US: We drive on the right side of the road. UK: We drive on the left side of the road. India: We drive on what's left of the road!

Well in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. We called it: *Make your own lane*

In India every person has their own way of driving. Talk about democracy.

In Australia we drive on the left because when you drive on the right, you collide head-on with traffic coming the other way.

In India,we drive everywhere even on footpaths sometimes

In India it depends upon where the person in front is coming form.

I went to India for a month and hired a car for the entire time i was there and i still couldn't tell you what side of the road they drive on🤔😆

In Somalia 99% of the cars have their steering wheel on the right, and yet we drive on the right. Welcome to 30 years of no central government.

0:51 driving on the left now means you can flip off oncoming traffic with your dominant hand when they pass by.

Dear indians I love your culture, food and I worked with a lot of indians. But one thing I'm sure, the day I will visit India, I won't drive 😄😄.

Actually nevermind, in gta we drive on both sides

I’m Australian and I would prefer to drive on the right. The main reason is as cars become more like a computer, being right handed means that sitting on the left makes for easier operation.

Who is this presenter and why is she so relaxing to listen to? She's awesome

This is why i ride motorcycle. Left or right, our controls are still the same.

The US is not 100% on the right. The US Virgin Islands drive on the left even though they have steering wheels on the left.

FYI Japan drives on the left not due to British influence, but rather because Japanese people carried their swords on their left, as it was easier to unsheathe as many were right handed. This comes into play as the swords could hit each other walking on the left, possibly starting a fight. Thus is the reason why it was custom to walk on the left, and this has never changed.

I’ll drive on the right side of the road once America switch’s to metric

These Vox style videos being made by the ABC are great. It's important that the ABC adjusts to the KZfaq medium. Keep up the good work.

Interesting fact: In 1982, during Argentina's occupation of the Falkland Islands, the residents living there were forced to drive on the right side of the road, (that is, until the British re-captured the islands on June 14th of that year).

Driving on the left is the original way to do it. The Romans, renowned for their roads, drove on the left. You want to say they were doing it wrong?

Tysm. I always wondered why some countries drive on the left side of the road and the others drive on the wrong side of the road.

There is a mistake on the map used. Cyprus also drives on the left and it was marked as right :)

America : Foot, Inches, LHD, Litres, Mph World : America definitely drunk

UK comments: "our side of the road is best side of the road" US comments: "our side of the road is best side of the road" Me, a person who has a US and JP license: Lol, neither side bothers me. Neither side is best side.

As a right handed person having the wheel in my right and the stick in my left makes the most sense to me.

I'm from New Zealand, and I like to tell international friends this. If you're driving on the left side of the road, you're driving on the right side of the road, but if you're driving on the right side of the road, you're driving on the wrong side of the road.

Russia: “ROAD IS ROAD!”

India: Drive on left side and no driving on footpaths Salom Bhai: Sweating profusely,.........

South africa we drive in the left Keep left pass right

I'm from the UK and on the few occasions I've gone to the USA and picked up a hire car it's not taken very long to pick up the idea of driving on the other side of the road. It helps that there are usually other cars on the road at the time. There are occasions when I'm trying to work something out (directions) I see cars on the wrong side of the road and then realize it's me that is on the wrong side. I've driven several of the cars I've had in the UK into Europe (France, Belgium, The Netherlands Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland and have never had any problem (except at toll booths where I have to get out my car to pay the toll).

"In the UK, we drive on the right side. In the US, they drive on the wrong side" 99% of British people

Well, at least we Malaysians and Australians drive at the same side on the road, that I couldn't help but to thank the British influence for that! :D

Right is Right or Right is Wrong?? I'm confused. I'm driving on the middle at this moment🤔

I’n surprised you didn’t talk about Myanmar. Way back when, the leader (who was of his nutta) at the time literally in the middle of the night decided to switch from driving on the left to the right, but kept cars with left-hand drive, which has made it dangerous especially for buses, to exit vehicles there.

Cyprus drives on the left as well

I’m from malaysia (left hand driving country) but went to korea (right hand driving country) few days ago and i was shocked at how quickly i can get used to right hand driving and i like it even better than the normal way i usually drive

Regarding Sweden's switch from left to right in 1967: First, this also affected trains and streetcars. They too had to switch sides. Second, for some bizarre reason, all the vehicles already in Sweden at the time of the switch were left-hand drive...the "wrong" side while driving on the left. When the traffic pattern changed, all these vehicles were finally correct!

Left gang where ur at

Lmao! Everyone in the comment section all of sudden became driving lane experts.

0:23 in cyprus we also drive on left hand side

Fun fact. In Sweden , 1955, 83% voted to stay on the left side, but in 1967 the Government parties voted to change anyway.

