If you are used to driving on the right, as we drive in Spain, taking the car in countries where you drive on the left is a curious experience to say the least. Sticking to the shoulders of your lane, the impression that you are going to be hit by the vehicle in front of you, navigating a roundabout well and changing gears with your left hand require maximum concentration behind the wheel.
The United Kingdom is not the only country where you drive on the left, but this regulation is in force in 55 countries recognized by the UN –75 territories in total–, including Australia and Japan. But why do you drive on the right in some countries and on the left in others?
We go back to antiquity, from the times of the Roman Empire to the Middle Ages, when riders rode on the left, due to the fact that they held the horse’s reins with their left hand and the whip with their right. Another reason is that the knights carried their weapons with their right hands in order to defend themselves in case of being attacked. Thus, it became the norm in most of the world to drive on the right, since most people were right-handed.
When animal-drawn carriages began to break into traffic, this custom remained entrenched. They were placed to the left of the roads so as not to injure pedestrians with the blows of the whip.
Although there are rumors that indicate that driving on the left was imposed by Napoleon Bonaparte, who was left-handed, the truth is that the change came as a result of the French Revolution, which began in 1789. Until then, wealthy people circulated on the left side and the rest on the right. But the motto of equity pushed the population to drive on the right side, until it became a mandatory law.
Most European countries took the example of France, rearranging the direction of their march. However, the British colonies remained in their circulation on the left, as well as other bordering territories.
In the case of the United States, the shift to driving on the right stemmed from the popularity of larger and more complex cars, which made driving on the right safer.
There are versions that suggest that the United Kingdom refused to embrace this custom as a result of having just lost the War of Independence. It is also said that it was because Napoleon did not conquer those territories.
Other stories note that by the time right-hand driving became widespread, changing the UK traffic order would have been very costly, so it was left-handed. As well as in the rest of the countries under the influence of the Commonwealth.
