Driving on the left hand side( History of left hand drive)

About 35% of the world population driveson the left, and the countries that do aremostly old British colonies. This strange quirkperplexes the rest of the world, but there is aperfectly good reason.
Almost everybody traveled on the left sideof the road in the past because that wasthe most sensible option for feudal, violentsocieties. Since most people are right-handed,swordsmen preferred to keep to the left inorder to have their right arm nearer to anopponent and their scabbard further fromhim. Moreover, it reduced the chance ofthe scabbard (worn on the left) hitting otherpeople.
Furthermore,a right-handed person finds iteasier to mount a horse from the left side ofthe horse,and it would be very difficult to dootherwise if wearing a sword (which wouldbe worn on the left). It is safer to mount anddismount towards the road rather than in themiddle of traffic, so if one mount on the left,the horse should be ridden on the left side ofthe road.
In the late 1700s, however, teamsters inFrance and the United States began haulingfarm products in big wagons pulled by severalpairs of horses. These wagons had no driver'sseat; instead, the driver sat on the left rearhorse,so he could keep his right arm free tolash the team. Since he was sitting on the left,
he naturally wanted everybody to pass on theleft so he could look down and make sure hekept clear of the oncoming wagon's wheels.Therefore he kept to the right side of the road.
In Russia, in 1709,the Danish envoy underTsar Peter the Great noted the widespreadcustom for traffic in Russia to pass onthe right.Still, in 1752, Empress Elizabeth(Elizaveta Petrovna) officially issued an edictfor traffic to keep to the right. In addition,the French Revolution of 1789 gave a hugeimpetus to right-hand travel in Europe.Thefact is,before the Revolution,the aristocracytraveled on the left of the road, forcing thepeasantry over to the right.Still, after thestorming of the Bastille and the subsequentevents,aristocrats preferred to keep a lowprofile and joined the peasants on the right.An official keep-right rule was introducedin Paris in 1794, more or less parallel toDenmark, where driving on the right had beenmade compulsory in 1793.

Видео Driving on the left hand side( History of left hand drive) канала CAR JUNGLE