U2203

toc By Felik Budyanto
 * Right - or Left-Hand Traffic **

=**Introduction**= There are so many rules in road and become such a standard worldwide, such as traffic light, zebra cross, and also driving side, but right now I want to explain about driving side, because I think it´s interesting to know some reason and also history behind this driving side. There are two rules regarding driving side. Some countries adapt driving on the left side, some countries adapt driving on the right side. Right now there are around 34 % Left-Hand Traffic countries, so the rest 66 % are Right- Hand Traffic. And roughly 28 % of the world’s total road distance carries traffic on the left, and 72 % on the right[|(1)]. And mostly countries ex British colonies adapt Left Hand Traffic. And actually there are some good reasons behind this. In the past, almost everybody travelled on the left side of the road because that was the most sensible option for feudal, violent societies. Since most people are right-handed, swordsmen preferred to keep to the left in order to have their right arm nearer to an opponent and their scabbard further from him. Moreover, it reduced the chance of the scabbard (worn on the left) hitting other people.

=**History & Origin**= In the late 1700s France and the United States began hauling farm products in big wagons pulled by several pairs of horses. These wagons had no driver’s seat. So the driver sat on the left rear horse, so he could keep his right arm free to lash the horses. Since he was sitting on the left, he naturally wanted everybody to pass on the left side so he could look down and make sure he kept clear of the oncoming wagon’s wheels. And he stayed in the right side of the road. French Revolution in 1789 gave a huge impact to right-hand travel in Europe. The fact is, before that, the aristocracy travelled on the left of the road, and forcing the farmer society over to the right. But after the storming of the Bastille and some events after that, aristocrats preferred to keep low profile and also travelled on the right. An official keep-right rule was introduced in Paris in 1794, more or less parallel to Denmark, where driving on the right had been made obligatory in 1793. Later, Napoleon's conquests spread the new rightism to the Low Countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Russia and many parts of Spain and Italy. But there were also some Countries which resisted Napoleon and kept left, such as Britain, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Portugal. These two rules remained more than 100 years, until after the First World War. This driving on the right-hand became trend among nations, but Britain tried not to follow this trend. With expansion of travel and road building in the 1800s, traffic regulations were made in every country, so Left-hand driving became mandatory in Britain in 1835. And this also affected Countries which were part of British Empire. That’s why India, Australasia and the former British colonies in Africa go left. Except Egypt, which had been conquered by Napoleon before becoming a British dependency. Japan also has rule to drive in left although Japan was never part of British Empire. The origin of this habit goes back to the Edo period (1603-1867) when Samurai ruled the country. However it was just in 1872 this unwritten rule became more or less official. This year was also when Japan’s railway was first introduced, built with technical aid from British. After that many network of railways and tram tracks was built. And of course all drove on the left-hand side. But it needed another half century until in 1924 this rule become official and written in law. This Left-Hand driving also impacted Indonesia when Dutch came in 1596. Napoleon’s conquest of Netherlands changed the driving side of Dutch to Right-Hand. This did not impact again to Indonesia and also Suriname. Driving side of North America also in Left-Hand, because they were part of British’s colonization. But after they got their independence from British, this driving side gradually changed. The first law requiring drivers to keep right was passed in Pennsylvania in 1792, after that in New York in 1804 and New Jersey in 1813. Same situation also happened in Canada, at first they followed US Left-Hand driving. And shortly after Second World War, parts of Canada which controlled by French (from Quebec to Louisiana) drove on the right, the rest stayed in left. In 1920 British Columbia and the Atlantic provinces switched to the right, in order to conform with the rest of Canada and the USA. But Newfoundland still drove in the left until 1947, and joined Canada in 1949. When Germany annexed Austria in 1938, Hitler ordered that traffic should change from the left to the right in one night. This became disaster because drivers couldn’t see the road sign. Czechoslovakia and Hungary were one of the last states on the mainland of Europe to keep left. But they changed to right after invaded by Germany in 1939. Meanwhile American cars were designed to be driven on the right. With the mass production of reliable and economical cars in the US, many countries imported cars from the US and changed their driving orientation. In 1960s, Great Britain also considered changing, but this will cost billions of pounds, and also it wasn’t easy work. So they dropped this idea. Today only for European countries still drive on the left: The United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus and Malta[|(2)]

**List of left-driving countries**
The following is a list of countries of the world whose inhabitants drive on the left-hand side of the road. Most of the drivers of these countries use right-hand-drive vehicles. 2. Antigua and Barbuda 3. Australia 4. Bahamas 5. Bangladesh 6. Barbados 7. Bermuda 8. Bhutan 9. Botswana 10. Brunei 11. Cayman Islands 12. Christmas Island (Australia) 13. Cook Islands 14. Cyprus 15. Dominica 16. East Timor 17. Falkland Islands 18. Fiji 19. Grenada 20. Guernsey (Channel Islands) 21. Guyana 22. Hong Kong 23. India 24. Indonesia 25. Ireland || 26. Isle of Man 27. Jamaica 28. Japan 29. Jersey (Channel Islands) 30. Kenya 31. Kiribati 32. Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australia) 33. Lesotho 34. Macau 35. Malawi 36. Malaysia 37. Maldives 38. Malta 39. Mauritius 40. Montserrat 41. Mozambique 42. Namibia 43. Nauru 44. Nepal 45. New Zealand 46. Niue 47. Norfolk Island (Australia) 48. Pakistan 49. Papua New Guinea 50. Pitcairn Islands (Britain) || 51. Saint Helena 52. Saint Kitts and Nevis 53. Saint Lucia 54. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 55. Seychelles 56. Singapore 57. Solomon Islands 58. South Africa 59. Sri Lanka 60. Suriname 61. Swaziland 62. Tanzania 63. Thailand 64. Tokelau (New Zealand) 65. Tonga 66. Trinidad and Tobago 67. Turks and Caicos Islands 68. Tuvalu 69. Uganda 70. United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) 71. Virgin Islands (British) 72. Virgin Islands (US) 73. Zambia 74. Zimbabwe ||
 * 1. Anguilla

