As two thirds of the world drives on the right, it can often feel that we are in the minority. Countries such as Australia, Japan and South Africa all in fact drive on the left, as we do.
So why do we drive on the Left?
The reason behind this is that the majority of the world once rode their horses on the left. As it is fairly common to be right handed, the left was preferred so people could defend themselves from oncoming danger. This began to change when during the French Revolution, as the French favoured the left, Napoleon travelled on the right.
Changing sides
In fact, in Samoa they switched from driving on the right to driving on the left in 2009. This was designed to reduce their reliance on cars imported from the USA. Until the 1920’s, certain provinces in Canada still drove on the left hand side. Newfoundland did not start driving on the right until 1947. Not so unusual after all then!
Hi Nicholas,
I would imagine it must be quite strange to drive a left handed vehicle on the left! It’s funny to think it’s all because of the donkeys!
Thanks for leaving a comment.
The US Virgin Island of St.Thomas still drives on the left although most vehicles are left hand drive American models. This could be something of an an advantage as the island is very hilly and it means you can see where you are in relation to the slope on your left.
The reason is odder. When the US bought the island off Denmark in the First World War to prevent the Germans getting it as a submarine base, a lot of local transport was by donkey. The US changed the driving side to the right, but the donkeys refused to comply, so the left hand driving remained!