American Couple Reacts: Why Does the UK & Other European Countries Drive on the Left?
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- American Couple Reacts: Why Does the UK & Other European Countries Drive on the Left? Do you know the real reason? We certainly didn't know why! Watch along with us as we look at the fascinating history behind different contributing factors. What do you think the answer is? Do you think all countries should drive on the same side? Have you driven on both? Please let us know what your thoughts are in the comments. Thank you SO much for watching! If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our channel, it is the BEST way to support our channel and it's FREE! Also, please click the Like button. Thank you for your support! *More Links below.
👉🏻Original Video- • Why Does the UK Drive ...
👉🏻Join us for exclusive content ONLY on our Patreon:
/ thenatashaanddebbieshow
👉🏻Like what we're doing? Want to help us keep making videos?
www.buymeacoff...
👉🏻Our Facebook Page:
/ natashaanddebbieshow
👉🏻Our P.O. Box info (NOT accepting ANY perishable items)
For any clothing: Natasha: Men's Size Small and Debbie: Women's Size Small
The Natasha & Debbie Show
P.O. Box 157222
Cincinnati, Ohio 45215-7222
USA
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS
Do you know the real reason? We certainly didn't know why! Watch along with us as we look at the fascinating history behind different contributing factors. What do you think the answer is? Do you think all countries should drive on the same side? Have you driven on both? Please let us know what your thoughts are in the comments. Thank you SO much for watching! If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our channel, it is the BEST way to support our channel and it's FREE! Also, please click the Like button. Thank you for your support!
Yes we understand about the postman. We see them in American tv programmes. In general most British people would already know about this issue it's old hat.
I did hear that essentially, driving on the right was codified first in international maritime law, again because of right-handedness the instinct to avoid collision would be to turn right and if both ships do so they avoid eachother. So when certain countries were choosing left or right for driving they adopted maritime law because it worked. This would have a domino effect on the choices of neigbouring countries, as described in the vid, and explains why currently, the four european countries that drive on the left are _all islands._ In internet tradition, however, I also have no actual source for this, but it's mundane enough to be true.
Hi Brit here,
I've driven on either side. Its very simple to drive on the correct side for the car you are using.
I find a right hand drive stick shift difficult.
In 70's/80's there were Pub driving game machines, these were generally set up with Gear lever (stick shift) on right hand (i.e. for right hand drive cars) I found them very difficult to play.
Many seem to place US right hand drive to Henry Ford, but his Model A had a central tiller,
He made many models (starting at A and moving through to T, I think the steering/driver position varied,
and early on it was considered best for the driver to sit next to the nearside sidewalk, so they can alight to the kerb rather than the highway.
Didn't know that about the postmen in the US driving on the right. In Hong Kong cars drive on the left but China the right. "Chop shops" used to steal luxury cars in HK and flip them to the other side overnight, cover the cuts with upholstery then send them to the mainland in cool smuggler subs. Got to see a few as a kid when the police caught them and beached them.
It is still possible to buy a RHD vehicle, mainly Fiat and Renault, in Europe as it is safer to drive a RHD one on the right of the road in the Alps, or other mountains, with the long drop on the driver's side. Mainly Trucks and Buses nowadays, cars not so much.
In Cornwall, UK, we mostly drive in the middle of the road to avoid potholes, free-roaming sheep, cattle and ponies, and catching wing mirrors on Cornish hedges - our roads are narrow with a few passing bays. 😊
As some one who lives in Cornwall that is 100% wrong roads down there are some bad
@@annashear7331 Greetings from Bodmin Moor - the remote bit!
In Tunisia, they drive on the right. And the left. And in the middle.
Funnily enough, the only accident I ever saw there was an Englishman in a Jaguar. English registered too, strangely.
Friends of mine returning from a pub got home frightened out of their wits, saying they'd seen a piskey. They are scarey those narrow roads with hedges! :)
Same in the Cotswolds.
I can't imagine driving anywhere but on the left. It would be weird driving on the wrong side of the road.
I don't drive myself, thankfully UK has a wonderful public transport system. I have visted the USA with my parents and an Aunt. My Aunt and Dad always did the driving in the USA. It usually took a day for them to translate driving on the right. My Mum refused to try as she felt it would be to confusing. My sister did a school transfer and lived in the USA for a year. She learnt to drive over there. When she came back it took her a couple of days to translate to driving on the left. She also had to take her UK driving test as well. Though the USA driving licence in those days allowed her to drive in the UK for about a month before she had to take the UK test.
