Africa The British Empire introduced LHT in the
East Africa Protectorate (present-day
Kenya), the
Protectorate of Uganda,
Tanganyika (formerly part of
German East Africa; present-day
Tanzania),
Rhodesia (present-day
Zambia/
Zimbabwe),
Eswatini and the
Cape Colony (present-day
South Africa and
Lesotho), as well as in
British West Africa (present-day Ghana, Gambia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria); former British West Africa, however, has now switched to RHT, as all its neighbours, which are mostly former French territories, use RHT. South Africa, formerly the Cape Colony, introduced LHT in former
German South West Africa, present-day
Namibia, after the end of
World War I. Sudan, formerly part of
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, switched to RHT in 1973. Most of its neighbours were RHT countries, with the exception of Uganda and Kenya, but since the independence of
South Sudan in 2011, all of its neighbours drive on the right (including South Sudan, despite its land borders with two LHT countries). Although
Portugal switched to RHT in 1928, its
colony of Mozambique remained LHT because it has land borders with former British colonies (with LHT). France introduced RHT in
French West Africa and the
Maghreb, where it is still used. Countries in these areas include
Mali,
Mauritania,
Ivory Coast,
Burkina Faso,
Benin,
Niger,
Morocco,
Algeria, and
Tunisia. Other French former colonies that are RHT include
Cameroon,
Central African Republic,
Chad,
Djibouti,
Gabon, and the
Republic of the Congo.
Rwanda and
Burundi are RHT but are considering switching to LHT (see "Potential future shifts" section below).
Americas United States In the late 18th century, right-hand traffic started to be introduced in the United States based on
teamsters' use of large freight wagons pulled by several pairs of horses and without a driver's seat; the (typically right-handed)
postilion held his whip in his right hand and thus sat on the left rear horse, and therefore preferred other wagons passing on the left so that he would have a clear view of other vehicles. The first keep-right law for
driving in the United States was passed in 1792 and applied to the
Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike.
Massachusetts formalized RHT in 1821. However, the
National Road was LHT until 1850, "long after the rest of the country had settled on the keep-right convention". Today the United States is RHT except the
United States Virgin Islands, which is LHT like many neighbouring islands. Some special-purpose vehicles in the United States, like certain postal service trucks, garbage trucks, and parking-enforcement vehicles, are built with the driver's seat on the right for safer and easier access to the curb. A common example is the
Grumman LLV, which is used nationwide by the
US Postal Service and by
Canada Post.
Other countries in the Americas , 1898. In Canada, the provinces of
Quebec and
Ontario were always RHT because they were created out of the former French colony of
New France. The province of
British Columbia changed to RHT in stages from 1920 to 1923,
New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia, and
Prince Edward Island in 1922, 1923, and 1924 respectively, and the
Dominion of Newfoundland (part of Canada since 1949) in 1947. In the
West Indies, colonies and territories drive on the same side as their parent countries, except for the
United States Virgin Islands. Many of the island nations are former British colonies and drive on the left, including
Jamaica,
Antigua and Barbuda,
Barbados,
Dominica,
Grenada,
Saint Kitts and Nevis,
Saint Lucia,
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,
Trinidad and Tobago, and
The Bahamas. However, most vehicles in The Bahamas,
Cayman Islands,
Turks and Caicos Islands and both the
British Virgin Islands, between Guyana (LHT) and Brazil (RHT)
Brazil, a Portuguese colony until the early 19th century, had in the 19th and the early 20th century mixed rules, with some regions still on LHT, switching these remaining regions to RHT in 1928, the same year Portugal switched sides. Other Central and South American countries that later switched from LHT to RHT include Argentina, Panama, Paraguay, and Uruguay. although much of its infrastructure is still geared to LHT as its neighbours India, Bangladesh and
Thailand use LHT. Most cars are used RHD vehicles imported from Japan.
Afghanistan was LHT until the 1950s, in line with Pakistan (former part of British India). Although
Portuguese Timor (present-day
East Timor), which shares the island of
Timor with
Indonesia, who is LHT, switched to RHT with
Portugal in 1928, The
Philippines was mostly LHT during its
Spanish and
American colonial periods, as well as during the
Commonwealth era. During the
Japanese occupation, the Philippines remained LHT, as was required by the Japanese; but during the
Battle of Manila, the liberating American forces drove their tanks to the right for easier facilitation of movement. RHT was formalized in 1945 through a decree by president
Sergio Osmeña. Even though RHT was formalized, RHD vehicles such as public buses were still imported into the Philippines until a law passed banning the importation of RHD vehicles except in special cases. These RHD vehicles are required to be converted to LHD. The conversion operation was known as 730 (
Nana-San-Maru, which refers to the date of the changeover). Okinawa is one of only a few places to have changed from RHT to LHT in the late 20th century. While Japan drives on the left and most Japanese vehicles are RHD, imported vehicles (e.g. BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche) are generally bought as LHD since LHD cars are considered to be status symbols.
Vietnam became RHT as part of
French Indochina, as did
Laos and
Cambodia. In Cambodia, RHD cars, many of which were smuggled from Thailand, were banned in 2001, even though they accounted for 80% of vehicles in the country.
