driving

[MORELLO]

 why do we drive on the righ hand side of the road?

[sft42]

"WE" don't.

[georgit79]

We may ask why we are amongst only a few countries who drive on the left..why don't we all drive on the same side?

[Casey]

CJH where are you from? As the UK drive on the 'left'

[Hammer]

"WE" drive on the left. This is a UK site - the clue is in the name

[Quizmonster]

Driving on the right came about by whim. As long ago as the days of knights on horseback, they - being mostly right-handed, as we mostly are today - approached each other right side to right side. This was so that they could wield their swords effectively if the need arose. In other words, they rode "on the left".

Driving on the left was the rule in Roman times, too. There is archaeological evidence for this in the form of excavated cart-wheel ruts at the entrances to quarries. One pair of ruts is deep - obviously created when the carts emerged laden with stones - and the other shallow, where they entered unladen. The deep ruts prove they drove on the left.

Later, it is recorded that London City Council appointed three officials in 1722 to keep traffic on London Bridge on the left.

Napoleon imposed the drive-on-the-right rule in Europe for no other reason than to stamp his authority.

Virtually all early automobiles, created by the pioneers both in Europe and America, had the steering-wheel on the right. Just like the knights of old, it made sense, therefore, to drive on the left. By doing so, the driver could easily see to manoeuvre his vehicle past approaching traffic and could judge when to overtake without endangering himself.

What happened to change things was that Henry Ford suddenly started mass-producing cars with the steering-wheel on the left. So, just as it had made perfect sense to drive on the left before, it now made perfect sense in the USA to drive on the right. Why did he put the steering-wheel there, when practically no-one else had ever done so and nothing was forcing him to buck the trend in Napoleonic style. Well, obviously whim...nothing more...sheer whim!

[BUNNY]

I heard an explaination but it may not be correct.The left hand side was traditionally used.However Napoleon changed and made his armies march on the right.This meant from a distance, if spotted by the enemy, his armies would be assumed to be marching away from and not towards them.Quite clever if its true.

[dorset 1954]

I live in an ex-Ministry of Defence house on an army camp of the Tank Regiment. I am very careful to drive on the left to avoid my Peugeot and me getting crushed by a tank!

[SteveD]

Have a read here: http://www.i18nguy.com/driver-side.html

[Ray the DJ]

Apparently to conform to EU laws we will be changing to the right in 2006. On 1st January all buses and HGV velicles will change to the right then the cars will change the week after!

[JonnyL]

Someone said we were one of the "few" Countries who drive on the left. I read somewhere that about 90 Countries actually drive on the left, don't know how true that is though. J

[dawnI]

Naploean was left handed and a nutter he altered the side his soldiers would pass on from the left (meaning your right hand could grab the sword next to your left leg to strike your enemy) to the right because he was a lefty and that meant so were they and it stuck, with europe following suit. I don't know if it is a fact but it is said that americans adopted the french way as the french helped them in the war of independace and it was also another tie with Britain they could sever.