She mentioned that about a third of the worlds population drives on the left and that she doesn't think that's a lot, but that's 2.67 billion people which is a lot by my reckoning
As for why, I think it's just that humans are creatures that desire to fit in and conform, so we see a group of people doing a thing, in this case walking on the left or right, and we naturally copy that to fit in, and different countries chose different sides and that became the defacto standard for that country
Most countries seem to originally chose left according to what I've inferred from the video, but through politics, facilitating trade, as well as geography, changed to the right over time, and now the right is the standard
Or it's just as likely that we chose the left to piss off and confuse everyone else, I mean that's basically how it goes with the UK, if it pisses off Johnny foreigner, then that's what us British tends towards 😂
No one ever mentions that Japan drives on the left. One reason that Japanese cars sold well in the UK.
Well, for about 250 or so years, whilst the Emperor was still technically the 'ruler' of Japan, but in mainly name only...the real power and authority had been in the hands of a shogunate who had imposed a policy of self isolation on the country. Cutting a long story short, eventually the Tokugawa shogunate was removed from power and the Emperor was restored as the seat of power in a period known as the Meiji Restoration (1868).
Japan soon realised that they quickly needed to modernise and one of the first things they did was embark upon building railways. They still did not trust foreigners all that much and did not particularly want non-Japanese construction workers building their railway so they used British financing and investment and contracted in hundreds of, primarily British, technicians, engineers, designers, managers, locomotive builders and drivers to teach their own people how to do it. The natural consequence of that being that since the designs of track and rail layouts and engines etc were those that were already made for a left hand system, their own system likewise followed suit...along with all the infrastructure and road networks etc that serviced those early railways, hence why it's still all left hand driving there.
The USA drove on the left, see the early Charlie Chaplin and Keystone Cops films to confirm that. The film Stagecoach shows John Wayne driving the coach, sitting on the right-hand side. America changed to driving on the right when Henry Ford persuaded the US Govt to switch to driving on the right to restrict/stop England from importing cars.
What you need to really worry about is which lever is for blinkers and for the windscreen wipers. 😂
How easy is to switch depends if you have local car or your own, if you drive a local car that has the wheel on it's supposed side switching between driving left and right is very easy, you would have prolly forgotten you are driving on the opposite side after few minutes BUT xD if you go with your own car let's say from Europe having a steering wheel on the left into Britain and now have to drive on the left that is a whole different story
Switching from driving on the right to the left takes only a short period of time to acclimatise, as we say in England and dare say Britain as a whole.
omg, i have followed Alanna even longer than i followed you guys! :)
It's because most people are right-handed and when you're on a horse, it's better for wielding weapons and things. Also, it's why the steps in a castle tower go in a clockwise direction
There's no evidence for the steps thing. It's something that they always tell you when you visit a castle but I can find no contemporaneous sources to validate the claim. If you're fighting down the stairwell, not only is it very hard to defend your lower body from your attacker regardless of which hand you're fighting with, your castle is already lost. If the enemy has pushed that far into your defenses, they've won.
Clockwise up or down?
@@84com83 Up, so an attacked right-handed person wouldn't be able to use a sword correctly
Steps down into cellars are often anti clockwise for the same reason.
The Scottish Kerrs are left handed mainly so their stairs are anticlockwise
In Australia it is because we are mainly right handed and we carry our boomerang on our left hip and use our right hand to reach across and grab it with our right hand to deal with any attackers
😂
Gotta be ready to defend against emus at any time. You never know when the Second Emu War will start.
The left is the right side. Why did you say "STILL drive on the left" like we are supposed to fall in some line. We dint ask why yiu drive kn the wrong side, just get over it
In New Zealand we drive on the left so we could import cars from Australia and Japan.
I thought it was because being in the southern hemisphere, everything is backwards relative to the northern hemisphere. Our summer is December to February and winter is June to August. The moon appears upside down. Actually it is right side up - the northern hemisphere sees it upside down. Water spins down the toilet in the opposite direction* Our cyclones rotate clockwise compared to US hurricanes rotating anticlockwise. It makes sense that our left is their right. 😂
* I know this is a myth. This whole piece is a joke. Go with it.
Strangely enough, this changes when on water. On the rivers and canals in the UK, boats stay to the right.
Something to do with the horses that used to pull the barges no doubt.
