Why the Brits Drive on the Wrong Side of The Road

In days of old logic dictated that when people passed each other on the road they should be in the best possible position to use their sword to protect themselves. As most people are right handed they therefore keep to their left. This practice was formalized in a Papal Edict by Pope Benefice around 1300AD who told all his pilgrims to keep to the left.

Nothing much changed until 1773 when an increase in horse traffic forced the UK Government to introduce the General Highways Act of 1773 which contained a keep left recommendation. This became a law as part of the Highways Bill in 1835.

Reasons to travel on the right are less clear but the generally accepted version of history is as follows: The French, being Catholics, followed Pope Boneface's edict but in the build up to the French Revolution in 1790 the French Aristocracy drove their carriages at great speed on the left hand side of the road, forcing the peasantry over to the right side for their own safety. Come the Revolution, instincts of self preservation resulted in the remains of the Aristocracy joining the peasants on the right hand side of the road. The first official record of this was a keep right rule introduced in Paris in 1794.

OK, that explains the UK and France but what about the rest of the world ?

Britain's imperial expansion (all of the pink bits on old maps) spread the keep left rule far and wide. This included India, Australasia and much of Africa (Although many African countries changed to the right later when they became independent).

France also had quite an empire after the revolutionary wars and the keep right rule spread through much of modern day Europe and to colonies such as Egypt. The connection with the USA is thought to be General Lafayette who recommended a keep right rule as part of the help that he gave the Americans in the build up to the war of Independence. The first reference to keep right in USA law is in a rule covering the Lancaster to Philadelphia turnpike in 1792.

But what about Japan ? well in the 1850's Gunboat diplomacy forced the Japanese to open their ports to the British and Sir Rutherford Alcock, who was Queen Victoria's man in the Japanese court persuaded them to adopt the keep left rule.

Very early motorcars followed the principle of a horse driven carriage and the chauffeur was seated in the middle. Once the owners of the vehicles realized what fun they were to drive they wanted their wife/companion to sit with them so the decision had to be made, which side !

The side of the steering wheel followed the tradition in the country so that the first cars (Benz in Germany) were left hand drive as they drive on the right. The major exception to this was that racing cars were almost always right hand drive because it was better suited to circuit racing. In the USA Pierce-Arrow were an example of this and in Europe, most pre 1950 Italian Sports cars are Right Hand Drive, including all pre-1956 Lancia's. Remember also that every Bugatti is Right Hand Drive.

There are only 2 cars with a center steering wheel. The prototype Amphicar and the current McLaren Formula One.

Despite Euro-pressure the consensus is that Britain, or any other Drive on Left country, will never change. Two reasons, traffic density make the switch impractical (the last time it was successfully done was in the 1950's with less than 10% of current levels. The Japanese are the worlds largest car producers, they need to produce vehicles for their own market and need to export so will always produce left and right hand drive vehicles thereby guaranteeing a supply for the rest of the world.