15 ms·

Why Britain Drives on the Left

ChrisArchitect 2y ago
Query for the pile: why didn't the Guardian migrate this content to the updated responsive design like much of recent Notes & Queries entries. How old is this?
martyvis 2y ago
It's also interesting that in the nautical world it is more universal. Boats everywhere keep to the right passing each other on the port side (the left)
- Ferret7446 2y ago
  Might be the same reason the left side is the port. (The right side is the side you have your oar for the right handed majority).
brnt 2y ago
Trains do NOT everywhere in continental Europe drive on the left (not in NL, DE, PL at least), but indeed they do in France (and Belgium). Always struck as funny, because if driving on the RHS was about being different, you'd think trains would also. Maybe someone French has an insight. Another thing I consider funny: all former Dutch colonies drive LHS. Napoleonic influence never got there it seems.
- mytailorisrich 2y ago
  Actually, in the French Eastern areas that used to be part of Germany trains drive on the right and so I believe that regular trains between, say, Paris and Strasbourg change side on the way, but TGVs stay on the left. Now, as to why French train drive on the left, it seems that this is simply because French railways started in the early 19th century by copying what the British were doing (although according to Google the SNCF's official position is "absolutely not!" ;) )
- soco 2y ago
  What does for a train mean "driving on the left"? Trains don't overtake, they don't give priority, they don't drive through roundabouts, for all what matters they could drive on top of another and the experience would be exactly the same.
  - robjwells 2y ago
    Imagine you’re standing on a double-track section. From your perspective, the track on the left leads away from you, the track on the right leads towards you. As to why: having this uniformity is useful in placing, eg, signals (which face in one direction). Much more confusing in railways is which track is the “up” line and which is the “down” line.
- twic 2y ago
  I once read that the Paris metro drives on the right, specifically so that it can't interoperate with the mainline railways. I wonder how true that is, though. The metro is sort of a glorified tramway, and trams have to operate the same way round as street traffic.
  - grishka 2y ago
    How would that make them not interoperable? A metro system is just an underground electric railway. The only serious difference is how the power is delivered to the trains, it's usually some sort of third rail instead of an overhead wire. The whole "which side it drives on" is moot for trains. There exist regular railways with single-track sections that trains use in different directions. I've seen terminal metro stations with two platforms where only one is used, the train arrives and then goes back into the tunnel the way it came. Many metro systems have separate tunnels for each of the two tracks connecting two stations so this notion of driving on a particular side isn't applicable to them at all.
alkonaut 2y ago
The interesting question is perhaps did the UK ever consider switching like e.g. Sweden did when they realized driving on the right was becoming the norm in the region? Being an island, the biggest reason would perhaps be that it was always going to be driving mostly European built cars from Germany, France etc, some of which will be models that aren't even sold to e.g. Japan, India or Australia, so the UK would risk being the sole market for some models' in right hand steering
- mytailorisrich 2y ago
  If driving on the right was a French idea, and even 'worse' Napoleon's idea, I think the answer to your question must be: "over my dead body" (in Tim Curry's voice) ;) That being said, apparently the UK government did consider swapping in the late (swinging) 60s but eventually decided against it. This was probably considered following Sweden's own change in 1967.
- librasteve 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - closewith 2y ago
    Good ol' racist jokes. I thought HN would have moved past that by now.
    - librasteve 2y ago
      Thank you for highlighting this. I am truly sorry for this offensive statement and would only say that in mitigation, that it did lead me to this https://www.ft.com/content/1efefa49-6e57-4743-b44b-20501432d307 https://www.ft.com/content/1efefa49-6e57-4743-b44b-20501432d... which I recommend to any unreconstructed old gits like me. [I tried to edit / delete the post but apparently the author does not have this power after a certain time limit ... mods are welcome to delete and put me out of my shame.]
- afavour 2y ago
  I think the island factor is huge. There’s no point where a road would need to flip from left to right hand driving, whereas Sweden has countless crossings with neighbouring countries. I just can’t see it ever being worth the disruption in the UK when every vehicle has a natural “reset” point anyway.
ljsprague 2y ago
I didn't see it mentioned in those comments but I have heard that the United States drives on the right because if you were sitting "shotgun" on a horse-drawn carriage, and were right-handed, you would be most comfortable angling the gun off to your left.
- chrisco255 2y ago
  That makes no sense. A carriage or wagon could be ambushed from either direction so it really wouldn't make any difference.
LeoPanthera 2y ago