Very few people know the role General MacArthur played in converting the Philippines from driving on the left side of the road to driving on the right. The story goes back to World War 2. In December 1941 Japanese forces landed in the Philippines just days after the attack on Pearl Harbour. By March 1942 they controlled the capital Manila, and the surviving American forces had retreated to the island of Corregidor in the mouth of Manila Bay. In a daring plan General MacArthur escaped and was taken to Australia. There he made the famous speech everyone remembers: “I shall return!” This was in fact a truncated quote of what he really said. My dear departed father clearly remembers him saying: “I shall return, and convert the Philippines to driving on the right side of the road.” In October 1944, with War in the Pacific drawing to a close, MacArthur did indeed return. Not long after wading ashore on a Leyte beach, MacArthur decreed that all US forces would immediately drive on the right side of the road. Filipinos, who until then had driven on the left, soon realised they would live longer if they followed the lead of US troops. MacArthur’s degree was formalised when President Sergio Osmeña signed the change into law on 10 March 1945 as Executive Order No. 34. (Most of this is a true account of the events that took place. I have only embellished a little.)

One factor, which I have noticed, and may also be related, is that maritime convention also follows the same left side drive rule - Port/left side means red/stop, starboard/right side means green/go. essentially if two ships came within sighting distance of each other, they could make a decision on right of passage basis which side of the other ship they were seeing. This re-enforced the left side travel rule, since if you see the left side of the other ship, you stop and give them passage of way, just like in left side driving countries.

...Mystery Solved... This is the most in-depth analysis in answering this question which had puzzled me for decades. Thank you for all the research and work in putting this together and posting it.

That's a well articulated piece of work. Thank You April.

I find driving on the left preferable. I drive a manual (stick) car, and prefer to control the vehicle with my dominant Right hand, while changing gears with the left.

In Australia we drive on both sides to avoid the potholes, all while being upside down.

In Singapore, we followed Australia and Britain. Passing on the left.

Damn it France! Responsible for both the metric system and driving on the right! :P Seriously though, interesting video. I knew about the horseback thing being the reason for driving on the left, but didn't know so much about the origin of driving on the right. Here's a small side thing that might interest some people. The side that your indicators/wipers are on is typically based on the side the steering wheel is too. The indicator is typically on the side furthest from the gear selector. The reason being so that you can operate the indicators while changing gear without having to let go of the steering wheel. The wipers being less important for this and you use them far less often than indicators. So many Japanese imports (at least from the 2000s and earlier, not sure about more recently) the indicator is on the right of the wheel, since Japan have right hand drive cars, this makes the indicator furthest from the steering wheel for domestic use. However, a lot of European cars, the indicator will be on the left of the wheel. Because in their domestic markets with left hand drive cars, that side is further from the gear selector, and when they export the cars to right hand drive countries, they don't manufacture two sets of steering controls, they just move the whole assembly from the left side, to the right. Hence the indicator and wiper controls are technically on the wrong side in those vehicles :)

0:20 actually Nepal is also left hand side driving.

Ive ended up through circumstance driving a RHD car in a LHD country. Literally no issues except the very small possibility of a blind corner and having to get out to get a ticket from a car park ticket barrier.

Fun Fact: Gibraltar is the only British colony which actually drives on the right. Just made sense to due to neighbouring with Spain and buying cars from there.

Great video. I've always been looking for a good explanation on why people drive on the left or right side of the the road. This is by far the most convincing explanation.👍🏿

Neither, i drive on middle

I can’t imagine driving in the left late. It would mean having to use your left hand for the stick and panel controls, just weird

It would be better for the LHD world to switch to RHD but Australia's problem is we still have the Queen, we drive Toyotas, we play cricket and we go to Bali and Thailand for holiday.

April, Thank you so much for this short, to the point , simple explanation and even in pictures! Sort of knew the explanation for the left side, but not the reason for the right in multiple countries. Well done!

Actually, mounting horses from the left side comes from the times when people used to have swords on their belts...since the majority of people is right handed, the swords were on the left side of the belt. Trying to mount from the right side with a sword on your left would mean that you had to deal with the sword being in the way and could even hurt you or the horse, while this wasn't the problem when mounting from the left side...

I'm from the UK and have driven on the right in France, Spain and the US. It takes a while but I get used to it! I find the US a bit harder because their road layouts seem more different but on the other side the slower speeds in the US helps you get used to it quickly!

When Newfoundland joined Canada, in 1949, driving switched from left to right. From the photos that I've seen, downtown St. John's was chaos. When you drive around some older parts of town, you can see that the roads were aligned for left side driving, if you think about it. These days it just feels like a road has an awkward intersection, but because they are old areas of town, the roads are narrow anyways.

Driving on the left is better because your right hand is on the wheel and left on the gear stick. I’m right handed.

Nice video! But you did not include Cyprus, most people do not know that our small island exists but we are also one of the countries that we were under the influence of the UK and we still drive on the left.

I have always seen people who drive on left side of the road don't have a problem with driving manual transmission , because you don't have to take off the dominant hand (right hand) off the steering wheel while changing the gear . No wonder most Americans hate to drive a manual transmission.

Driving on the left means that the driver is on the right. Most people are right handed and with the driver on the right this means that auxiliary functions are carried out with the left hand and the most important , steering, with the dominant right.

