Left Hand Drive Vs Right Hand Drive Cars

[streetweapon]

I know that most places that drive on left hand side(RHD) like the UK was down to british empires but anyone know why UK drive on the left whereas other places drive on the right(LHD) like germany/ france etc how did it all start...... & anyone know why places like japan / thailand & suriname (thats in south america) drive on same side as the UK ? as these are some of the few places that do which where never part of the british empire. it always interested me & never knew. i still prefer right hand drive though !

[yemgi]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_hand_drive

As far as I know, left hand drive has been started by Napoleon Bonaparte during the war against the British Empire but Wikipedia says it is only a legend

[Sagitar]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_hand_drive

As far as I know, left hand drive has been started by Napoleon Bonaparte during the war against the British Empire but Wikipedia says it is only a legend

I have heard it said that we Brits stick to the left as a leftover from more violent times when many carried a sword and wanted to keep the right arm closest to passing danger. I am a bit sceptical, because earlier, fully armed warriors would have carried a shield in the left hand and I would have thought they wanted the shield arm closest to passing danger. If you look at pictures of jousting knights, they always pass left side to left side i.e. they would have been driving on the right.

It's true that most of the countries that drive on the left (in my experience) have connections with the old British empire, but not all. The Japanese drive on the left, and I have heard that ascribed to the need for Samurai to keep their right hand free (that sword thing again). Japanese railways run on the left too, but I think that is because British engineers were more successful than the yanks and others at selling British rolling stock to the Japanese in the early days of their railways.

At least some of the Scandinavians drove on the left until fairly recently. I think the Swedes were the last to change (in the 1960s) and I can remember the superb way in which they organised the changeover day when they shifted from left to right to comply with the rest of mainland Europe. Bearing in mind the extent to which England was conquered by the Danes and other Norsemen, pehaps we picked up the habit from them? I am sure I read somewhere, that the Romans kept to the left, so they too might have had something to do with it.

I doubt if there is any simple answer.