Wikipedia "Left- and right-hand traffic" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-_and_right-hand_traffic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-_and_right-hand_traffic Historically, many places kept left, while many others kept right, often within the same country. There are many myths that attempt to explain why one or the other is preferred. About 90 percent of people are right-handed, and many explanations reference this. Horses are traditionally mounted from the left, and led from the left, with the reins in the right hand. So people walking horses might use RHT, to keep the animals separated. Also referenced is the need for pedestrians to keep their swords in the right hand and pass on the left as in LHT, for self-defence. It has been suggested that wagon-drivers whipped their horses with their right hand, and thus sat on the left-hand side of the wagon, as in RHT. Academic Chris McManus notes that writers have stated that in the year 1300, Pope Boniface VIII directed pilgrims to keep left; however, others suggest that he directed them to keep to the right, and there is no documented evidence to back either claim.
- NeoTar 2y ago
  This has the ring-of-truth to me. There were different patterns of local conventions and over time as it became important for large-areas to follow the same convention, these homogenized.
  - amelius 2y ago
    Beware, it is easy to come up with explanations that have a ring-of-truth.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
librasteve 2y ago
Approx. 30-35% of the world’s population live in countries that drive on the left side of the road. About 76-78 countries and territories drive on the left side of the road. Many of these countries are former British colonies, particularly in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Oceania. Notable countries that drive on the left include the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, India, South Africa, and New Zealand. Only four European countries drive on the left, all of which are islands: the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, and Cyprus. [NB: the above from perplexity.ai ... not listed but notable in my opinion are Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh. Apparently used to be the case in Myanmar but they also did a Napoleonic military junta that hates the Brits switch in the 70s]
- grues-dinner 2y ago
  > Notable countries that drive on the left include China... Only Hong Kong and Macao drive on the left, mainland China drives on the right.
  - chx 2y ago
    Which also throws the population statistics if I am not mistaken.
    - grues-dinner 2y ago
      The statistics are right, if both China and India drove on the left it would be more like a 50:50 global split. And right-hand-drive (i.e. left-hand traffic) EVs would be a lot easier to come by.
      - seanmcdirmid 2y ago
        If Japan were interested in making EVs (more than they already are), it would solve that problem well enough. BYD is making right hand drive EVs for the Australian market at least.
        2y ago
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
DrBazza 2y ago
We drive 99.9999% on the left. Not 100%. https://www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-news/one-road-london-you-drive-18422157 https://www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-news/one-road-london-y...
- maleldil 2y ago
  This (well, the opposite) happens in Brazil, too, but it's much more general. We even have a specific sign for this: "mão inglesa" (English hand).
  - cassianoleal 2y ago
    Not everywhere in Brazil though. First time I saw it I was in my 30s, in Petrópolis/RJ. It took me by surprise and I almost drove into an incoming car. Luckily there was no one on my tail so I managed to reverse and turn correctly.
    - maleldil 2y ago
      Oh, it's far from common, I know. I had to learn about it to pass the written exam in MG, and I thought it was so weird that I never forgot it.
- gregoriol 2y ago
  Nice example! I know of at least 1 place in France that drive on the right: https://www.google.fr/maps/@48.7861561,2.2221644,3a,75y,75.43h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sVWVUwXbPTydvS2AWtQfp_A!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DVWVUwXbPTydvS2AWtQfp_A%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D66.06435%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?hl=fr&coh=205409&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDgyOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D https://www.google.fr/maps/@48.7861561,2.2221644,3a,75y,75.4...
  - starspangled 2y ago
    Is that one place all of France except the road in the photo shown?
_pdp_ 2y ago
I believe the rules of the road are a lot simpler when you drive on the left. Is it just me? Without any evidence to support this statement, I came to believe that driving on the left is actually safer.
- viciousvoxel 2y ago
  Do you have an example? I have experience with both but can't imagine how it's any different when all the traffic patterns are constructed with the appropriate chirality.
cjs_ac 2y ago
There's a mention of continental Europe driving on the right due to Napoleon. The story I heard is that in the French Revolution, many changes were made purely to make a symbolic break with the monarchy, and driving on the right was one of them. Napoleon then enforced this wherever he could as a symbol of conquest. There's every chance that this explanation is bullshit.
- jmclnx 2y ago
  Interesting if true and may explain my earlier Italy comment.
jmclnx 2y ago
>Because the Romans did. That reason kind of fails when you look at Italy :) I think in the US it was common for people to drive on left, right or whatever before 1900. Then they had to chose a side. I remember seeing very old pictures of autos with the steering wheel on the right, and I believe even the center.

