Why do the Europeans Drive on the Right Whilst the British Drive on the Left ?

In a Nutshell :  Because Napoleon Bonaparte was left handed. *

* To be fair this is only part of the reason. We explain fully below.


Whilst much of the world’s road systems enforce driving on the right, not all do. Most notably, the British drive on the left whilst their continental cousins drive on the right, but why ?


FACTOID
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When the Nazis marched into Austria on 12 March 1938, Hitler ordered all of Austria to switch to driving on the right.

The Romans enforced a traffic system where vehicles and riders approached each other on the left as did the people in the Middle Ages.

The reason was quite simple: as most people are right handed approaching another person, especially when mounted, meant that your sword arm was free to meet any potential attack.

So, back to Napoleon. Napoleon was left handed and so for him approaching oncoming traffic on the right hand side would leave his sword arm free. As a lot of Western Europe, with the notable exception of Britain, came under Napoleonic conquest and control they enforced the rule that traffic should flow on the right hand side of the road.

So the new ‘rightism’ was extended to the Low Countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), Switzerland, Germany, Poland and many parts of Spain and Italy. The states that had resisted Napoleon kept left – Britain, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Portugal.


An official keep-right rule was introduced in Paris in 1794

However, this is not the complete picture. The origins of enforcing right hand sided traffic actually slightly pre-dates Napoleonic rule and goes back to the French Revolution. The Revolution was determined to turn absolutely everything from the old order on its antithesis, from the dating system to the the driving laws which were changed to “keep right.”

Before the Revolution, the aristocracy travelled on the left of the road, forcing the peasantry over to the right, but after the storming of the Bastille and the subsequent bloody terror, aristocrats preferred to keep a low profile and joined the peasants on the right. An official keep-right rule was introduced in Paris in 1794, more or less parallel to Denmark, where driving on the right had been made compulsory in 1793.

Today about a 35% of the world population drives on the left, and the countries that do are mostly old British colonies.


So whilst Napoleon did more to promulgate a right handed traffic system he was merely ,conveniently for him, continuing on where the French Revolution left off.



Left & Right-Driving Countries

The world map below shows which side of the road traffic drives on. Green coloured countries drive on the right, orange countries drive on the left. Most former British colonies, with some exceptions, drive on the left side of the road.


