Have you ever wondered why people drive on a different side of the road? It might seem bizarrethat U. K. drivers stay on the left, but they're not the only ones. Around 35 percent of the world population do the same, including people in Ireland, Japan, and some Caribbean islands.
At first, almost everybody traveled on the left side of the road. However, their way of transport was quite different from today: Think about four legs instead of four wheels. For Medieval swordsmen (中世纪剑士) on horseback, it made sense to keep to the left to have their right arms closer to their enemies. Getting on or off was also easier from the left side of the horse, and safer done by the side of the road than in the center.
So why did people stop traveling on the left? Things changed in the late 1700s when large wagons(货车) pulled by several pairs of horses were used to transport farm products in France and the United States. The wagon driver sat behind the left horse, with his right arm free to use his whip to keep the horses moving. Since he was sitting on the left position, he wanted other wagons to pass on his left, so he kept to the right side of the road.
The British Government refused to give up their left-hand driving ways, and in 1773 introduced the General Highways Act, which encouraged driving on the left. This was later made law thanks to The Highway Act of 1835.
When Henry Ford showed his Model T in 1908, the driver's seat was on the left, meaning that cars would have to drive on the right hand side of the road to allow front and back passengers to exit the car onto the roadside. However, British drivers remain on the left, and this is highly unlikely to change.
