small, I find it's good peace of mind to know where all the other cars are.

Answer 3

There are several theories to this. One is that a pope declared (some time before 1000AD) that all pilgrims to Rome had to walk on the right side of the road. This turned into the commoners began being forced to walk on the left while the nobility rode their carts on the right. As for the placement of the seat, when carts were horse drawn, a right handed person, when cracking the whip, would have an easier time if he did not hit his cart behind him, so he sat on the right side. Also, a right handed person, when passing another person on the road, would have an easier time seeing the wheel clearance between the two carts if he was on the side passing. Another theory is that it was easier to drop off people at the curb if the driver sat on the same side as the curb. He could jump down to help people out of the cart.

To summize, there is no readily accepted answer to this, only theories.

Answer 4

Well its the same as the basis of other cultures. I live in the Bahamas but I attend school in Canada. We adopted the English way of doing things since we were an English colony. So as a result we drive on the opposite side of the road. I think that its the cultural background that deals with this. Just like how they believe in Australia the water swirls the opposite way.