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Continental Europe drives on the right, so why do the British drive on the wrong (left) side?
If you are planning to visit the UK and happen to come from one of the many countries that drive on the wrong side of the road, the following advice, direct from the Ministry of Transport, is for you:
Readers are strongly advised not to try this on Aleksanterinkatu.
“Is it difficult to drive on the right side?” Coming from England, as I do, this is a question I have been repeatedly asked. Thanks to my experience as a motor cyclist on British roads, I have not had any problem with the controls of left hand drive cars in Finland. That is to say; I have never tried to open the door instead of change gear. To date, I have only made one significant mistake when driving in Finland. Shortly after I arrived in Turku, I borrowed a former employer’s car. I was happily driving along Puistokatu, a one way street with three lanes, travelling in the left lane, upon reaching the end of Puistokatu, I turned left,….. to face the oncoming traffic. Needless to say, I learnt my lesson quickly.
Traffic in Finland has driven on the right-hand side since 1858. Sweden switched to right-hand drive (at exactly 5am) on Sunday 3 September, 1967, which was known in Swedish as Dagen H (H-Day), the 'H' being for Högertrafik or right-hand traffic; Iceland switched traffic a year later (at 6am) on Sunday 26 May, 1968. Even Pakistan considered changing to the right in the 1960s. The main argument against the change was that camel trains often drove through the night while their drivers dozed. The difficulty in teaching old camels new tricks was decisive in forcing Pakistan to reject the change. So why does England still drive on the left, and what are the origins?
There is a lot of debate about the origins of either keeping left or right on roads and as such there is no conclusive answer. In England, logic dictated that when people passed each other on the road they should be in the best possible position to use their sword to protect themselves. Right-handed swords men preferred to keep to the left in order to have their right arm nearer to a potential opponent, and to reduce the chance of the scabbard (worn on the left) hitting other people. At that time most castles had clockwise spiral staircases, as in Finland, to make it easier for a right-handed defender to fight off a right-hander below.
Nothing much changed until an increase in horse traffic forced the Government to introduce the General Highways Act of 1773 which contained a keep left recommendation. This became law as part of the Highways Bill in 1835.
Another possible explanation is that stage coaches, whose drivers sat on the right so that they could keep their long whips (in their right hands) clear of the coach, passed each other driver-to-driver so that they could see their outside wheels and therefore get as close as possible to allow them to pass on narrow roads.
It is even claimed that Napoleon switched the convention in Europe from driving on the left to driving on the right for a simple reason - he was left-handed. This meant he mounted and dismounted his horse on the right-hand side, which he naturally preferred to be at the road edge. However, to this day French trains still keep left?
When Hitler invaded Austria in 1938, he ordered that the traffic should change from the left to the right side of the road, overnight. Czechoslovakia and Hungary, the last two states on the mainland of Europe to keep left, changed to the right after being invaded by Germany in 1939.
Having attempted to explain why England drives on the left, and mainland Europe drives on the right, I will leave you to ponder another question. Why then, even on British waterways, do boats keep right?!
Mike Bangle’s column is published on these pages every second Monday. He is the owner of Talking English language consultancy and can be contacted at mike.bangle(at)phnet.fi
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