Silly car question #20: Why do we drive on the left side of the road?

Tuesday, 7 November 2017

Here's an interesting car question: In how many countries do motorists drive on the left side of the road?

The answer is 74 - that represents about 35 per cent of the world's population.

There is some evidence to suggest that driving on the left side of the road is safer, because the greater percentage of the world's motorists are right-handed and therefore right-eye dominant.

That leads to a second interesting car question: Why? How come in places as varied as India, Singapore, Kenya, Cyprus, Bahamas, Falkland Islands, Mauritius and of course New Zealand, the official side of the road to drive on is the left? While all the rest of the world drives on the right?

It's because most of the countries that drive on the left are former British colonies, and as we know, the United Kingdom always has been a right-hand drive country.

We can't see any sword-wielding horsemen on this stretch of the road. But keep left anyway.

* Silly Car Question #16: Why are there so many white cars?**

The reason actually goes back hundreds of years to violent feudal times, when horsemen travelled on the left side of the roads.

That was because since most people are right-handed, swordsmen preferred to keep their scabbards on their left so they could use their right hands to grab their swords, and keep opponents to their right when they fought them.

Not only that, but for a right-handed person it is easier to mount a horse from the left - and nobody wanted to climb aboard a horse from the middle of the road.

Some countries began to swing to the right in the late 1700s when large wagons began to be hitched up to several pairs of horses to haul big loads of farm products In France and the United States.

These wagons had no driver's seats, so the driver sat on the left rear horse so he could keep his right arm free to use his whip.

Because the driver was on the left, visibility was best down the left side of his team of horses, so these teams began keeping to the right side of the road.

Late that century the French Revolution helped change things - up until then the aristocracy travelled to the left and peasants to the right, but after the revolution the aristocrats decided to keep a low profile by joining up with the peasants on their side of the road.

Then in 1794 the French turned into law the trend to travel on the right side of the road.

When Napoleon embarked on his conquests throughout Europe, he spread the law to those countries as well, with the only nations keeping left being those that resisted Napoleon's advances.

One of those countries was Great Britain, which in 1835 made it mandatory to drive on the left side of the road.

All other members of the British Empire followed suit, and that's the main reason why New Zealand and 73 other countries are right-hand drive today.

America changed to the right-hand side of the road following its declaration of independence from Britain, apparently because it wanted to cast off all links with that colonial past.

But hang on - Japan was never part of the British Empire, so come its motorists drive on the left side?

It's because the Brits provided the Japanese with the necessary technical aid when the country introduced its first railway and tram network in the 19th Century, and all the trains and trams drove on the left-hand side.

All this leads to one more obvious question: Which is best - left-hand drive or right-hand drive?

The good news for Kiwi motorists is that there is some evidence to suggest that driving on the left side of the road is safer, simply because the greater percentage of the world's motorists are right-handed and therefore right-eye dominant.

This means the stronger right hand can be used to control the steering wheel, and the right eye is the one closest to oncoming traffic.