If you are American in the United Kingdom, motoring through London in your car might make you feel like you are driving on the wrong side of the road. The US and the UK drive on opposite sides, right and left, respectively.
It’s not only the UK that mandates left-side driving, as per a CNN report, about 30% of the world’s countries drive on the left side, and the remaining 70% drive on the right. But how did the Great Divide happen?
In Europe, Napolean Bonaparte played a pivotal role, in the US, often, the credit goes to Henry Ford, however, that’s incorrect. It goes way beyond Ford – it pre-dates the establishment of the US.
The Conestoga wagon was the key to this whole story.
These wagons, big, tall, arched cloth roofs, became American icons of its westward expansion – carrying belongings of pioneers from the east out to the frontier.
Developed by local carpenters and blacksmiths, Conestoga wagons were used to carry goods, including farm produce and items bartered from Native Americans. The wagon driver either could ride one of the horses or sit on a “lazy board” that slid out of the side of the wagon.
The controls of the Conestoga wagons were on the left side, close to the wagon driver’s right hand. That meant the driver was toward the middle of the road and the wagon to the right.
Eventually, traffic rose due to elevating trade between Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia, resulting in America’s first major highway, which opened in 1795.
Among a series of rules, all traffic had to stay to the right — just like the Conestoga wagons did.
In 1804, New York became the first state to dictate traffic stay to the right on all roads and highways.
Many attribute the standardization of US traffic on the right side of the road to Henry Ford, citing his decision in 1908 to place the steering wheel on the left side of the immensely popular Model T. However, Ford’s action was primarily a response to preexisting driving norms that had been well-established long before his time.
What’s weird is that the rest of Europe, besides Britain, drives on the right like Americans do.
During the French Revolution, Maximilien Robespierre’s government mandated right-side driving, reserving the left side for carriages and equestrians, typically associated with the wealthier classes. Pedestrians were expected to stay on the right side. Napoleon is believed to have further propagated this policy as his armies traversed Europe.
But why did Britain go the other way? Historians suggest that the preference for staying to the left originated from the types of conveyance in use. Horse riders, for instance, tended to favor the left side to position their right hands towards oncoming traffic for greetings and, if necessary, for combat.
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