Right Side of the Road: Why Does England Drive on the Left While America Drives on the Right?

Many people wonder why the English are so strange in driving on the wrong side of the road. Little do they know that it is America that drives on the wrong side. Originally, it was accepted that everyone drove on the left side of the road during feudal times. Knights would always wear their swords and scabbards on the left and found that climbing onto their horse from the left was easier than the right. Otherwise, their swords and scabbards would get in the way, so knights and other travelers generally kept to the left side of the road.

It was not until much later that the change was made to use the right side of the road instead. In the 1700's, people began carrying farm products in their wagons. They would carry the reins in their left hand and use their right to whip and spur on the horses. The wagon drivers would usually sit on the horse on the left and would not want his wheels to become damaged from oncoming wagons, so they would watch the left wagon wheels. They would therefore travel on the right side of the road. Also, in 1789, Napoleon instituted a law that stated that everyone must drive on the right side of the road. Now, the reasoning behind this is that Napoleon was left-handed. He would hold the horse's reins with his right hand and defend himself with his stronger left hand and would therefore keep to the right as well.

Most countries that opposed Napoleon defied his new law and kept driving on the left. Some of these countries were the British Empire, Portugal, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire as well as others. The American colonies even drove on the left side up until the American Revolution. When America won its independence, it wanted to defy Britain's laws and create its own, so America changed its way of driving. Some of the first laws stating that Americans would have to drive on the right side of the road were instituted in 1792, 1804, and 1813.

Later on to replicate the actions of most countries, many nations began switching to the right side of the road. Italy began its switch in the 1890's, China switched in 1946, Portugal in the 1920's, and Sweden in 1963. The argument over which side of the road people should drive on has been a long and controversial one and today only about one quarter of the world still drives on the left side of the road.

Jamie. Why do Americans drive on the right side of the road? Yahoo! Answers. 2007. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070415033633AAWEuXC