Recently rode motorbike from Thailand to Laos and two weeks in Laos driving on the right hand side which I really enjoyed; different, due to not as many differences, on a motorbike though...

The left side of the road is literally the right side of the road.

Great video. Very well informed, thanks so much for sharing!

If you’ve ever driven a car with the drivers position on the “incorrect” side, it becomes very comfortable and makes a lot of sense very quickly. I’ve driven a lot of imported Left hand drive cars here in the U.K. and now I prefer it, and when I’ve driven in France in a rhd car it’s the same, I can’t however quantify why.

It makes more sense to drive on the left in Europe, as people in Europe drive properly (manual) and the majority of people are right hand dominant, keeping the right hand in control of the direction of the car whilst the other works the gears makes sense.

India which side you drive left or Right Indians : Yes

Thanks for this video

I am from the United States of America. I have only been to Canada. I have never been to a country that drives on the left side of the road. When I was in Canada, I didn't drive anyway. I took public transportation. Great video 👍.

Thanks for the video, you do a fantastic job :)

I am from India but can proudly proclaim myself as a skilled right hand driver thanks to GTA.

Brilliant viewing... great info, keep making videos.

It's easy to 'switch'. You arrive in a place, rent a car, then think "Drive on the other side." But then what happens is you start to get used to it, but you've got your brain saying, "drive on the other side," which can now cause confusion. This is when after several hours of driving on the 'other side' you suddenly start driving on the side where you came from. I met a Brit who drove right into a guy on day two in Los Angeles. I didn't get in accidents but I also did this switch-switch in the UK. My son while living in Japan came up with what is a better solution, when you get in the car before you put it in Drive you take a breath and say out loud, "This is Japan, in Japan we drive on the left side of the road." Seems like it shouldn't make any difference but in my experience it does. What's happening is that you're making a positive change: Do A, instead of a more complicated and conditional, "don't do what you are used to."

Also driving on the left is significantly safer as generally if you are right handed your right side is also your dominant side so you are naturally able to be more aware of everything that’s to your right than what’s to your left so you are able to have more awareness on the road if most hazards are to your right! :)

You forgot to mention that Napoleon was left handed, so he held the reigns of his horse with his right hand and the weapon with his left.

Woooow thanks so much for this, I've always wondered and this explains it so concisely. Awesome

My grandma was a Swedish immigrant to the US but she came to the US after the switch and she still talks about how they were made to drive on the other side of the road overnight.

When you regularly drive in different countries , it's easy to change over. the first time it can be daunting.

Actually in India 🇮🇳 *Mainly people use left side but right side as well because all are in hurry overtake other by went right side. They makes fault but don't accept their wrongdoing and blame you even you are in your side.* Sorry for my bad English

Thanks for the info!

RHD: the official diving side for the British Empire

it's not that difficult to adjust, takes about a day to get used to it properly! That being said I prefer left side driving and I find that it makes more sense in general!

I used to drive a Volkswagen in New Zealand and didn’t realise how uncomfortable it was until I drove a Nissan. And it’s not about the brand, but maybe about the manufacturer country. On a Japanese car you have the indicator just under your right hand, that is your wheeling hand, and the engine revolutions on the outside of your wheel. The speed display lies on the centre of your vision range, and the gears and window cleaning to your left hand. In a German car, everything is the opposite, so you have to switch hands to indicate when turning and look out to the right to watch your speed. So if you live in America or continental Europe, the right feels good, if you live in the Uk, Australia or New Zealand, the left Japanese cars feel better.

On the London Underground, when you use an escalator you must stand on the right, and keep the left clear clear for people who are in a hurry.

Sweden and France: right hand in the streets, but left hand on the rails Austria: right hand dominating, but old rail lines still go on the left

Love your videos April! So interesting 😮

Hong Kong drive on the left

Indonesia also drives on the left. Drove around 7, 000 miles in the USA. Picked up a Ford SUV at LAX and got out into the country side. Once out of LA it was OK being on the other side of the road. Little road traffic once outside of California. Drivers over there are very courteous and the country roads are excellent, compared to Australia.

What a great video. Thank you

As a Malaysian Muslim, I have no problem adjusting to the right side of the road during my very first overseas trip to Saudi Arabia, back in 2017, because I have already learned about it from a lot of American shows (especially "The Simpsons")!

Its better to drive on left side of road. coz our dominant hand will be on wheels and we still drive to center of road.

That's the best, most accurate and most detailed explanation for why we drive on the left or right side of the road in different countries. Thanks for your excellent. explanation.

Now THIS is what I call journalism...great production

Most Commonwealth countries drive on the left and concerning the UK, it has something to do with Napoleon and the Napoleonic Wars.

Next episode...How to drive while distracted during the making of a KZfaq video.

In the UK, the rule is to drive on the left, but because of the lack of funding for road repairs, we just drive on WHAT'S left!! 🤣🤣🤣

Thank you, for this interesting video :)