Why do people in different countries drive on different lanes?

(Courtesy: Today I Found Out)

For the starters, British would drive on the left side of the lane. So, the majority of countries who were under their rule, they drove (and still do) on the left side. This includes India, Pakistan, Australia and many countries in Africa.

The historical reason is when people would go on war, since right-handed, they would drive or ride a horse on the left side so that they can use their right hands freely (that holds weapons) and kill opponents on the opposite side easily. It was convenient!

(Courtesy: Flickr)

So, earlier, almost everyone would ride on the left side of the lane. However, in the 1700s, in the USA and France, many landowners started riding horse chariots from the left side. So, to look down everyone and ensure everyone steers clear of the wagon’s wheels, they started riding on the right side of the road.

At the same time, many countries started coming up with their separate traffic rules, which was largely influenced by the countries that they were close to. Many stuck to do things the British way. Others thought it was good to follow the USA and France. For example, in 1794, Paris introduced the rule to ride on the right side of the lane. In 1835, riding on the right side of the lane was made mandatory in Britain.

So, honestly, there isn’t any particular reason why some countries today drive on right-lane and others on the left-lane. It just ranges back to their history and preference.

Yes, I also think that it's basically their preference some like to refer to the left side while some others refer the right side.

So, basically, it depends on their choice for driving the vehicle either to choose left or right.

The reason why people in different countries drive in different lanes dates back to even before when the cars actually got invented. There are around 50 countries in people drive the car on the left side of the road and 75 percent of the countries drive on the right side of the road in the whole world, according to National Geographic. There are many reasons why people drive on the left side of the road, let us go through them one by one.

Since we all know that most of the people in the world are right-handed, this is one of the big reasons why countries prefer to drive on the left side of the road rather than right. In ancient Roman times, during the earliest modes of transport, people used to pull the chariots on the left side and defended themselves from enemies with weapons held in their dominant right hands, said in research made by History Channel.
Eventually, it was decided by British Govt. that traffic should be kept on the left side and this law to carried down to many of their colonies. This is the foremost reason why India, South Africa and
So, most of the countries have adopted their respective sides on the roads for the traffic and there are also few countries which shifted their patterns. Samoa is one of them which recently shifted to the left in the year 2009 which helped drivers more easily to travel in Australia and New Zealand, which drive on the left side.