Query for the pile: why didn't the Guardian migrate this content to the updated responsive design like much of recent Notes & Queries entries. How old is this?

martyvis 2y ago

It's also interesting that in the nautical world it is more universal. Boats everywhere keep to the right passing each other on the port side (the left)

Ferret7446 2y ago
Might be the same reason the left side is the port. (The right side is the side you have your oar for the right handed majority).

brnt 2y ago

Trains do NOT everywhere in continental Europe drive on the left (not in NL, DE, PL at least), but indeed they do in France (and Belgium). Always struck as funny, because if driving on the RHS was about being different, you'd think trains would also. Maybe someone French has an insight. Another thing I consider funny: all former Dutch colonies drive LHS. Napoleonic influence never got there it seems.

mytailorisrich 2y ago
Actually, in the French Eastern areas that used to be part of Germany trains drive on the right and so I believe that regular trains between, say, Paris and Strasbourg change side on the way, but TGVs stay on the left. Now, as to why French train drive on the left, it seems that this is simply because French railways started in the early 19th century by copying what the British were doing (although according to Google the SNCF's official position is "absolutely not!" ;) )
soco 2y ago
What does for a train mean "driving on the left"? Trains don't overtake, they don't give priority, they don't drive through roundabouts, for all what matters they could drive on top of another and the experience would be exactly the same.
- robjwells 2y ago
  Imagine you’re standing on a double-track section. From your perspective, the track on the left leads away from you, the track on the right leads towards you. As to why: having this uniformity is useful in placing, eg, signals (which face in one direction). Much more confusing in railways is which track is the “up” line and which is the “down” line.
twic 2y ago
I once read that the Paris metro drives on the right, specifically so that it can't interoperate with the mainline railways. I wonder how true that is, though. The metro is sort of a glorified tramway, and trams have to operate the same way round as street traffic.
- grishka 2y ago
  How would that make them not interoperable? A metro system is just an underground electric railway. The only serious difference is how the power is delivered to the trains, it's usually some sort of third rail instead of an overhead wire. The whole "which side it drives on" is moot for trains. There exist regular railways with single-track sections that trains use in different directions. I've seen terminal metro stations with two platforms where only one is used, the train arrives and then goes back into the tunnel the way it came. Many metro systems have separate tunnels for each of the two tracks connecting two stations so this notion of driving on a particular side isn't applicable to them at all.

alkonaut 2y ago

The interesting question is perhaps did the UK ever consider switching like e.g. Sweden did when they realized driving on the right was becoming the norm in the region? Being an island, the biggest reason would perhaps be that it was always going to be driving mostly European built cars from Germany, France etc, some of which will be models that aren't even sold to e.g. Japan, India or Australia, so the UK would risk being the sole market for some models' in right hand steering

mytailorisrich 2y ago
If driving on the right was a French idea, and even 'worse' Napoleon's idea, I think the answer to your question must be: "over my dead body" (in Tim Curry's voice) ;) That being said, apparently the UK government did consider swapping in the late (swinging) 60s but eventually decided against it. This was probably considered following Sweden's own change in 1967.
librasteve 2y ago
[flagged]
- closewith 2y ago
  Good ol' racist jokes. I thought HN would have moved past that by now.
  - librasteve 2y ago
    Thank you for highlighting this. I am truly sorry for this offensive statement and would only say that in mitigation, that it did lead me to this https://www.ft.com/content/1efefa49-6e57-4743-b44b-20501432d307 https://www.ft.com/content/1efefa49-6e57-4743-b44b-20501432d... which I recommend to any unreconstructed old gits like me. [I tried to edit / delete the post but apparently the author does not have this power after a certain time limit ... mods are welcome to delete and put me out of my shame.]
afavour 2y ago
I think the island factor is huge. There’s no point where a road would need to flip from left to right hand driving, whereas Sweden has countless crossings with neighbouring countries. I just can’t see it ever being worth the disruption in the UK when every vehicle has a natural “reset” point anyway.

ljsprague 2y ago

I didn't see it mentioned in those comments but I have heard that the United States drives on the right because if you were sitting "shotgun" on a horse-drawn carriage, and were right-handed, you would be most comfortable angling the gun off to your left.

chrisco255 2y ago
That makes no sense. A carriage or wagon could be ambushed from either direction so it really wouldn't make any difference.

