Why do different countries drive on different sides of the road?
My friend was in Ireland last summer (back when travelling was a thing) and was talking about how difficult it was for her family to readjust to driving on the other side of the road, especially since they ended up with a manual car. Why is it different between countries?
Answers ( 1 )
Swords, Horse Trains, Napoleon, and Auto Manufacturing.
From the times of the Roman Empire and earlier, it was safest to travel such that your sword was easily accessible to defend yourself. Given most people are right-handed, that meant keep left and pass people on your right. The whole western world “drove” on the left during medieval times.
The French revolution was frequently a rejection of the things that went before. That included driving on the left, so, France switched to driving on the right. Post-revolution Napoleon, who was left-handed, kept this practice. And so he enforced the new driving on the right in conquered countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and parts of Austria.
But not Great Britain, nor its colonies, importantly for this discussion. They had no reason to switch.
Later, and especially in the US, came horse trains. These were four horses that drew a wagon, but the wagon that did not contain a seat for its driver. The driver sat in the back left horse for steering purposes. You sat on the left so you could whip the horses with your right hand.
Sitting there, you'd want to pass other horse trains so you could see them: from the right side of the road.
From here, auto manufacturing drove the decision. Henry Ford's Model T had a steering wheel on the left because of America's horse-train convention. Cheap, mass produced autos from the US often (but not always) drove a conversion to driving on the right and/or Fords and their left-side drive were more palatable to drivers who already drove on the right.
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Brian Shelden
brian@shelden.org