**List of right-driving countries**
The following is a list of countries of the world whose inhabitants drive on the right-hand side of the road. Most of the drivers of these countries use left-hand-drive vehicles. 2. Albania 3. Algeria 4. American Samoa 5. Andorra 6. Angola 7. Argentina 8. Armenia 9. Aruba 10. Austria 11. Azerbaijan 12. Bahrain 13. Belarus 14. Belgium 15. Belize 16. Benin 17. Bolivia 18. Bosnia and Herzegovina 19. Brazil 20. British Indian Ocean Territory (Diego García) 21. Bulgaria 22. Burkina Faso 23. Burundi 24. Cambodia 25. Cameroon 26. Canada 27. Cape Verde 28. Central African Republic 29. Chad 30. Chile 31. China, People's Republic of (Mainland China) 32. Colombia 33. Comoros 34. Congo 35. Congo (former Republic of Zaire) 36. Costa Rica 37. Croatia 38. Cuba 39. Czech Republic 40. Denmark 41. Djibouti 42. Dominican Republic 43. Ecuador 44. Egypt 45. El Salvador 46. Equatorial Guinea 47. Eritrea 48. Estonia 49. Ethiopia 50. Faroe Islands (Denmark) 51. Finland 52. France 53. French Guiana 54. French Polynesia 55. Gabon 56. Gambia, The ||< 57. Gaza Strip 58. Georgia 59. Germany 60. Ghana 61. Gibraltar 62. Greece 63. Greenland 64. Guadeloupe (French West Indies) 65. Guam 66. Guatemala 67. Guinea 68. Guinea-Bissau 69. Haiti 70. Honduras 71. Hungary 72. Iceland 73. Iran 74. Iraq 75. Israel 76. Italy 77. Ivory Coast 78. Jordan 79. Kazakhstan 80. Korea, Democratic People's Republic of (North Korea) 81. Korea, Republic of (South Korea) 82. Kuwait 83. Kyrgyzstan 84. Laos 85. Latvia 86. Lebanon 87. Liberia 88. Libya 89. Liechtenstein 90. Lithuania 91. Luxembourg 92. Macedonia 93. Madagascar 94. Mali 95. Marshall Islands 96. Martinique (French West Indies) 97. Mauritania 98. Mayotte (France) 99. Mexico 100. Micronesia, Federated States of 101. Midway Islands (USA) 102. Moldova 103. Monaco 104. Mongolia 105. Morocco 106. Myanmar (formerly Burma) 107. Netherlands 108. Netherlands Antilles (Curaçao, St. Maarten, St. Eustatius, Saba) 109. New Caledonia 110. Nicaragua 111. Niger 112. Nigeria ||< 113. Northern Mariana Islands 114. Norway 115. Oman 116. Palau 117. Panama 118. Paraguay 119. Peru 120. Philippines 121. Poland 122. Portugal 123. Puerto Rico 124. Qatar 125. Réunion 126. Romania 127. Russia 128. Rwanda 129. Saint Barthélemy (French West Indies) 130. Saint Martin (French West Indies) 131. Saint Pierre and Miquelon (France) 132. Samoa 133. San Marino 134. Sao Tome e Principe 135. Saudi Arabia 136. Senegal 137. Serbia and Montenegro 138. Sierra Leone 139. Slovakia 140. Slovenia 141. Somalia 142. Spain 143. Sudan 144. Svalbard (Norway) 145. Sweden 146. Switzerland 147. Syria 148. Taiwan 149. Tajikistan 150. Togo 151. Tunisia 152. Turkey 153. Turkmenistan 154. Ukraine 155. United Arab Emirates 156. United States 157. Uruguay 158. Uzbekistan 159. Vanuatu 160. Venezuela 161. Vietnam 162. Wake Island (USA) 163. Wallis and Futuna Islands (France) 164. West Bank 165. Western Sahara 166. Yemen ||
 * < 1. Afghanistan

=**Conclusion Why Left or Right**= The reason why some countries drive on the left and some drive on the right, first of all, it’s based on history on this country itself. Such as there are some countries adapt new driving orientation after they became conquest of a country, there are also some countries adapt a driving orientation because this is like part of their history in the past, such as Japan, since beginning it has driving orientation on the left and still on the left until now. Another reason is also because of some politics and economics aspects, such as, after automobiles industries in US became big, there are some countries which change their driving orientation to right which follow US. And I think it’s also like habit, it’s true at the beginning that people with right-hand orientation prefer driving on the left side, but it’s not really such a big matter when because of some reasons they must change their driving orientation to the right, as an example we can see, some trucks drivers in Europe can go from a country with right-hand side such as France to UK which has left-hand side without much trouble.

=**References**=

[|**http://users.telenet.be/worldstandards/driving%20on%20the%20left.htm#history**] [|**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_on_the_left_or_right**]