Or rather you generally stay in the middle and then move right to pass
That doesnt hold true for canals, where canal barges stay left.
@@Jason_L10 Not correct. You should maintain a centre line where possible but pass oncoming traffic to the right.
@@alecquail9275just like we pass on our roads. Makes sense.
I have lived in the UK since birth and so learned to drive on the left. I have travelled by car in Europe extensively and have no trouble at all in driving on the right and can switch between left and right seamlessly.
I am British, but have lived in the UAE for over ten years. My main problem is not switching from opposite side driving. It is how often that I go to the wrong side of the vehicle when back in UK to get in!! 😂
Do you take your own car? I live in Switzerland but I'm from Britain. When visiting, I always hire a car because of the difficulty on joining motorways off a slip road, of over taking etc, but I end up getting a bruised right hand from hitting the door as I try to find the gear stick with my right, not my left😂😂😂
Yeh me too
They don't. Most of Europe drives on the right, like America.
{:o:O:}
A funny story around the day Sweden switched over. Apparently loads of people stayed at home that night not wanting to get caught out, I believe the weather wasn't great either. That night on the TV was a talent and the winner was a young woman called Anni-Frid Lyngstad. Because so many more Swedes watched the programme than would normally have she became quite a star and gained a recording contract. She later went on to super stardom as 1 A of ABBA.
Really glad to see that you've discovered Alanna and 'Adventures & Naps'. I've been a Patreon member of hers for a number of years now and the diverse range of quality videos she puts out on a whole range of topics is really impressive....don't worry, so are yours!!
Let’s hear it for Alanna.
The simple reason is that we're Brits, we just like to be different😅😅
❤❤
Interestingly she didn’t mention Japan - definitely never a British possession, but always drove in the left.
Same with Thailand.
2 exceptions to the "ruled by Britain" rule...interestingly both in Eastern Asia 🎩
@@neilmcdonald9164 True - and then there's the US Virgin Islands, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Surinam - three other oddities.
When they imported experts to modernise the country they got the best at that time and they were Scottish and British. They rebuild the country from the ground up. Also they use swords in the right hand so always travelled on the left.
@@neilmcdonald9164
Not a British possession, but influential when Japan modernised in the Meiji period: it was mostly British engineers that the Japanese Government contracted to design and supervise the building of Japan's first railways, and British manufacturers who supplied their locomotives and other equipment, for example.
Trains in Britain also drive on the left.
Everyone used to drive on the left going right back to Roman times. Then after the French Revolution the French decided to change how many thing were done in France, including which side of the road to drive. This gradually caused all their neighbours to switch too. Partly enforced by Napoleon, later for safety reasons, especially once cars were introduced. Sweden held out until 1967 before switching. Around 30% of countries (35% of the world's population) continue to drive on the left.
I agree.
Roman chariots drove on the left throughout the Roman empire and everyone had to comply. They left deep ruts in the lanes, roads etc and it became the only way to roll.
The French changed it around as a finger in the eye to all things 'establishment' after the revolution.
Nations influenced by the French followed suit.
Nations influenced by the British or were not impacted by either stayed still on the left
I'm surprised the U.S. doesn’t drive on the left. It’s less common than driving on the right, so that's usually the stance this country takes.
When the allies occupied Japan after WW2, the US made them drove on the right, when they left, Japan reverted back to driving on tje left.
Napoleon was left handed - that is the reason for his insistence
@@alexmonroe613 But France switching to driving/riding on the right pre-dated Napoleon. No doubt it spread around Europe as a result of his antics, but it wasn’t his idea.
I prefer driving on the left because it just makes sense. Most people are right handed , which means the strong hand stays on the steering wheel when changing gears in a manual or shifting down in an automatic. Of course I live in Australia and I have only ever driven in countries that drive on the left. The right side of the road is the wrong side for me. Cheers.
I'm from the UK and tried driving on the right here. I was amazed at how many motorists got angry at me. I blamed it on watching American TV shows...............😜
And a gentleman walked on the outside next to the road to protect his lady from mud splashes with his body and defend her from ne'er do wells with his sword.
