Why do some country's drive on the right and some on the left?

Question

Why do some country's drive on the right and some on the left?

Answer 1

Because it would be too dangerous if we all drove in the middle.

Answer 2

Here in England we started back in the days of travelling on horseback, we used to ride on the left because most people were right handed.

If you were riding along and you ran across some bandits or something, you had them on your right which made it easier to attack them with your sword in your right hand.

Answer 3

Driving on the left side of the road because England said so.  Driving on the right side of the road because France said so.  I wonder, why Canadians don't drive on the left side of the road after all Canada belongs to commonwealth.

Answer 4

England drives on the left because of jousting

other countries drive on the left because they are in the commonwealth with the exception of some countries

Answer 5

The origin of the rule of the road dates back to how people travelled in violent feudal societies. As most people are right handed it made sense to carry any protective weapon in this hand. When passing a stranger on the road, it would be safer to walk on the left, so ensuring that your weapon was between yourself and a possible opponent.

France was to overturn this historic practice, as part of its social rethink. Their military general and self proclaimed Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte was left handed, therefore his armies had to march on the right so he could keep his sword arm between him and the advancing enemy.

About 40% of countries drive on the left.

Answer 6

Here we go again with all the old chestnuts about guns and swords, etc.

Here's the real reason. In some countries (like this one), the driver of a horse-drawn vehicle would sit on the front of the vehicle. If he had a team of four or more, his whip would be quite long and would need a lot of room to swing it. So the driver (who would usually be right-handed) would sit on the right, and to see the road better he would drive on the left. Other countries favoured the "postillion" style of driving, where the driver would sit, not on the vehicle, but on one of the horses. To control all of them with his right hand, he would therefore sit on one of the left-hand horses. To see the road better, then, he would drive on the right. The world didn't suddenly change from horse-drawn vehicles to motor vehicles overnight - there was a period of transition where both were using the road (which is still going on if you think about it), so drivers of motor vehicles had to follow the same rules, and before long it was made law. (The law of "rule of the road" wasn't necessary before motor vehicles, because (a) drivers did it anyway, and (b) there wasn't an issue of safety.)

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Whips were only part of the way drivers controlled horses - it was mostly done by verbal commands. "Come on" meant "left" (come on to the kerb), and "get off" meant "right". (Well, HORSES understood it.) That's why the "offside" of the road is so-called. The left side of the road was called the "onside", but was changed to "nearside" by car drivers. There are many driving terms that are leftovers from the horse-drawn days - even the word "driving" itself. "Drive" is something you do to an animal - it means to "urge" or "encourage" - you can't do that to an inanimate object like a car. But we still use the word anyway. And what about when you "pull up" outside someone's house? That's how you stop a team of horses - you "pull up" on the reins.

Answer 7

We have Naploen to blame for this, he matched his troops on the opposite side the the English troops.