Interesting article. I enjoyed this part in particular:
> Pakistan also considered changing to the right in the 1960s, but ultimately decided not to do it. The main argument against the shift was that camel trains often drove through the night while their drivers were dozing. The difficulty in teaching old camels new tricks was decisive in forcing Pakistan to reject the change.
My favorite bit has to do with a referendum held in Sweden:
In 1955, the Swedish government held a referendum
on the introduction of right-hand driving. Although
no less than 82.9% voted “no” to the plebiscite,
the Swedish parliament passed a law on the
conversion to right-hand driving in 1963.
Interesting ideas. The cart driver sitting on the leftmost rear horse as a reason for driving on the right I can buy. However, I have a harder time with the idea that "feudal, violent societies" preferred to walk on the left in order to maintain the best position for using a sword against an oncoming opponent. The author doesn't locate this observation in time, other than to mention "feudal," but I don't believe that a large enough percentage of the people using the roads, at any time, carried swords for this to be a determining factor in forming the custom.
This kind of sword-handedness argument reminds me of a similar argument for deciding the directionality of spiral staircases:
> Spiral staircases were a clever defence in medieval
> castles. They were almost always built with the spiral
> in the same direction (clockwise, when looking up from
> the bottom) so that the defending swordsman, who would
> either be coming down the stairs or backing up in
> reverse, could freely swing his sword. Conversely, the
> attacking swordsman (ascending the stairs) would have
> his swing blocked by the wall.
> This, of course, assumed that both attacker an defender
> were right-handed, which most were.
I've heard that theory before, but I've not seen any evidence for it, and it seems directly contradicted by this quote from Boswell's "Life of Johnson" (early 1700s):
"He related to me the following minute anecdote of this period: 'In the last age, when my mother lived in London, there were two sets of people, those who gave the wall, and those who took it; the peaceable and the quarrelsome. When I returned to Lichfield, after having been in London, my mother asked me, whether I was one of those who gave the wall, or those who took it. NOW it is fixed that every man keeps to the right; or, if one is taking the wall, another yields it; and it is never a dispute.'"
I agree. The author does bring up a more general explanation, though, which I have heard before - about right-handers preferring to mount or dismount a horse on the left side, and it being safer to do this on the shoulder rather than the center of the road.
Keeping to the right is a deferral that visitors to the UK can find confusing on occassion. Visitors can find it odd that while keeping to the left on roadways, the right is used when on foot and in need of order of movement. On tube escalators for example, where allowing overtaking on the left is giving the right of way. The deferrers right is against the wall. Thus we play to their strengths, and contain ours as a courtesy.
I remember in my teens in the early 80’s visiting the USA. Having come from the left driving country which is the source of iocane powder, I was quite startled when the taxi shot out into the middle of the intersection to do a left hand turn instead of hugging the curb.
The linked[1] trivia article was quite interesting as well. Loved this bit: A newspaper story on April Fool’s Day suggested that, to further European integration, the UK was to convert to driving on the right. However, owing to the huge amount of work this conversion would cause, it would be phased in: for the first six months the regulation would only apply to buses and taxis.
The mention of locations of turn signal levers also reminded me of the time I drove a car which was opposite of what I am use to. Every time I went around a corner I would switch the window wipers on.
I'm about to begin a 2-year circumnavigation of Africa - I look forward to the border crossings where swapping sides of the road is required - I'm told they're quite interesting.
There is a nifty double roundabout between Brazil and Guyana where you enter it one side of the road and when you exit you're on the other side of the road.
Wow! I couldn't find an image that seemed to be from there, but when I was looking for it, I found someone's blog with several impressive examples [0]. I really liked the aerial photos of some of the intersections.
"In the past, almost everybody travelled on the left side of the road because that was the most sensible option for feudal, violent societies... Furthermore, a right-handed person finds it easier to mount a horse from the left side of the horse"
I think this still applies today: the majority of people are right eye dominant and it makes sense having the dominant eye closer to the oncoming traffic, and the majority of people will find it easier to mount bicycles and motorcycles from the side of the road rather than the centre of the road. I wonder if there are any statistics on the safety implications of switching to driving on the right.
interesting, I did not know that. Wikipedia states 33%left, 66% right, and the balance having no difference. This might be part of the evolution of vision in humans. The brain takes inputs from both eyes and compiles them into your vision field, maybe there is an evolutionary reason that a strong and weak pair produce better results.
