Is most of the World driving on the wrong side of the road?

When changing gear in a UK car with the steering wheel on the right , this is of course correct in the UK etc for driving on the left--------your left hand changes gear and your right hand stays on the steering wheel, (this is safer for right handed people.)

Right handed people who are also "right eyed" have the traffic coming toward them on their right in left hand driving areas , which is the way "right eyed" people are able to react better

When I reverse out I hold the steering wheel with my right hand and look over my left shoulder to the rear window. In a USA car you must hold the steering wheel with your left hand and look over your right shoulder to look out of the rear window.. So you must reverse with your left hand on the steering wheel.. Or stick your head out of the window if you want to use your right hand on the steering wheel. Or use side mirrors---Dangerous for the 82% right handed majority.

Mounting a bike in the UK is done from the sidewalk by right handed people who find it easier to put their right leg over the bike. , Much safer and this must have saved many lives.
Additional Details
There is significant evidence that in the days of the Roman Empire everyone drove on the left. (That's one in the eye for Hollywood!). This was partly because one mounts a horse from its left (we all do) and it was sensible not to be doing this whilst out 'in the traffic'.
Also, carters needed their right arms free to wave swords at would-be attackers. Therefore they sat on the right hand end of the driver's bench. When carts passed each other the drivers needed to be sure that they actually missed each other so they passed "driver to driver". I.e. they drove on the left.
Evidence from Roman gold mines indicates that they drove on the left. The ruts left by the loaded carts leaving the mine are on the left side of the road whilst lighter empty carts entered on their left side.

david f

Completely agree with you! Everything you say is correct. I blame Napoleon - it was he who first ordered people to drive on the right. And since France had conquered quite a bit of Europe at the time this order must have carried some weight, even if it didn't necessarily have any logic behind it. This is one instance where Britain really is right and nearly everyone else is wrong.

StephenWeinstein

In France and the U.S., when on foot, leading an animal by a rope, a right-handed person held the rope in the right hand and, as you note, when they passed each other, they passed "driver to driver" (driver, in this case, being the person holding the rope) to be sure that the carts (or whatever) actually missed each other.

Your points that the majority is right-handed and that passing is safer if the driver's side is nearer the center of the road, but you seem to have only considered drivers who were actually on the cart (or whatever), not those walking on the ground, which was probably more common.

blackfirebeetle

i live in the uk ,and how anyone can drive on the right is beyond me . tried it last night on the way home and its bloody dangerous !

milk tray.

very interesting, i've often wondered why .

Fast Reg

The historical angle is certainly interesting, but I'm not sure that going against historical precedent necessarily makes something wrong.

The reasons why traffic previously passed on the left was, as has been noted, so that people would pass each other on the side of their sword arm. Back then, you never knew who you might meet out on the roads and the countryside was alive with bandits and other ne'er-do-wells, so you needed to be ready to defend yourself. As most people are right-handed, that is the side you would want pass any potential adversary in case things turned nasty.

The Romans used this to great advantage on the battlefield. At a time when you would have a weapon in your right hand and shield on your left arm, an infantryman would generally engage an opponent directly in front of them. However, this required them to draw back their shield arm so that they could have freedom of movement with their weapon arm. This was mostly OK as you would be attacking directly in front. What the Romans worked out was that it was safer and more effective to attack the opponent to their right rather than the one directly in front. Firstly it meant that the shield did not need to be withdrawn and secondly it meant that they had a certain amount of surprise because the opponent would be expecting to engage the infantryman directly in front and not from the side and would leave his right flank undefended.

In later centuries the accepted form of warfare dictated that opposing armies would move ahead to engage and then turn to the right at the moment of engagement in order to bring their arms to bear. The story goes that it was Napoleon who turned things on their head by ordering his troops to turn to the left instead of right in order to gain the advantage of surprise.

But this is all by the way. The answer to whether driving on the left or right lies in human psychology and, quite honestly, I don't think there has been any convincing answers coming from that field yet. I'd be inclined to think that whatever system you are used to will be the one you are most comfortable with and, therefore, the safest.

However, there are aspects of car design that favour driving on the left. For one thing, the ignition key is on the right-hand side of the steering column which, on a right-hand drive vehicle, means that it hidden away from the occupants and cannot be interfered with by anyone else in the vehicle. In addition, for a manual stick shift, when in top gear the lever is tilted away from the passenger which means that there is less chance of it being knocked out of gear.

Elfshimmer

Im left handed and drive in the UK, and am as safer driver as any right handed person!

Wingman1

Some interesting answers to this question and, I am sure, many will be historically correct but, to be honest, absolutely irrelevant! The fact of the matter is that there is no "right" or "wrong" side of the road to drive on. Every country in the world has made its' decision as to which side they wish to use and we have to respect that.

It seems strange driving on the RH side of the road here in the UK because that is not what we are used to or our system geared to but spend a lot of time in, say, the USA, as I do, and you soon get into the habit of driving on the right. I must admit I have never had a problem with this, never had even a close shave, let alone an accident, you simply keep your wits about you - as you should do driving anywhere for that matter!

It is not any safer driving on either side of the road or whether you are left or right handed - safe driving is down to the driver, and simply getting used to the local conditions! Certain unfortunate individuals will always be an accident waiting to happen because of either their own inability to drive well (for whatever reason) or the fact that they insist on driving like homicidal maniacs - look at how many people are killed and injured on our roads every year and why - driver error in 99.9999% of cases with mechanical failure probably accounting for no more than 0.0001%!!!

rememberthecole

Look at it another way. In most of the world drivers drive on the right side of the road and sit on the left hand side of the car. So they hang their left arm out the window or rest it on the window ledge. They get a lot of sun on the left arm and therefore they get skin cancer on the left arm far more than the right. Since most of the world is right handed isn't getting the cancer in the non-dominant arm a good thing? Pitty the poor Aussies who get skin cancer far more on their right arms because THEY drive on the wrong side of the road.

An interesting exception is at American open pit mines. They drive on the LEFT side of the roads using trucks with the driver sitting on the LEFT side. That is so the driver has a very clear view of the edge of the road so they do not drive off the edge. They worry more about that than hitting an oncoming vehicle.

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