But Really, Which One IS the "Right" Side of the Road?

Obviously, now that we are nearly two months in to our life in Thailand, one can expect that I have gotten comfortable with the driving here. Two extended periods of Lone Mommy Syndrome necessitated it. Having driven on 'this side' in Malaysia I was confident that I could do it, but in the beginning it is such a mental exercise for me. Not having driven my own car regularly for the last two and a half years left me feeling rusty, as though my instincts and reflexes were dulled but perhaps that worked in my favor: if they were dulled then perhaps the wrong ones would not kick in and get me into trouble as I readjusted all of my thinking!

We had been here a few days already before I had the guts to get behind the wheel. My first forays were with Heinz (who honed his left-handed driving skill during his years living in Sydney) also in the car, along by-now familiar routes. I do think the narrowness of some of these 2-way streets will forever give me angst, though! Those jaunts were successful enough, so it was time for a solo run. It started out somewhat inauspiciously, however, as I climbed in on the wrong side. Lucky me, Heinz just happened to be watching out the window so he got a good laugh for his morning. There are few things as disorienting and humiliating as that "wait, wha...?" moment when there is no steering wheel in front of you, that split second before you realize what you've done. Nothing else to do but climb out and get back in on the other side. Undaunted, I started the car and continued on my way. Things were looking up but I couldn't shake that feeling that everyone around me knew I was a poseur, that I had no clue what I was doing. That feeling was heightened as I pulled into the lot of my favorite grocery store. I'm not sure why but they have attendants that stand in the middle of the lane and just sort of watch everyone drive around. I have yet to see them actually direct anyone in anyway, even when the lot is overflowing. But I found myself a space, parked without incident and went inside. As I came out, the guard (they are additionally creepy because they wear these full face masks, sometimes all black, sometimes camouflaged, I imagine to protect them from the sun but it makes them look like guerrilla warriors) watched me walk from the store door all the way to my car and continued to watch me put my packages in the trunk (boot) and get in...on the wrong side. I had been thinking to myself "Seriously dude, what are you looking at?" But in that split second where I had already started to lower myself into the seat and there was no way to stop the descent, as my mind registered that I was wrong...again...I realized he was probably thinking "this is why we stare at you, Farang, (Foreigner), we are confident you will do something stupid if we watch long enough. You are entertaining." Sheepishly, I climbed back out, again, and got in on the correct side. I had a good laugh at myself, shook it off and continued home. A nod here to my friend Shabi in China. I hold her in such high esteem as she is willing and able to drive herself around in Shanghai (too scary for me!). I had to laugh when she pointed out to me recently that she, who grew up in and still spends time in Malaysia and Australia and travels often to Hong Kong, also finds herself doing "that jig" around the car when she goes back and forth between countries, until she readjusts to the proper side. I'm in good company!

Shortly before we left Shanghai, I was chatting about the move with a friend of ours. A British friend. I mentioned how excited I was to be independent again, being able to come and go as I please, not having to rely on organizing the driver and worrying about his overtime on weekends, but on the flip side I was still anxious about driving on that dreaded other side of the road. He smiled at me knowingly and said "Ah yes, the Thais drive on the 'correct' side of the road, don't they?" Well, truly, which one is the correct side? 

I found some insight at www.worldstandards.eu/history and origin. It is amazing to think of the chaos that must have ensued during periods when entire countries and even individual cities had no clear-cut rules about which side was "correct". And in some cases, getting everyone to drive on the same side merely caused a different form of confusion! (Can you teach an old camel new tricks? How long does it take to turn all the signs around?) Even though many things have reached a global standard, (the ABC arrangement: accelerator, brake, clutch) some have not: how many times have you switched cars and mistaken the windshield wipers for the turn signal? We have had four cars in our short time here and 2 had the turn signal on one side, 2 had it on the other. Lots of windshield wipers were flapping and so were the tongues of little children in the backseat. Single digits old yet but already they are backseat drivers! And I do remember Samoa changing in 2009. It's a bit lengthy but here is some of the history that I found:


About a quarter of the world drives on the left, and the countries that do are mostly old British colonies. This strange quirk perplexes the rest of the world; but there is a perfectly good reason.
In the past, almost everybody travelled on the left side of the road because that was the most sensible option for feudal, violent societies. Since most people are right-handed, swordsmen preferred to keep to the left in order to have their right arm nearer to an opponent and their scabbard further from him. Moreover, it reduced the chance of the scabbard (worn on the left) hitting other people.
Furthermore, a right-handed person finds it easier to mount a horse from the left side of the horse, and it would be very difficult to do otherwise if wearing a sword (which would be worn on the left). It is safer to mount and dismount towards the side of the road, rather than in the middle of traffic, so if one mounts on the left, then the horse should be ridden on the left side of the road.
In the late 1700s, however, teamsters in France and the United States began hauling farm products in big wagons pulled by several pairs of horses. These wagons had no driver's seat; instead the driver sat on the left rear horse, so he could keep his right arm free to lash the team. Since he was sitting on the left, he naturally wanted everybody to pass on the left so he could look down and make sure he kept clear of the oncoming wagon’s wheels. Therefore he kept to the right side of the road.
In addition, the French Revolution of 1789 gave a huge impetus to right-hand travel in Europe. The fact is, before the Revolution, the aristocracy travelled on the left of the road, forcing the peasantry over to the right, but after the storming of the Bastille and the subsequent events, aristocrats preferred to keep a low profile and joined the peasants on the right. An official keep-right rule was introduced in Paris in 1794, more or less parallel to Denmark, where driving on the right had been made compulsory in 1793.
Later, Napoleon's conquests spread the new rightism to the Low Countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Russia and many parts of Spain and Italy. The states that had resisted Napoleon kept to the left:   Britain, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Portugal. This European division, between the left- and right-hand nations would remain fixed for more than 100 years, until after the First World War.
The trend among nations over the years has been toward driving on the right, but Britain has done its best to stave off global homogenization. With the expansion of travel and road building in the 1800s, traffic regulations were made in every country. Left-hand driving was made mandatory in Britain in 1835. Countries which were part of the British Empire followed suit. This is why to this very day, India, Australasia and the former British colonies in Africa go left. An exception to the rule, however, is Egypt, which had been conquered by Napoleon before becoming a British dependency.
Although Japan was never part of the British Empire, its traffic also goes to the left. Although the origin of this habit goes back to the Edo period (1603-1867) when Samurai ruled the country, it wasn’t until 1872 that this unwritten rule became more or less official. That was the year when Japan’s first railway was introduced, built with technical aid from the British. Gradually, a massive network of railways and tram tracks was built, and of course all trains and trams drove on the left-hand side. Still, it took another half century till in 1924 left-side driving was clearly written in a law.
When the Dutch arrived in Indonesia in 1596, they brought along their habit of driving on the left. It wasn't until Napoleon conquered the Netherlands that the Dutch started driving on the right. Most of their colonies, however, remained on the left as did Indonesia and Suriname.
In the early years of English colonisation of North America, English driving customs were followed and the colonies drove on the left. After gaining independence from England, however, they were anxious to cast off all remaining links with their British colonial past and gradually changed to right-hand driving. (Incidentally, the influence of other European countries’ nationals should not be underestimated.) The first law requiring drivers to keep right was passed in Pennsylvania in 1792, and similar laws were passed in New York in 1804 and New Jersey in 1813.
Despite the developments in the US, some parts of Canada continued to drive on the left until shortly after the Second World War. The territory controlled by the French (from Quebec to Louisiana) drove on the right, but the territory occupied by the English (British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland) kept left. British Columbia and the Atlantic provinces switched to the right in the 1920s in order to conform with the rest of Canada and the USA. Newfoundland drove on the left until 1947, and joined Canada in 1949.
In Europe, the remaining left-driving countries switched one by one to driving on the right. Portugal changed in 1920s. The change took place on the same day in the whole country, including the colonies. Territories, however, which bordered other left-driving countries were exempted. That is why Macau, Goa (now part of India) and Portuguese East Africa kept the old system. East Timor, which borders left-driving Indonesia, did change to the right though, but left-hand traffic was reintroduced by the Indonesians in 1975.