> I wonder if there are any statistics on the safety implications of switching to driving on the right.
I don't think there is any reasonable data for this. Driving in England and America likely can not be compared directly as the roads, driving test, culture and vehicle setup are different. Also, an individual who immigrates will likely be at higher risk for causing accidents as the entire system is foreign and they have been conditioned using a different one.
No stats that I'm aware of. My observation is that people generally imagine disaster scenarios that do not come to pass when it comes to large traffic changes. Two short anecdotes to support the observation.
1) My wife and I visited Ireland for a vacation a few years back. Neither she nor I had driven on the left side previously. We drove around the southwest of Ireland for a week and a half w/o incident. Driving on the left side wasn't really a big issue. Pulling away from the curb was the biggest challenge, but it became "natural" after a day or so.
It was much more difficult navigating very narrow roads with (it seemed) mere inches from a stone wall on the left and oncoming traffic on the right.
Our situation was helped quite a bit by our familiarity with driving standard and familiarity with circulars (rotaries). Either of those factors would have made the situation much more difficult if we weren't.
2) Two years ago, several key roads in downtown Providence, RI (a state in the US) were switched from one to two-way. Everyone predicted a large increase in accidents. I'm unaware of any increase in accidents to date. Our largest traffic problems continue to be caused by road construction sites with poor signs, RI's overall inability to communicate effectively with signs, and college students from non-urban areas who walk into the street w/o looking and under the assumption that cars will just stop.
Despite my skepticism of a switch to right side driving being a big issue, I fear that we won't see it any sooner than we will see the US finally switch to the metric system.
On the other hand, by the same argument, why not have that slightly improved acuity applied to pedestrians, cyclists, and road signs, all of which are on the right when driving on the right side of the road?
I regularly drive on both sides. The only difference I find is that the order of the pedals in a manual car makes less sense for left-hand drive. In right-hand drive you can put your left (gear) foot to the side and your right (throttle) foot locked against the side, which is more comfortable than putting your left foot underneath and keeping your right foot up.
The differences in priority rules tick me off way more than the side of the road.
There are may articles summarized historical reasons, however I haven't seen reason why in France cars drive on right, while trains on left. Another question which still puzzles me after all my trips to UK, London in particular, should pedestrians on pavement walk on left or right? My eyes tells me the most travel on right, but not always. Some underground station signs say keep left.
Be careful on the escalators in the Tube. You are instructed to keep right if you wish to stand, so that the left side is clear for people to walk if they are in a hurry.
In general I have never noticed a preference for which side to walk on on a pathway, in the UK or anywhere else. People tend to stick with the peleton.
For the Americans, pavement in British English means sidewalk :)
After learning this (in school road safety lessons I think?) in general I always assumed you should walk on the right as a pedestrian for consistency (even though the highway code doesn't contain any rules for sidewalks) but it's not universally observed, particularly in London where there are so many foreign tourists.
This article from BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28352045 says "Telling people how to walk is simply not British" and I can anecdotally confirm there is no observed rule in London. A bloke once told me somewhat angrily "on the left in England mate", but he must be telling that to hundreds of English people daily.
Signs in corridors in stations can say either "keep left" or "keep right" depending on what's more convenient for corridor layout. Escalators are always stand right, walk left.
(Out of interest and because the article also mentions it, there is no concept of jaywalking in England and I've read that it is not in any way illegal for pedestrians to cross against a red light. However drivers rarely defer to pedestrians even at marked crossings.)
(Out of further interest, in Paris the suburban trains use left-hand running like the national network, but the metro runs on the right.)
What I have been told years ago, no source though, is that trains were invented and first implemented in the UK while metro was first implemented by French people.
East Timor had traffic on the left until 1928, when it changed to the right at the same time as its colonial power, Portugal. During Japanese occupation during World War II driving on the left was imposed, and when the Portuguese returned it changed back to the right. Under Indonesian rule, East Timor changed back to driving on the left in 1976, and continued the practice under UN administration from 1999 and since independence in 2002.
Interesting to note that not all of the USA drives on the right. In the US Virgin Islands people still drive on the left side of the road, but mostly with cars made for driving on the right side.