{:o:O:}
It probably is something that goes back to the very first vehicles: horses. It was probably a way to prevent (sometimes skittish) horses from crashing into each other and causing injuries to horses and riders. It being left may simply have been a completely arbitrary choice by the first person who suggested it! The only thing I can relate to regarding left and right is while walking, and I remember as a child my mother explaining (in a tongue in cheek way, I'm sure) that if walking with another person the tradition was that a man should always walk on the right in order to keep his "sword arm free". As most people were (are?) right-handed, the sword arm would be on the right. However, you can imagine that, as the sword is drawn from the scabbard (on the left), if there was someone walking on the swordsperson's left, they might easily get injured by the sword being drawn in haste in the event of being attacked by thieves! So that doesn't seem to be logical. The other thing with roads and vehicles is how hard it is to drive a left-hand drive vehicle on the left side of the road, because the driver's sitting near the pavement/sidewalk and not the middle of the road. It's a lot harder than the driver sitting near the middle of the road as your field of view is reduced and it's therefore harder to maintain a central position on your side of the road. I wonder how it's managed at borders between countries who drive on different sides? If there's a checkpoint, people stop, so it's likely that the crossing can be managed so that people are reminded and directed to go the new way by the road layout. I don't think left or right actually matters in the least, as long as people are very clear on what they're supposed to be doing in any given location! An interesting question. :-)
I’m English and moved to the States in 1973. I Learned to drive in the USA and it was a weird sensation…but even worse when I returned home 13 years later and took my test at home and then drove on the Left. It was quite disconcerting on lonely country roads at nighttime and I often felt freaked out that I was going to have a head on crash because it felt so wrong!
When I moved to Poland from the UK I took my right hand drive car with me as well as my left hand drive mini bus, adapting to driving on the right was a lot easier in the bus, driving on the right in my car was often hillarious though because my dog liked to sit upright in the passenger seat, seeing the expressions on the faces of passing motorists when they thought that she was driving was priceless 🤣
My first visit to the USA I drove on the right straight off the flight from the UK. Found it easy since you just remember that the driver of the car is the one closest to the centre line of the road. Easy peasy.
the weird thing is been on the wrong side of the car
Burma drove on the left until 1970, when either President Ne Win had a dream that they should change sides or his wife's astrologer advised it. Whichever, he immediately ordered the switch with zero preparation, causing problems which exist to this day. Most cars still have the steering wheel on the right, and many road signs, traffic lights, bus stops etc. are incorrectly positioned.
Other European countries drive on the right. I have heard that it goes back to the days of horse and carriage. In England with narrow country lanes the driver sat on the right so when passing another carriage it was easier to judge the distance between you and an oncoming carriage if the driver drove to the left. In the USA and other countries with wider open space they drove longer distances and when they came to town they drove on the right so the driver could step down onto the sidewalk and avoid getting off in the muddy street.
Check every western and see what side the driver of a carriage or stage coach sits on. That's right, the right hand side!
When the first cars were made in the USA some were right hand drive, some left hand drive, and some with a central driving position. When Henry Ford set up mass production he decided on the left and so it stuck.
I'm from Scotland. I now live in England so have always driven on the left. I have driven in the USA and in Europe. Switching sides was a little strange at first, but I was surprised how quickly I adapted. I imagined it would be harder than it actually was. Going through junctions/roundabouts when driving on the right definitely took more concentration but after a couple of times it was fine 😁xx
Agree about roundabouts. I'd been in the USA for 6 months and came back to the UK. Got a hire car and leaving the parking area was immediately confronted by a roundabout which confused the heck out of me. Generally, as long as I'm driving a car set up with the steering wheel on the side relevant to the conditions, I don't have a problem.
When you get in the car and there's no steering wheel 😅😅
I wish there was a video game to practice driving on the left for those of us who drive on the right before traveling.
@@geoffpriestley7310 I've done that dozens of times when based in Germany with the military and we had a mixed fleet of left-hand and right-hand drive vehicles to confuse the issue!
Being on the left also means that your dominant eye (usually the right eye for 80% of people) is nearer the centre of the road, making judging passing distances more accurate,
maybe your dominant eye would be better looking for pedestrians just a thought
@@punkpopnotdead maybe pedestrians should use their dominant eye to watch out for cars etc rather than step out into the road without any thought?
Also, at least before automatic transmissions were commonplace, you could drive around with your dominant right hand on the steering wheel and your left on the gear stick; safer than the opposite.
@@punkpopnotdeadThat’s a silly comment.
@@punkpopnotdeadAnd of all the kilometres of roads in the world, how many actually have pedestrians? All have other cars without exception.