Europe In a study of the ancient traffic system of
Pompeii, Eric Poehler was able to show that drivers of carts drove in the middle of the road whenever possible. This was the case even on roads wide enough for two lanes. The wear marks on the kerbstones, however, prove that when there were two lanes of traffic, and the volume of traffic made it necessary to divide the lanes, the drivers always drove on the right-hand side. These considerations can also be demonstrated in the archaeological findings of other cities in the
Roman Empire. One of the first references in England to requiring traffic direction was an order by the London
Court of Aldermen in 1669, requiring a man to be posted on
London Bridge to ensure that "all cartes going to keep on the one side and all cartes coming to keep on the other side". It was later legislated as the
London Bridge Act 1756 (
29 Geo. 2 c. 40), which required that "all carriages passing over the said bridge from London shall go on the east side thereof" – those going south to remain on the east, i.e. the left-hand side by direction of travel. This may represent the first statutory requirement for LHT. In the
Kingdom of Ireland, a law of 1793 (33 Geo. 3. c. 56 (I)) provided a ten-
shilling fine to anyone not driving or riding on the left side of the road within the
county of the city of
Dublin, and required the local road overseers to erect written or printed notices informing road users of the law. The
Road in Down and Antrim Act 1798 (38 Geo. 3. c. 28 (I)) required drivers on the road from Dublin to
Donadea to keep to the left. This time, the punishment was ten shillings if the offender was not the owner of the vehicle, or one
Irish pound (twenty shillings) if he/she was. The
Grand Juries (Ireland) Act 1836 (
6 & 7 Will. 4 c. 116) mandated LHT for the whole country, violators to be fined up to five shillings and imprisoned in default for up to one month. An oft-repeated story is that
Napoleon changed the custom from LHT to RHT in France and the countries he conquered after the
French Revolution. Scholars who have looked for documentary evidence of this story have found none, and contemporary sources have not surfaced, Rotterdam had no fixed rules until 1917, although the rest of the Netherlands was RHT. In May 1917 the police in Rotterdam ended traffic chaos by enforcing right hand traffic. In Russia, in 1709, the Danish envoy under Tsar
Peter the Great noted the widespread custom for traffic in Russia to pass on the right, but it was only in 1752 that
Empress Elizabeth officially issued an edict for traffic to keep to the right. , Austria, After the
Austro-Hungarian Empire broke up, the resulting countries gradually changed to RHT. In Austria,
Vorarlberg switched in 1921,
North Tyrol in 1930,
Carinthia and
East Tyrol in 1935, and the rest of the country in 1938. In
Romania,
Transylvania, the
Banat and
Bukovina were LHT until 1919, while
Wallachia and
Moldavia were already RHT.
Partitions of Poland belonging to the
German Empire and the
Russian Empire were RHT, while the former
Austrian Partition changed in the 1920s. Croatia-Slavonia switched on joining the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1918, although
Istria and
Dalmatia were already RHT. The
switch in Czechoslovakia from LHT to RHT had been planned for 1939, but was accelerated by the start of the
German occupation of Czechoslovakia that year. In Italy, it had been decreed in 1901 that each
province define its own
traffic code, including the handedness of traffic, In 1915,
allied forces of
World War I imposed LHT in areas of military operation, but this was revoked in 1918.
Rome was reported by
Goethe as LHT in the 1780s.
Naples was also LHT although surrounding areas were often RHT. In cities, LHT was considered safer since pedestrians, accustomed to keeping right, could better see oncoming vehicular traffic. Portugal switched to RHT in 1928. Spain switched to RHT in 1918, but not in the entire country. In
Madrid people continued to drive on the left until 1924 when a national law forced drivers in Madrid switch to RHT.
Madrid Metro still uses LHT. Sweden switched to RHT in 1967, having been LHT from about 1734 despite having land borders with RHT countries
Norway and Finland, and approximately 90% of cars being left-hand drive (LHD).
A referendum in 1955 overwhelmingly rejected a change to RHT, but, a few years later, the government ordered it and it occurred on Sunday, 3 September 1967 at 5 am. The accident rate then dropped sharply, but soon rose to near its original level. The day was known as , or for short. When Iceland switched to RHT the following year, it was known as or ("The H-Day"). Most passenger cars in Iceland were already LHD. The United Kingdom is LHT, but two of its
overseas territories,
Gibraltar and the
British Indian Ocean Territory, are RHT. In the late 1960s, the British
Department for Transport considered switching to RHT, but declared it unsafe and too costly for such a built-up nation. Road building standards, for motorways in particular, allow asymmetrically designed road junctions, where merge and diverge lanes differ in length. Today, four countries in Europe continue to use LHT, all island nations: the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland (formerly part of the UK),
Cyprus and
Malta (both former British colonies).
Oceania , heavily visited by international tourists, reminding motorists to keep left in Australia Many former British colonies in the region have always been LHT, including Australia, New Zealand,
Fiji,
Kiribati,
Solomon Islands,
Tonga, and
Tuvalu; and nations that were previously administered by Australia:
Nauru and
Papua New Guinea.
New Zealand to remind tourists to drive on the left in
New Zealand. Initially traffic was slow and very sparse, but, as early as 1856, a newspaper said, "The cart was near to the right hand kerb. According to the rules of the road, it should have been on the left side. In turning sharp round a right-hand corner, a driver should keep away to the opposite side." That rule was codified when the first
Highway Code was written in 1936.
Samoa Samoa, a former German colony, had been RHT for more than a century, but switched to LHT in 2009, making it the first territory in almost 30 years to change sides. in April 2008 an estimated 18,000 people attended demonstrations against switching. The motor industry was also opposed, as 14,000 of Samoa's 18,000 vehicles were designed for RHT and the government refused to meet the cost of conversion. After months of preparation, the switch from right to left happened in an atmosphere of national celebration. There were no reported incidents. That day and the following were declared public holidays, to reduce traffic. The change included a three-day ban on alcohol sales, while police mounted dozens of checkpoints, warning drivers to drive slowly. == Potential future shifts ==