Doesn't most the world drive on the left hand side of the road? Why do we drive on the right side in USA?
2007-10-02 15:33:52 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Other - Cultures & Groups
this is actually a good question, and heres the answer:
tradition.
in olden times (think medievul) it was tradition for knights to ride on the left side of the road. this was, so when someone approached them from afront, that they didnt like, they could swoop at them with their right arms (predominant fighting hand)
this was common all over europe, but then a change came, napoleon rose to power after the french revolution. and he decided everything should be different.
he instituted the metric system. he instituted a now obsolete metric calander. and he also decided, as he wanted to make a peaceful empire, that knights (or in those days, cavalery) should now pass eachother on the right side, so they could not smack eachother when passing.
napoleon conquered nearly all of europe (with the exception of brittain) as a result most of europe drives on hte right side, and brittain still on the left. sweden was an exception aswell, it drove on the left side until the 1960ies, they swapped overnight.
america drives on the right side of the road, because a large part of what is now america, in those days, was dutch (area around new york, and french (canada, quebec, and downward into pensylvania and illinois.)
and youll actually see until today, that most of the former european colonies drive on the right side ofhte road, with exception of areas that were british. (singapore, hongkong, and the british isles)
2007-10-02 16:00:40 · answer #1 · answered by mrzwink 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Actually, I heard once that most of the world drives on the right side, but some rather important countries decided on the left. I wonder if it's for getting the upper hand in jousting or something? That would throw off somebody.
People, people, it doesn't matter WHO invented the automobile first, we were driving long before that!!!
Here, look this one up for some great info.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_on_the_left_or_right
2007-10-02 15:49:11 · answer #2 · answered by Anniekd 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
We don't. The only nations in Europe which drive on the left are Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland. Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong drive on the left in Asia. Australia and New Zealand, in Oceania, have left-side driving, as do a few small island nations in the Caribbean. Hong Kong will probably convert to right hand drive the same way that Okinawa Prefecture in Japan converted to left-side driving in the late 1970s.
2007-10-02 15:41:27 · answer #3 · answered by desertviking_00 7 · 1⤊ 3⤋
Actually Europe drived on the opposite side as us. The car was invented HERE!
I'm sure the "car idea" got big over there and the builder just put it on the wrong side.
2007-10-02 15:39:18 · answer #4 · answered by in COGNITO * 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
well it def didnt start with cars...it started with carts and such but i think the reason we are opposite is because when we finally got away from the king we watned to be as different as possible so we changed as much as we could. and actually we didnt have the first car whoever before me said that...mercedes benz in germany made the first car!
2007-10-02 15:43:10 · answer #5 · answered by Kendra N 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