Why is there a right hand drive and a left hand drive vehicle?

Question

Americans drive on the right side of the road while the British drive on the left side

Answer 1

Up to the late 1700's, everybody travelled on the left side of the road because it's the sensible option for feudal, violent societies of mostly right-handed people.

Jousting knights with their lances under their right arm naturally passed on each other's right, and if you passed a stranger on the road you walked on the left to ensure that your protective sword arm was between yourself and him.

Revolutionary France, however, overturned this practice as part of its sweeping social rethink. A change was carried out all over continental Europe by Napoleon.The reason it changed under Napoleon was because he was left handed his armies had to march on the right so he could keep his sword arm between him and any opponent.

From then on, any part of the world which was at some time part of the British Empire was thus left hand and any part colonised by the French was right hand.

In America, the French colonised the southern states (Louisiana for instance) and the Canadian east coast (Quebec). The Dutch colonised New York (or New Amsterdam). The Spanish and Portugese colonised the southern Americas. So The British were a minority in shaping the 'traffic'.

The drive-on-the-right policy was adopted by the USA, which was anxious to cast off all remaining links with its British colonial past

Once America drove on the right, left-side driving was ultimately doomed. If you wanted a good reliable vehicle, you bought American, for a period they only manufactured right-hand-drive cars.

From then on many countries changed out of necessity.

Today, the EC would like Britain to fall into line with the rest of Europe, but this is no longer possible. It would cost billions of pounds to change everything round.

The last European country to convert to driving on the right was Sweden in 1967. While everyone was getting used to the new system, they paid more attention and took more care, resulting in a reduction of the number of road accident casualties.

Answer 2

dddaaa there are left and right handed people.

Answer 3

where cars drive on the right hand side the driver sits on the left, so that when going around the vehicle ahead of him, he can see oncoming traffic *before* the car is all the way over in that lane.

Answer 4

It depends on the law of the country.

Answer 5

Due to different traffic rules of different countries.

About 34% of the world by population drive on the left, and 66% on the right. By roadway distances, about 28% drive on the left, and 72% on the right, even though originally most traffic drove on the left worldwide. Ancient travellers on horseback generally rode on the left side of the road. As more people are right-handed, horsemen would thus be able to hold the reins with their left hands and keep their right hand free—to offer in friendship to passing riders or to defend themselves with swords, if necessary

Answer 6

well it all depends, most of countries ruled under British use the same thing i.e. driving on left hand side, and other on right hand side.

whyy hmmmm not possible to tell, i guess they just decided it, may be with a flip of coin! ;)

Answer 7

The mailman drives a right hand drive car so he can be on the correct side of the street and put letters in mailboxes without reaching across his car.