She’s right that at one time half of Europe drove the same as us. Sweden and Iceland being the latest countries to change over in the 1960s. The reason former Dutch colony Indonesia drives on the left is because the Netherlands used to, the same with Macao being a former Portuguese colony.
ruclips.net/user/shorts8yBJUQrwXj4
Yes, Portugal of course drove on the left up until 1928.
I suspect the reason in the late 60's the UK looked at changing over was in part because we were attempting to join the EEC, the forerunner to the EU. The cost proved to be prohibitive. Just like the cost of changing our road signs over to Metric Kilometers. Despite formally adopting the Metric System, or SI, our roads are still measured in miles and speeds in miles per hour.
Here's an interesting fact. Parts of Spain also used to drive on the left. When the first section of the Madrid Metro opened in 1919 the trains had left hand running, unlike the rest of Spanish railways that have right hand running, because they copied the road traffic in the streets above which ran at that time on the left. Although Spain has long since switched to driving on the right the Madrid Metro stuck with left hand running even though over the years it has increased in size to the massive underground railway system it is today.
Driving on either side of the road is, and should not be, a problem for any drivers.
I am from the UK and learned to drive a manual car but now prefer an automatic and have driven my own vehicle in some European countries as well as driving left hand drive vehicles in Europe, the USA and lately the Philippines.
Driving in the Philippines would give a lot of drivers a heart attack with people in vehicles, trikes, scooters overtaking anywhere and pulling out of side roads in front of you .. but you just have to be aware of everything around you and be patient with others.
It is for a similar reason that 99% of English spiral staircases ( predominately in castles and church towers ) rotate clockwise, when viewed from above, so that you can draw your sword with your right hand to defend yourself much better when enemies are coming up :)
When I lived in New Zealand I found it very easy to change to driving on the left side but coming home to Sweden and having to start to drive on the right again was tricky, so don't be afraid off left side drivning😊. Wouldn't mind switching to left side driving.
I am British and learned to drive in the UK, but now live in Spain. You get used to being able to drive on both sides of the road but you can lapse into forgetting where you are. I once picked my son up, in the UK, drove away only for him to say “We drive on the left here, Dad”.
It's pretty clear that loads of countries changed from left to right as Napoleon's armies took over. I was always told (with no source) that right hand driving was introduced in republican France before Napoleon took over. Incidentally in Sweden before the switch Swedish cars had the driver's seat on the left which made the swap a lot easier than it would be in England
The French changed a lot of things after the French Revolution… ‘just because’! Some things fell by the wayside quite quickly, including 10 day weeks, but driving on the right remained.
I am British, i dont drive. But yes I can see why we do drive on the left. As yes lots of people are right handed
Really interesting video. I have driven on both sides of the road and find the switch quite easy. Its easier if you have a car that has the steering wheel on the side of the car that the country you are in normally does. Its more challenging when you drive a car with the steering wheel on the opposite side.
To be frank, I had some trouble adopting to driving in Britain the first time, not for shifting gears with the "wrong" hand, or remembering what lane to drive on, but rather with judging the distance to the curbside or parked cars.
I caught a boarded a car ferry to France in a UK right hand drive car and drove from Northern France to southern France then back again. I found it easier than driving a left hand drive car through Albania and Kosovo where they drive on the right. I found I had to concentrate more on changing gear with my right hand, rather than my left ... so personally I'd choose drive a UK
right hand drive in other countries - it allowed me to concentrate on the road and other cars rather than having to remember that everything on the inside of the car was the opposite way around - but I guess that might just be my own preference 😁
Yeah it's not hard at all. I've driven in the USA with ease
I spent a number of years in the 90s driving trucks from the UK to Eastern European in a RHD truck and found it safer than a LHD truck because if someone was going to hit you from the other direction they would normally hit the “drivers” side. Also I could get closer to the outside edge of the road.
I’ve driven in the USA, doesn’t take long to adapt to the other side of the road, frankly I was more scared of the cops over there lol.
The only exception is Gibraltar which despite being a British overseas territory drives on the right because it shares a land border with Spain.
In Australia, We drive on the left for one reason and one reason only: Britain told us to. No, really. As a British colony up until we became a federation in 1901, Australia readily adopted left-hand traffic, no doubt because it made both cultural and economic sense to do so.
And you didnt even send us the Ute in return. I'd love an old FJ Ute, converted to a modern hotrod with a modern engine, brakes and suspension.
Well at least for the last 123 years you chose to drive on the original designated side...
