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 ?
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.
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.
| 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 |
