The Left Side of the road

[potterfan3]

Why do we drive on the left side of the road instead of the right.

[Agent-47]

Incase we are invaded by right hand drive people.

[Catso]

So, if you are on a horse, your best sword hand is free and facing someone coming the other way.

[boro1986]

Catso is absolutely right it goes back to the days when we fought wars on horseback

[Agent-47]

lol so why dont the americans / germans / french drive on the left then , is it being there horses didnt like fighting that side.

[kepla]

In Britain, we had stricter rules on the use of the roads in horse-drawn times than most other countries did. For the first few decades of motor vehicle use, there was a mix of horse-drawn and motorised vehicles on the roads so it made even more sense to keep these rules going. In early cars the brake levers were outside of the cab and it made sense to be able to use your right hand to operate them, as most people's right is the stronger., and also used for hand signals. Many other countries started out driving on the left of the road , both for the same reasons and because the vehicles they were driving were made in Britain. Quite why some of continental Europe began driving on the left I'm not too sure, but obviously the ease with which you could drive from one country to another meant that they all soon ended up on the same side ! You can find early cars from many European countries which are right-hand drive, so most of them changed at some time. Quite why America started out on the right of the road with left-hand drive cars I'm not too sure - I'll try to find out though. Good question.

[Burno420]

i heard this on tv the other night and the actual answer is that everywhere in the world people would ride there horses on the left as most people were righthanded it would be easier to defend against attackers being that the right hand was free to draw their sword on the rest of the road, but those of you who have heard of napoleon "that french dude" lol he was lefthanded so there fore this theory didnt work for him and because of his "my way or no way attitude" he changed the law in france to driving on the right was the correct way" and thus every country that france has ever invaded now drive on the right...

stay safe