In Italy the practice of driving on the right first began in the late 1890s. The first Italian Highway Code, issued on the 30th of June 1912, stated that all vehicles had to drive on the right. Cities with a tram network, however, could retain left-hand driving if they placed warning signs at their city borders. The 1923 decree is a bit stricter, but Rome and the northern cities of Milan, Turin and Genoa could still keep left until further orders from the Ministry of Public Works. By the mid-1920s, right-hand driving became finally standard throughout the country. Rome made the change on the 1 of March 1925 and Milan on the 3rd of August 1926.
Up till the 1930s Spain lacked national traffic regulations. Some parts of the country drove on the right (e.g. Barcelona) and other parts drove on the left (e.g. Madrid). On the 1st of October 1924 Madrid switched to driving on the right.
The break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire caused no change: Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Hungary continued to drive on the left. Austria itself was something of a curiosity. Half the country drove on the left and half on the right. The dividing line was precisely the area affected by Napoleon's conquests in 1805.
When Germany annexed Austria in 1938, Hitler ordered that the traffic should change from the left to the right side of the road, overnight. The change threw the driving public into turmoil, because motorists were unable to see most road signs. In Vienna it proved impossible to change the trams overnight, so while all other traffic took to the right-hand side of the road, the trams continued to run on the left for several weeks. Czechoslovakia and Hungary, among the last states on the mainland of Europe to keep left, changed to the right after being invaded by Germany in 1939 and late 1944 respectively.
Meanwhile, the power of the right kept growing steadily. American cars were designed to be driven on the right by locating the drivers' controls on the vehicle's left side. With the mass production of reliable and economical cars in the United States, initial exports used the same design, and out of necessity many countries changed their rule of the road.
Gibraltar changed to right-hand traffic in 1929 and China in 1946. Korea now drives right, but only because it passed directly from Japanese colonial rule to American and Russian influence at the end of the Second World War. Pakistan also considered changing to the right in the 1960s, but ultimately decided not to do it. The main argument against the shift was that camel trains often drove through the night while their drivers were dozing. The difficulty in teaching old camels new tricks was decisive in forcing Pakistan to reject the change. Nigeria, a former British colony, had traditionally been driving on the left with British imported right-hand-drive cars, but when it gained independence, it tried to throw off its colonial past as quick as possible and shifted to driving on the right.
After the Second World War, left-driving Sweden, the odd one out in mainland Europe, felt increasing pressure to change sides in order to conform with the rest of the continent. The problem was that all their neighbours already drove on the right side and since there are a lot of small roads without border guards leading into Norway and Finland, one had to remember in which country one was.
In 1955, the Swedish government held a referendum on the introduction of right-hand driving. Although no less than 82.9% voted “no” to the plebiscite, the Swedish parliament passed a law on the conversion to right-hand driving in 1963. Finally, the change took place on Sunday, the 3rd of September 1967, at 5 o’clock in the morning. All traffic with private motor-driven vehicles was prohibited four hours before and one hour after the conversion, in order to be able to rearrange all traffic signs. Even the army was called in to help. Also a very low speed limit was applied, which was raised in a number of steps. The whole process took about a month. After Sweden's successful changeover, Iceland changed the following year, in 1968. On 2 April 1972 Nigeria swapped sides and Ghana did the same thing in 1974.
In the 1960s, Great Britain also considered changing, but the country’s conservative powers did everything they could to nip the proposal in the bud. Furthermore, the fact that it would cost billions of pounds to change everything round wasn’t much of an incentive… Eventually, Britain dropped the idea. Today, only four European countries still drive on the left: the United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus and Malta.
On 7 September 2009 Samoa (population 189,000) became the third country ever to change from right- to left-hand driving. It had been driving on the right since it had become a German colony in the early 20th century, although it was administered by New Zealand after the First World War and gained independence in 1962. Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi wanted to swap sides to make it easier to import cheap cars from left-hand driving Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

