Why does england drive on the left

The keep right rule was applied to the Pennsylvania turnpike in , New York in and New Jersey in Bucking the normal trend, the Pacific island of Samoa made the switch from driving on the right to driving on the left side of the road on 7 September The official reason given was so as to fall in line with near neighbours Australia and New Zealand which, like Britain, still drive on the left.

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Font size. Why do we drive on the left side of the road in the UK but most other countries drive on the right? Next: Who was the first person to be charged for drink-driving? In fact, it goes back to the Middle Ages. In ye olden days, when traveling down a highway put you at risk of being attacked or robbed, traveling on the left was a matter of safety. Since most people were and still are right-handed, passing on the left meant leaving your sword-hand free to take on any challengers.

Whether on foot, horseback, or in a carriage, you needed to be able to whip out your lance, sword, pitchfork, or staff in response to a threat—and quickly.

According to the BBC , this practice was widespread outside of Britain, too, potentially dating back as far as ancient Greece and Rome. But various pressures eventually shifted travelers to the right. Pic: Wiki Commons.

Naturally, in Britain we eschewed everything that smacked of foreign ways and steadfastly stuck to our guns, ploughing our furrows on the left. The practice was enshrined in legislation here in , and — just as Boney had done — we introduced the custom of driving on the left to those parts of the world that had the good fortune to come under the yoke of enlightenment, otherwise known as the British Empire.

Showing the laissez-faire for which we are famed, some countries such as Egypt, which moved from French to British control, were allowed to retain their French customs. The Japanese, who were never British subjects, still drive on the left. This is due to their Samurai heritage. They too needed to have their sword hand free.

It became enshrined in law in The Americans, of course, drive on the right. Initially, when it was a British colony, the inhabitants drove on the left, but following their rebellion in , they forswore all practices they associated with their colonial masters.