History of Left Hand Drive Cars
Historically, people the world over travelled on the left side of the road. Like today, most of the world’s population was right-handed, and it was easier to mount a horse from the left, as well as draw one’s sword against enemies in violent feudal societies.
Legend has it that it was left-handed Napoleon who first overturned the practice of travelling on the left during widespread social changes in Revolutionary France. Whatever the catalyst, from then on, any country that had been colonised by the French travelled on the right, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Poland, Germany, Russia and many parts of Spain and Italy; while Britain, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Portugal resisted.
France and Britain went on to found many colonies around the world which naturally followed the rule of their founding nations. Australia, India, Kenya, Indonesia and New Guinea all fell under British influence, while France led the way in Congo, Vietnam, Spain, Portugal, South and Central America and parts of Africa.
Further divisions occurred between Canada and the US. French-governed territories from Quebec to Louisiana drove on the right, while the British-occupied territories of British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland kept to the left.
As the Dutch colonised New York, and the Spanish and Portuguese occupied the southern Americas, the left hand drive approach expanded. Anxious to discard old colonial ties with Britain, the US decided to adopt a left hand drive policy, and Canada followed suit. In other places conformity with neighbouring countries has inspired changes.
One by one, the remaining European countries driving on the left converted to driving on the right, with Iceland being the last to change in 1968. Today, only a handful of countries in Europe continue to drive on the left: the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Malta and Cyprus, none of which borders a right side traffic country, and all of which were once part of the British Empire.
While Europe would like Britain to fall into line with its counterparts, it would cost billions of pounds to change the system and is no longer a feasible option.