Created with Raphaël 2.1.0
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Country / state / territory … drive(s) on the left/right
Abu Dhabi drives on the right
Afghanistan drives on the right
Albania drives on the right
Algeria drives on the right
American Samoa drives on the right
Andorra drives on the right
Angola drives on the right
Anguilla drives on the left
Antigua and Barbuda drives on the left
Argentina drives on the right
Armenia drives on the right
Aruba drives on the right
Australia drives on the left
Austria drives on the right
Azerbaijan drives on the right
Azores drive on the right
Bahamas drives on the left
Bahrain drives on the right
Balearic Islands drive on the right
Bangladesh drives on the left
Barbados drives on the left
Belarus drives on the right
Belgium drives on the right
Belize drives on the right
Benin drives on the right
Bermuda drives on the left
Bhutan drives on the left
Bolivia drives on the right
Bonaire drives on the right
Bosnia and Herzegovina drives on the right
Botswana drives on the left
Brazil drives on the right
British Virgin Islands drive on the left
Brunei drives on the left
Bulgaria drives on the right
Burkina Faso drives on the right
Burma (officially Myanmar) drives on the right
Burundi drives on the right
Cambodia drives on the right
Cameroon drives on the right
Canada drives on the right
Canary Islands drive on the right
Cape Verde drives on the right
Cayman Islands drives on the left
Central African Republic drives on the right
Chad drives on the right
Channel Islands (Guernsey & Jersey) drive on the left
Chile drives on the right
China, People’s Republic of drives on the right
Christmas Island drives on the left
Cocos (Keeling) Islands drive on the left
Colombia drives on the right
Comoros drives on the right
Congo, Democratic Republic of drives on the right
Congo, People’s Republic of drives on the right
Cook Islands drives on the left
Costa Rica drives on the right
Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) drives on the right
Croatia drives on the right
Cuba drives on the right
Curaçao drives on the right
Cyprus drives on the left
Czech Republic drives on the right
Denmark drives on the right
Djibouti drives on the right
Dominica drives on the left
Dominican Republic drives on the right
Dubai drives on the right
East Timor (Timor-Leste) drives on the left
Ecuador drives on the right
Egypt drives on the right
El Salvador drives on the right
England drives on the left
Equatorial Guinea drives on the right
Eritrea drives on the right
Estonia drives on the right
Ethiopia drives on the right
Faeroe Islands drive on the right
Falkland Islands drives on the left
Fiji drives on the left
Finland drives on the right
France drives on the right
French Guiana drives on the right
French Polynesia drives on the right
Gabon (Gabonese Republic) drives on the right
Gambia drives on the right
Gaza drives on the right
Georgia drives on the right
Germany drives on the right
Ghana drives on the right
Gibraltar drives on the right
Great Britain (GB) drives on the left
Greece drives on the right
Greenland drives on the right
Grenada drives on the left
Guadeloupe drives on the right
Guam drives on the right
Guatemala drives on the right
Guernsey drives on the left
Guinea drives on the right
Guinea-Bissau drives on the right
Guyana drives on the left
Haiti drives on the right
Holland (officially the Netherlands) drives on the right
Honduras drives on the right
Hong Kong drives on the left
Hungary drives on the right
Iceland drives on the right
India drives on the left
Indonesia drives on the left
Iran drives on the right
Iraq drives on the right
Ireland (Eire) drives on the left
Ireland, Northern drives on the left
Isle of Man drives on the left
Israel drives on the right
Italy drives on the right
Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) drives on the right
Jamaica drives on the left
Japan drives on the left
Jersey drives on the left
Jordan drives on the right
Kazakhstan drives on the right
Kenya drives on the left
Kiribati drives on the left
Korea, North drives on the right
Korea, South drives on the right
Kosovo drives on the right
Kuwait drives on the right
Kyrgyzstan drives on the right
Laos drives on the right
Latvia drives on the right
Lebanon drives on the right
Lesotho drives on the left
Liberia drives on the right
Libya drives on the right
Liechtenstein drives on the right
Lithuania drives on the right
Luxembourg drives on the right
Macau drives on the left
Macedonia, Republic of (the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, FYROM) drives on the right
Madagascar drives on the right
Madeira drives on the right
Malawi drives on the left
Malaysia drives on the left
Maldives drives on the left
Mali drives on the right
Malta drives on the left
Marshall Islands drive on the right
Martinique drives on the right
Mauritania drives on the right
Mauritius drives on the left
Mayotte drives on the right
Mexico drives on the right
Micronesia, Federated States of drives on the right
Moldova drives on the right
Monaco drives on the right
Mongolia drives on the right
Montenegro drives on the right
Montserrat drives on the left
Morocco drives on the right
Mozambique drives on the left
Myanmar (formerly Burma) drives on the right
Namibia drives on the left
Nauru drives on the left
Nepal drives on the left
Netherlands drives on the right
New Caledonia drives on the right
New Zealand drives on the left
Nicaragua drives on the right
Niger drives on the right
Nigeria drives on the right
Niue drives on the left
Norfolk Island drives on the left
North Cyprus (unrecognised, self-declared state) drives on the left
Northern Ireland drives on the left
Northern Mariana Islands drive on the right
North Korea drives on the right
Norway drives on the right
Oman drives on the right
Pakistan drives on the left
Palau drives on the right
Panama drives on the right
Papua New Guinea drives on the left
Paraguay drives on the right
Peru drives on the right
Philippines drives on the right
Pitcairn Islands drive on the left
Poland drives on the right
Portugal drives on the right
Puerto Rico drives on the right
Qatar drives on the right
Réunion drives on the right
Romania drives on the right
Russia (officially the Russian Federation) drives on the right
Rwanda drives on the right
Saba drives on the right
Saint Barthélemy (informally also referred to as Saint Barth’s or Saint Barts) drives on the right
Saint Kitts and Nevis (officially the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis) drives on the left
Saint Lucia drives on the left
Saint Martin drives on the right
Saint Helena drives on the left
Sint Eustatius drives on the right
Sint Maarten drives on the right
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines drives on the left
Samoa drives on the left
San Marino drives on the right
São Tomé and Príncipe drives on the right
Saudi Arabia drives on the right
Scotland drives on the left
Senegal drives on the right
Serbia drives on the right
Seychelles drives on the left
Sierra Leone drives on the right
Singapore drives on the left
Slovakia drives on the right
Slovenia drives on the right
Solomon Islands drive on the left
Somalia drives on the right
Somaliland drives on the right
South Africa drives on the left
South Korea drives on the right
South Sudan drives on the right
Spain drives on the right
Sri Lanka drives on the left
Sudan drives on the right
Suriname drives on the left
Swaziland drives on the left
Sweden drives on the right
Switzerland drives on the right
Syria drives on the right
Tahiti drives on the right
Taiwan drives on the right
Tajikistan drives on the right
Tanzania drives on the left
Thailand drives on the left
Togo drives on the right
Tokelau drives on the left
Tonga drives on the left
Trinidad and Tobago drives on the left
Tunisia drives on the right
Turkey drives on the right
Turkmenistan drives on the right
Turks and Caicos Islands drive on the left
Tuvalu drives on the left
Uganda drives on the left
Ukraine drives on the right
United Arab Emirates (UAE) drives on the right
United Kingdom (UK) drives on the left
United States of America (USA) drives on the right
United States Virgin Islands drive on the left
Uruguay drives on the right
Uzbekistan drives on the right
Vanuatu drives on the right
Vatican City drives on the right
Venezuela drives on the right
Vietnam drives on the right
Virgin Islands (British) drive on the left
Virgin Islands (USA) drive on the left
Wales drives on the left
Wallis and Futuna drives on the right
West Bank drives on the right
Western Sahara drives on the right
Yemen drives on the right
Zambia drives on the left
Zimbabwe drives on the left

Author: Robert

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