Why do English people drive on the left side ?

Thèmes abordés

Great-Britain European neighbors

Résumé du document

35% of the world's population live in a left-hand traffic country nowadays. Only one of those is located in Europe : Great-Britain. This habit leads the Britons to face difficulties when they have to drive abroad, and might discourage foreign tourists. Seemingly, the advantages do not offset the drawbacks. Where does this habit come from ? Is the game worth it ?

Is that because English people are xenophobic and try to drive back immigrants ? Because it is common place that the Britons want to do everything different ? Or, more seriously, because they were isolated from the rest of the world because of the Island where they live ? Actually, none of those answers is right. Britons are the ones who sticked to the old custom. Let's focus on history. Until the Middle-ages, people were driving (ie walking) on the left side in the whole Europe because of pope Boniface VIII, who recommended it for pilgrims. The United-States decided to join left-hand-traffic, but at the end of the XVIII century appeared the conestagon wagon. It soon became widespread in the USA, and was designed to drive on the right side. Later on, during the French Revolution, people wanted to break with religion (and with Pope's Boniface's advice) and the new government therefore legally required people to drive on the right side. A century later, Napoleon spread the right-hand side drive in Europe. However, England forbid the use of conestagon wagon on the one hand, and on the other hand resisted against French invasion attempts. As a result, English people kept driving on the left side.

Extraits

[...] It soon became widespread in the USA, and was designed to drive on the right side. Later on, during the French Revolution, people wanted to break with religion (and with Pope's Boniface's advice) and the new government therefore legally required people to drive on the right side. A century later, Napoleon spread the right-hand side drive in Europe. However, England forbid the use of conestagon wagon on the one hand, and on the other hand resisted against French invasion attempts. As a result, English people kept driving on the left side. [...]

[...] Moreover, it seems, from a foreign point of view, to increase the apparent “anti-europeanism” in the UK : the island didn't join the euro zone, and doesn't look like willing to have something in common with its European neighbours. Nevertheless, habits can't be denied so easily, especially in that case. Firstly, reconfiguring the whole driving system will have such an egregious economic impact that no British government will even try to tackle the issue, even though the economy was thriving. Lobbies are powerful in transports, and will never let such a policy be implemented. [...]

[...] Why do English people drive on the left side ? 35% of the world's population live in a left-hand traffic country nowadays. Only one of those is located in Europe : Great-Britain. This habit leads the Britons to face difficulties when they have to drive abroad, and might discourage foreign tourists. Seemingly, the advantages do not offset the drawbacks. Where does this habit come from ? Is the game worth it ? Is that because English people are xenophobic and try to drive back immigrants ? [...]

[...] How would people react to such an upheaval ? Is it possible to implement a policy without taking into account the people's opinion ? The governments used to do so centuries ago, since the State was considered more able to decide whether a measure was good or not than the people. In a democratic country full of instructed people, taking such a decision will necessary mean going through a referendum. I do believe, its result is predictable. England became a left-hand traffic country centuries ago, because of a particular historical context. [...]