@@babalonkie the decent side
@@Mediawatcher2023 Hey... left... right... it's just a side of the road lol. However left came first and Britain just stuck with it lol
LOL! Britain didn't "tell" Australia to drive on the left. British people arrived and kept doing what they were used to doing.
I was quite surprised when you said that US Mail delivery vehicles have the driving position on the right, even though they also drive on the right. But then I realised that it all makes sense: they need to have immediate access to the kerb (US:curb?) so having a driving position on the right is practical. In the days of milk deliveries in the UK (still there but disappearing as we speak,) the milk floats drove (drive!) on the left hand side of the street, but still had (have!) the steering position on the left.
I'm old enough to remember when we switched to right-lane traffic in Sweden. can't remember the time but all the cars stopped at like 11:55 on the left side and when it was 12:00 they turned over to the right side.
In the UK, we just drive on what's left of the road( there are so many potholes). I've driven in France and, apart from one mistake in a small village, found it easy to drive on the opposite side of the road.
We drive on the left, because we're British and we can do whatever we want 😂😂❤
Off the top of my head (without completing the watch), it relates to where the driver of a horse and cart would be seated. Reins men generally sat of the right, and the driver sits next to the middle of the road. In the early days, the US kept to the left, but mysteriously switched to the right (I read this somewhere). The British Empire imposed the left on its territories, for the most part, and Japan copied Britain. When they chose the left they were copying everything British, the Royal Navy being most significant. Little known fact: recently Samoa switched to the left. The former German colony used to drive on the right, but they found that by driving on the left they could easily import RHD cars from Japan, hence the switch. Another little known fact: the only part of New Zealand that drives on the right is in Antarctica, as the nearby US base at McMurdo Station drives on the right and Americans are incapable of switching to the left when they enter NZ's Scott Base.
I'm from Australia and the first time I jumped into a car in Europe, it really felt weird and the wife needed to remind me ever few minutes that I was drifting to the left. The first day was definitely "exciting", especially since we were in the middle of Catania in Sicily (not recommended for a newbie given Italian traffic, Italian drivers and the narrow streets). By the end of the first day I was only moderately dangerous on the road and within a few days it almost felt normal, but I still needed to concentrate at intersections and roundabouts. I've now clocked up many months of driving in Europe over several years and in fact I'm currently in northern Norway (yes ladies, I still watch your videos, even when on holiday overseas!). Jumped straight into the car when I arrived and it felt pretty normal. So it really doesn't take that long to get used to changing sides.
If memory serves me, Argentinas trains operate on the left as British companies played a big part in setting up the countries rail system in the late 1800s. Their cars also used to drive on left due to this but was changed around WW2 to drive on the right
Unfortunately the British also taught the Argentines how to play football as well...
Britain didn’t want the switch because of money
And unsafe
Most folk rigjt handed, Right hand on the steering wheel left hand changing the gears , we made the right move .
Unlike most Americans think, the model T was not the first car to be produced. Cars had been produced in Europe and even in the USA. The model T was the first car car to be mass-produced.
Imagine living in a time when that happened🙂 thought it happens most days in todays sanctuary cities NYC Cali Denver for example. The Pope quite probably told pilgrims to walk on the right, because right in Latin is Dexter, whereas left in Latin is Sinister .... hence the reason why evil is known as taking the left hand path. When I was working in France Germany Spain Holland and Belgium, I would drive my company BMW over on the best ferry (or the tunnel) .So my right hand car was driven on the left in GB until I got to the other side and I had to drive on the right ! It was so so easy to adapt very quickly (eventually without thinking about it). The only thing I had to be very careful of was overtaking, as I could not see oncoming traffic on single carriage roads. Altogether easy. Even easier whe driving to and working in both North and South Ireland .... just like being at home lol.
I argued in favour of switching while UK was in the EU provided the funding came from there. Think of how much it would cost!!! Lots of work reconfiguring road junctions, layouts, and signage etc for many years before any change could be made. Just could not get anyone to agree. Now we're no longer a member of the EU they can whistle as far as I'm concerned; I'll stay left 😆
Canadian here (right side driving) but I lived in New Zealand for two years (left side driving). I didn't have any issues with driving because I would be paying attention. The two scenarios where I did have issues were as a passenger (not paying attention, and get startled when the driver turns into the 'wrong' lane). Other is as a pedestrian. I spent my whole life looking to the left as I stepped off the curb (or kerb as they say in NZ). In NZ that's a good way to get hit by a car from my right.
