A country’s traffic-handedness is referred to as the rule of the road, that is, the side of the road along which traffic flows. Traffic-handedness can also refer to where the steering wheel and driver’s seat are placed. In almost all cases, the placement of the steering wheel is opposite to the rule of the road.
As it turns out, about a quarter of all the countries in the world drive on the left. Most of them are former British colonies – so that makes Pakistan, along with Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand and United Kingdom, to name a few, in the minority.
How it all started
The origin of the rule of the road dates back to how people travelled in feudal times. As most people are right-handed, horsemen would hold the reins in their left hand and keep their right hand free to draw their swords when needed.
A right-handed person would also find it easier to mount a horse from the left side of the horse, since the sword is worn on the left. So if one mounted on the left, the horse would ride on the left side of the road.
Napoleon Bonaparte was said to have been the one to overturn this historic practice. As he was left-handed, his armies had to march on the right so he could keep his sword-arm free.
But the generally accepted history for travelling on the right is as follows: the French aristocracy drove their carriages on the left-hand side of the road, while the peasants took the right side. But after the French Revolution in 1790, the aristocrats joined the peasants on the right so as not to stand out. An official keep-right rule was introduced in Paris in 1794.
Who’s right?
Napoleon conquered Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Russia and many parts of Spain and Italy, so the keep-right rule spread through much of Europe and to French colonies.
Portugal switched to the right early in the 20th century, while Austria and Czechoslovakia changed to the right when they were occupied by Nazi Germany at the end of the 1930s. Sweden was the last European country to switch sides in 1967, after increasing pressure to conform to the rest of the continent.
On the other side of the Atlantic, North America was anxious to cast off all remaining links with their British colonial past and gradually changed to right-hand driving after gaining independence from England. The first law requiring drivers to keep right was passed in Pennsylvania in 1792. Many other former British colonies also changed to the right after independence.
Who’s left?
An increase in horse traffic forced the United Kingdom government to introduce the General Highways Act of 1773, which contained a keep-left recommendation. This became a law in the Highway Act of 1835, and left-hand driving was made compulsory. Countries which were part of the British Empire followed suit, although there were some exceptions.
Today, only four European countries still drive on the left: Britain, Ireland, Cyprus and Malta.