Australia is planning to move from left to right hand side starting in 2020 but it's a big change so the change will be phased in with trucks moving to the right in 2020 and cars in 2021.
Bottomline, there is no sense in driving on the left today, but it did hundreds of years ago. Driving on the left (on those countries who do) has simply stuck out of habit, customs, rules, or choice. The "there is a perfectly good reason" should read, "there was a perfectly good reason."
Bottomline, there is no sense in driving on the right today, but it did hundreds of years ago. Driving on the right (on those countries who do) has simply stuck out of habit, customs, rules, or choice. The "there is a perfectly good reason" should read, "there was a perfectly good reason."
isnt driving on the left (with the driver sitting on the right) the better way of driving ?
because the hand that you use to change the stickshift/gear.. or change the radio ... or pick your coffee is the left hand. Which for most of the population is their weaker hand ?
Actually isn't it the stronger arm, while your dominant hand has finer motor control? Which means you want you left hand to control the left/right of the steering wheel and the right hand to fiddle with the smaller knobs and buttons.
Perhaps the UK's extensive canal network? Hmm, what was/is the convention for passing narrowboats? I presume it follows the road rule in all countries?
I would guess, on the US side, that it was because there was not a centuries-old existing road system. There weren't much in the way of roads in America prior to 1800 - transport by ship or river was the overwhelming norm.
``In 1998, archaeologists found a well-preserved track leading to a Roman quarry near Swindon, England. The grooves in the road on the left side (viewed facing down the track away from the quarry) were much deeper than those on the right side. These grooves suggest that the Romans drove on the left, at least in this location, since carts would exit the quarry heavily loaded, and enter it empty.''
[+] [-] jakub_g|10 years ago|reply
> Pakistan also considered changing to the right in the 1960s, but ultimately decided not to do it. The main argument against the shift was that camel trains often drove through the night while their drivers were dozing. The difficulty in teaching old camels new tricks was decisive in forcing Pakistan to reject the change.
[+] [-] naner|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] PhantomGremlin|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] markbnj|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] shoo|10 years ago|reply
(there's a little more discussion there about left-handed swordsmen and left-handed spiral staircases!)
[+] [-] phaemon|10 years ago|reply
"He related to me the following minute anecdote of this period: 'In the last age, when my mother lived in London, there were two sets of people, those who gave the wall, and those who took it; the peaceable and the quarrelsome. When I returned to Lichfield, after having been in London, my mother asked me, whether I was one of those who gave the wall, or those who took it. NOW it is fixed that every man keeps to the right; or, if one is taking the wall, another yields it; and it is never a dispute.'"
[+] [-] azernik|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gregsq|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vacri|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pron|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anotherevan|10 years ago|reply
The linked[1] trivia article was quite interesting as well. Loved this bit: A newspaper story on April Fool’s Day suggested that, to further European integration, the UK was to convert to driving on the right. However, owing to the huge amount of work this conversion would cause, it would be phased in: for the first six months the regulation would only apply to buses and taxis.
The mention of locations of turn signal levers also reminded me of the time I drove a car which was opposite of what I am use to. Every time I went around a corner I would switch the window wipers on.
[1] http://www.worldstandards.eu/cars/trivia-about-driving-left/
[+] [-] Taniwha|10 years ago|reply
On the border there had been country roads that crossed back and forth across the border .....
And of course there's the issue of driving from Hong Kong to China
http://www.fastcompany.com/1660258/ingenious-flipper-bridge-...
[+] [-] aytekin|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] seanmcdirmid|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] grecy|10 years ago|reply
There is a nifty double roundabout between Brazil and Guyana where you enter it one side of the road and when you exit you're on the other side of the road.
[+] [-] gknoy|10 years ago|reply
0: http://basementgeographer.com/crossing-from-right-hand-drive...
[+] [-] jkot|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] m-i-l|10 years ago|reply
I think this still applies today: the majority of people are right eye dominant and it makes sense having the dominant eye closer to the oncoming traffic, and the majority of people will find it easier to mount bicycles and motorcycles from the side of the road rather than the centre of the road. I wonder if there are any statistics on the safety implications of switching to driving on the right.