Also, I did read something about Halifax (in Canada) used to drive on the left (oddly enough on a 'fun historic facts' poster in a pedway crossing over Barrington Street, downtown).
As a brit, I have driven in many countries around the world, including the USA, and have no difficulty in driving on the left or the right, I also have no difficulty in driving left or right hand drive vehicles. Maybe I'm just lucky I guess.
You guys should watch “ Jeremy clarkson - Victoria cross for valour “ documentary, is great and you’d definitely be interested
You're asking the wrong question, you should be asking, why does the US drive on the right?
The US Virgin Islands drive on the left. They import their cars from the US, so have left hand drive cars.
The medieval period is responsible for the left hand riding, driving, and fighting, emphasis on the latter. The crusades taught knights how handicapped they were invading the enemy castles. All future attempts were made by left handed swordsmen once the outer defences were breached. That idea was later incorporated by the Normans and used here in England.
I love history' Thanks ladies good show look forward to the next live show on YT. xx
I have heard that, if faced with a possible collision ahead, your brain tends to want to pull you to the left to avoid a crash. So if you are driving on the left, you would pull off of the road. If you are driving on the right, then pulling to the left would take you into the on-coming traffic. If that is true, driving on the left would seem to be safer.
There’s a very interesting vid about Sweden - they swapped to the right literally overnight in the 60’s, and the most significant downside was that they had to sell off all their old buses to avoid passengers leaving via doors that now faced out into the traffic
London calling. Napoleon forced the countries he conquered to drive on the right. This was in order to get his supplies to the front line quickly. Long ago in medieval times the peasants of the land where not allowed to carry arms only in times of war and then they bought their tools from the farms.
In London in the early 1800's had a chaotic mess with people with horses and carts, taxis all tried to go down the city streets without a system it would have ground to a halt and then they decided to bring left hand drive..
Crocodile Dundee 2. No wonder you have so many accidents. The steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car! 😀😃
I owned for a couple of years a car with the steering wheel on the rignt side, so when I came to Britain and should drive there it wasn't that hard. It took about three days, but in the beginning it was rather adventurous. An experience that has served me well for a long time afterwards.
it's like king arthur and camelot it amazes me tha amount of people who actually belive it even though it's complete fiction
As Jersey is a British island we drive on the left. Being that the island is only 15 miles off the coast of France and is only an hour's ferry ride to France I have often taken a car across to France. I would say the first time I drove in France it took me about 30 minutes to get used to driving on the right and this is with a car that has its steering wheel on the right side of the car.
Japan and Thailand also famously drive on the left and they were never part of the British Empire unlike many of the former colonial, but now independent countries, that drive on the left to this day.
It's why there is a niche market in used cars from Japan to Australia and New Zealand. In Japan, you can't get a car registered for the road once it's ten years old. However Australia and NZ have no such ridiculous restrictions, so aside from getting parted out, there's a thriving trade in 10 year old RHD vehicles from Japan to Australia that require only minor changes to meet Australian Design Rules (mostly labelling in English, sometimes a computer 'voice' and a few other minor things. US made vehicles that are LHD are a major PITA to convert to RHD (and no, you can't just hang a sign, most states no longer allow LHD vehicles to be registered routinely, you need an exemption, so unless it's a specialist vehicle (garbage trucks and streetsweepers are commonly LHD) you need it converted. Sometimes they don't get it quite right, particularly things like headlights which are different on low beam particularly for LHD to RHD. I learned to fly and drive at the same time when I was 16 and in an aircraft (anywhere on Earth) Pilot in Command is in the left seat. However never really got confused, although I did once come to a sudden stop in my car after a flying lesson when I tried to steer with my feet (as you do in an aircraft.).
Easier to continue driving on the left when you’re an island or series of islands, than if you’re on the mainland and your larger neighbours have already switched.
It goes back to the Knights on horses in UK - the weapon (the lance) was usually held in the right hand.
A factor for Britain is that it is an island, which means it has no land borders with countries where people drive on the right. Therefore there are no complicated land crossing points where both streams of traffic have to be switched from one side of the road to the other. Vehicles either arrive by 'roll on roll off' ferries and are directed to the left, or via the Eurotunnel on a train where, again, they are directed to the left, on embarkation.
We drive on the left hand side because that's the right side to be on 😊
I recently drove on mainland europe for the first time and found within half an hour I was perfectly alright
Long and detailed studies have shown there is no real advantage to either ... .which is why so many countries have not bothered to change ...