LeoPanthera 2y ago

Wikipedia "Left- and right-hand traffic" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-_and_right-hand_traffic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-_and_right-hand_traffic Historically, many places kept left, while many others kept right, often within the same country. There are many myths that attempt to explain why one or the other is preferred. About 90 percent of people are right-handed, and many explanations reference this. Horses are traditionally mounted from the left, and led from the left, with the reins in the right hand. So people walking horses might use RHT, to keep the animals separated. Also referenced is the need for pedestrians to keep their swords in the right hand and pass on the left as in LHT, for self-defence. It has been suggested that wagon-drivers whipped their horses with their right hand, and thus sat on the left-hand side of the wagon, as in RHT. Academic Chris McManus notes that writers have stated that in the year 1300, Pope Boniface VIII directed pilgrims to keep left; however, others suggest that he directed them to keep to the right, and there is no documented evidence to back either claim.

NeoTar 2y ago
This has the ring-of-truth to me. There were different patterns of local conventions and over time as it became important for large-areas to follow the same convention, these homogenized.
- amelius 2y ago
  Beware, it is easy to come up with explanations that have a ring-of-truth.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

librasteve 2y ago

Approx. 30-35% of the world’s population live in countries that drive on the left side of the road. About 76-78 countries and territories drive on the left side of the road. Many of these countries are former British colonies, particularly in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Oceania. Notable countries that drive on the left include the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, India, South Africa, and New Zealand. Only four European countries drive on the left, all of which are islands: the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, and Cyprus. [NB: the above from perplexity.ai ... not listed but notable in my opinion are Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh. Apparently used to be the case in Myanmar but they also did a Napoleonic military junta that hates the Brits switch in the 70s]

grues-dinner 2y ago
> Notable countries that drive on the left include China... Only Hong Kong and Macao drive on the left, mainland China drives on the right.
- chx 2y ago
  Which also throws the population statistics if I am not mistaken.
  - grues-dinner 2y ago
    The statistics are right, if both China and India drove on the left it would be more like a 50:50 global split. And right-hand-drive (i.e. left-hand traffic) EVs would be a lot easier to come by.
    - seanmcdirmid 2y ago
      If Japan were interested in making EVs (more than they already are), it would solve that problem well enough. BYD is making right hand drive EVs for the Australian market at least.
      - 2y ago

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

DrBazza 2y ago

We drive 99.9999% on the left. Not 100%. https://www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-news/one-road-london-you-drive-18422157 https://www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-news/one-road-london-y...

maleldil 2y ago
This (well, the opposite) happens in Brazil, too, but it's much more general. We even have a specific sign for this: "mão inglesa" (English hand).
- cassianoleal 2y ago
  Not everywhere in Brazil though. First time I saw it I was in my 30s, in Petrópolis/RJ. It took me by surprise and I almost drove into an incoming car. Luckily there was no one on my tail so I managed to reverse and turn correctly.
  - maleldil 2y ago
    Oh, it's far from common, I know. I had to learn about it to pass the written exam in MG, and I thought it was so weird that I never forgot it.
gregoriol 2y ago
Nice example! I know of at least 1 place in France that drive on the right: https://www.google.fr/maps/@48.7861561,2.2221644,3a,75y,75.43h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sVWVUwXbPTydvS2AWtQfp_A!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DVWVUwXbPTydvS2AWtQfp_A%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D66.06435%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?hl=fr&coh=205409&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDgyOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D https://www.google.fr/maps/@48.7861561,2.2221644,3a,75y,75.4...
- starspangled 2y ago
  Is that one place all of France except the road in the photo shown?

_pdp_ 2y ago

I believe the rules of the road are a lot simpler when you drive on the left. Is it just me? Without any evidence to support this statement, I came to believe that driving on the left is actually safer.

viciousvoxel 2y ago
Do you have an example? I have experience with both but can't imagine how it's any different when all the traffic patterns are constructed with the appropriate chirality.

cjs_ac 2y ago

There's a mention of continental Europe driving on the right due to Napoleon. The story I heard is that in the French Revolution, many changes were made purely to make a symbolic break with the monarchy, and driving on the right was one of them. Napoleon then enforced this wherever he could as a symbol of conquest. There's every chance that this explanation is bullshit.

jmclnx 2y ago
Interesting if true and may explain my earlier Italy comment.

jmclnx 2y ago

>Because the Romans did. That reason kind of fails when you look at Italy :) I think in the US it was common for people to drive on left, right or whatever before 1900. Then they had to chose a side. I remember seeing very old pictures of autos with the steering wheel on the right, and I believe even the center.