[+] [-] vonklaus|10 years ago|reply
interesting, I did not know that. Wikipedia states 33%left, 66% right, and the balance having no difference. This might be part of the evolution of vision in humans. The brain takes inputs from both eyes and compiles them into your vision field, maybe there is an evolutionary reason that a strong and weak pair produce better results.
> I wonder if there are any statistics on the safety implications of switching to driving on the right.
I don't think there is any reasonable data for this. Driving in England and America likely can not be compared directly as the roads, driving test, culture and vehicle setup are different. Also, an individual who immigrates will likely be at higher risk for causing accidents as the entire system is foreign and they have been conditioned using a different one.
[+] [-] bpyne|10 years ago|reply
1) My wife and I visited Ireland for a vacation a few years back. Neither she nor I had driven on the left side previously. We drove around the southwest of Ireland for a week and a half w/o incident. Driving on the left side wasn't really a big issue. Pulling away from the curb was the biggest challenge, but it became "natural" after a day or so.
It was much more difficult navigating very narrow roads with (it seemed) mere inches from a stone wall on the left and oncoming traffic on the right.
Our situation was helped quite a bit by our familiarity with driving standard and familiarity with circulars (rotaries). Either of those factors would have made the situation much more difficult if we weren't.
2) Two years ago, several key roads in downtown Providence, RI (a state in the US) were switched from one to two-way. Everyone predicted a large increase in accidents. I'm unaware of any increase in accidents to date. Our largest traffic problems continue to be caused by road construction sites with poor signs, RI's overall inability to communicate effectively with signs, and college students from non-urban areas who walk into the street w/o looking and under the assumption that cars will just stop.
Despite my skepticism of a switch to right side driving being a big issue, I fear that we won't see it any sooner than we will see the US finally switch to the metric system.
[+] [-] JoshTriplett|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mslot|10 years ago|reply
The differences in priority rules tick me off way more than the side of the road.
[+] [-] betaby|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] paublyrne|10 years ago|reply
In general I have never noticed a preference for which side to walk on on a pathway, in the UK or anywhere else. People tend to stick with the peleton.
[+] [-] mattnewport|10 years ago|reply
2
If there is no pavement, keep to the right-hand side of the road so that you can see oncoming traffic.
(http://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/rules-for-pedestrians---gener...)
For the Americans, pavement in British English means sidewalk :)
After learning this (in school road safety lessons I think?) in general I always assumed you should walk on the right as a pedestrian for consistency (even though the highway code doesn't contain any rules for sidewalks) but it's not universally observed, particularly in London where there are so many foreign tourists.
[+] [-] jarek|10 years ago|reply
Signs in corridors in stations can say either "keep left" or "keep right" depending on what's more convenient for corridor layout. Escalators are always stand right, walk left.
(Out of interest and because the article also mentions it, there is no concept of jaywalking in England and I've read that it is not in any way illegal for pedestrians to cross against a red light. However drivers rarely defer to pedestrians even at marked crossings.)
(Out of further interest, in Paris the suburban trains use left-hand running like the national network, but the metro runs on the right.)
[+] [-] dorfsmay|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mandor|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] psykovsky|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TimorDan|10 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-_and_left-hand_traffic
East Timor had traffic on the left until 1928, when it changed to the right at the same time as its colonial power, Portugal. During Japanese occupation during World War II driving on the left was imposed, and when the Portuguese returned it changed back to the right. Under Indonesian rule, East Timor changed back to driving on the left in 1976, and continued the practice under UN administration from 1999 and since independence in 2002.
[+] [-] dbish|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] douche|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] andrewstuart|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] philwelch|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Kiro|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] davidcollantes|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] slyall|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sandGorgon|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chrismcb|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] concerto|10 years ago|reply
I am interested about this statement and why it didn't happen in the UK which was also majorly agricultural in the same period.
[+] [-] redcalx|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] douche|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] berkut|10 years ago|reply
http://brianlucas.ca/roadside/
[+] [-] pron|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] to3m|10 years ago|reply
``In 1998, archaeologists found a well-preserved track leading to a Roman quarry near Swindon, England. The grooves in the road on the left side (viewed facing down the track away from the quarry) were much deeper than those on the right side. These grooves suggest that the Romans drove on the left, at least in this location, since carts would exit the quarry heavily loaded, and enter it empty.''
[+] [-] unknown|10 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] amelius|10 years ago|reply