Pluse we have lots of country lanes and little roads that traitors go diwn and lead to the farmers feilds , we have alot of small roads that way back were used for moving goods, and was deemed to be safer on the left.
If so many countries drive on the left and so many drive on the right, do the rest drive anywhere they like 🤣
11:40 Self sourcing Napoleon pastry followed by a beef with Wellington! I thank you. I'm here all week! 🙃
The Duke of Wellington was at an embassy function. The French in the room turned their back on him. The lady hosting apologised , however Wellington said " not to worry I've seen their backs before."
The Germans invaded the Channel Islands, they did not have to switch to driving on the right
Same as castles always have the spiral staircases that go clockwise when going upwards, it makes the right handed use of a weapon easier for the defender who would usually be facing downwards.
In this case it's because of the shield on the left arm. The person upwards has their's between their body and the enemy climbing up, a good defensive position; the person coming up is going to be in a very awkward position if they want to keep their shield between them and the opponent.
There are many castle towers with anti clockwise stair, for instance, the White Tower is one of three at Tower of London, two of Norwich castle's towers, Clifford tower in York, Caernarfon has four. There are many other examples throught the British Isles & France.
Napoleon was one of the most evil men of all time, possibly worst than Hitler.
When you change gear you hold the wheel with your weaker hand.not good
Napoleon has a lot to answer for - beside the death of 5 million people.
I believe we drive on the left due to military requirements for driving artillery on the battlefield but there is a fuller explairnation than that. Nothing to do with the video you are watching.
The advice I got given to adapt was keep your passenger near the side of the road. That really helped me transition, of course this only works when driving a car suitable for that country
I would disagree with that......much easier for the driver to align themelves in relation to the centre line on the road, as that's where they are positioned in the car. Much harder to judge the positioning of the other side of the car in relation to the side of the carriageway.
@@carolineskipper6976 I thought about that but where I live in rural area we don’t have white lines down centre of the roads for drivers to align themselves to
I want to know why some people drive me round the bend.
The US Virgin Islands drive on the left
The one country that switched and did it very poorly was Myanmar in 1970. The dictator made the announcement suddenly without warning based on an astrology reading and bad luck and gave no time for the public or infrastructure to adapt. And coupled with poverty, people couldn't update their vehicles, including buses for decades. Bus passengers were entering and exiting buses in the middle of the road instead of the sidewalk.
I guess Brits are used to having to switch, coz as soon as we go abroad anywhere and rent a car... most everywhere is different. My ex partner and I first rented a car abroad in Portugal back in 2000. We picked the rental up at the airport and drove an hour to our villa. She found the switch easy (I don't drive) and actually like the challenge of driving the winding mountain roads and narrow village lanes there. It's part of the adventure of experiencing different countries and cultures, I guess.
I have subscribed to your channel about five times now. It keeps unsubscribing me! I feel this is RUclips deliberately avoiding paying their content creators fully. I have had this problem with many channels.
Yes! It has been happening to TONS of our subscribers! We get these comments on every video. It's really annoying.
Driving on the left is the right side. Nuff said.
China drives on the right but Hong Kong (formerly British occupied) and Macau (former Portuguese colony) drive on the left. Not a problem until they started building bridges... There is one place in the UK where you are required to drive on the right, the approach to the entrance to the Savoy Hotel. There is a short road, about 30m, sorry, 30yds where you enter on the right and exit on the left.
There are more Car Crashes with Driving on the Right Side of the Road than the Left Side.
The big question really is how easy is it to drive a car with the steering wheel and the peddles moved to the other side in the car. If you take your own car with you to a country with the cars driving on the other side your driving position will mean you are near the curb and not the centre of the road. This means you can’t see what is coming when you are behind the traffic in the now your lane!!!! As a British veteran I drove a lot in Germany I had to get used to that little blip in driving perception because I wasn’t going to buy a car just Germany so I had to drive my own can which had the steering on the right, figure that one out?
I like your jumper Natasha
oh like you both.actually i love you
Keep these shows coming, they are change from the ordinary rubbish. 😊
Thank you 😊
I have heard/read that driving on the right in the northern hemisphere promotes the incidence of whirlwinds/tornados.
Scientific phact!
Yay Adventures and Naps.
Hi ladies, that video was a good attempt at answering a seemingly difficult questio.... The true answer is who really knows. Self defence is probably a good one but if you look to other areas like old spiral staircases, they twist in favour of the defender