One comfort in all this is that the arrangement of the pedals and the gear shift is the same worldwide. An international standard was arrived at some time ago which determined the order of the pedals, no matter on which side the steering wheel is located. Going from right to left, the order is always “A-B-C”, or accelerator, brake and clutch (if the vehicle has manual transmission). Thanks to this international standard, the driver who lives in a right-hand-drive country and, say, rents a car in a left-hand-drive country, does not have to re-educate himself before he can drive a car which has the steering wheel on the “other” side.
The manual (as opposed to automatic) gear lever pattern is also the same but only for commercial reasons. Since the cost-benefit ratio would not be favourable, the same transmissions are generally used, no matter whether the car is left-hand-drive or right-hand-drive.
One area which is not standardized is the location of the turn signal lever. In most places, the turn signal is mounted on the left side of the steering column. This includes right-hand-drive vehicles in the UK, and left-hand-drive vehicles in America and continental Europe. Vehicles built in Australia and Japan, however, have the turn signal lever mounted on the right. At one time this meant that cars made by Nissan in Britain had the signals and wiper controls one way round, but cars made by Nissan in Japan for the British market had them the opposite way round. In recent years most Japanese cars sold in the British Isles seem to conform to the European convention.
Some anecdotes…
While all countries that have swapped sides have transferred from left to right, the only three cases recorded of a transfer from right to left were in East Timor in 1975, in Okinawa on 30 July 1978 and in Samoa on 7 September 2009.
A newspaper story on April Fool's Day suggested that, to further European integration, the UK was to convert to driving on the right. However, owing to the huge amount of work this conversion would cause, it would be phased in: for the first six months the regulation would only apply to buses and taxis.
Myanmar (formerly Burma) was a British colony until 1948, and drove on the left until 1970, when it changed sides. It is said that the ruler of the country, Ne Win, interpreted a dream to mean that all traffic should keep to the right. However, virtually every vehicle is right-hand-drive, since there are still many old cars and buses driving around and almost all the modern cars are second-hand imports from Japan. You can still even see old traffic lights in downtown Rangoon on the wrong side of the road.

Until the mid-60s, all Lancias, even in left-hand-drive Italy, were manufactured as right-hand-drive. Lancia intended the cars to be suitable for use on the Alpine passes, so when driving on the right, the driver was also on the right, and could see the edge of the road. Falling off the edge of the road was considered a greater danger than head-on collisions. Modern Italian trucks in the Alps are still often right-hand-drive for the same reason. Similarly, Spanish buses and trucks were right-hand-drive until the 1950s because of the need to watch for unstable road edges.

Ford changed to left-hand-drive in the 1908 model year. A Ford catalogue from 1908 explains the benefits of placing the controls on the left side of the car: 
“The control is located on the left side, the logical place, for the following reasons: Travelling along the right side of the road the steering wheel on the right side of the car made it necessary [for the passenger] to get out on the street side and walk around the car. This is awkward and especially inconvenient if there is a lady to be considered. The control on the left allows you to step out of the car on to the curbing without having had to turn the car around.
In the matter of steering with the control on the right, the driver is farthest away from the vehicle he is passing, going in opposite direction; with it on the left side he is able to see even the wheels of the other car and easily avoids danger.”

Hope you've enjoyed our little History Lesson. Wishing you all safe travels, on whichever side you drive~