If you have ever come across a car that has the drive on the right, or you have seen it in images and you wonder why there are cars with the drive on the right, at Proautoenthusiast.com we are here to answer your questions.
The steering wheel of the car is a fundamental component in driving, at least in the era of cars without autonomous driving (this may change a lot in the future). Although most cars in the world are left-hand drive , there are also right-hand drive models .
The position of the steering wheel of the car depends a lot on the country, its roads and the traffic regulations of each place. In Mexico, all the cars marketed directly by the brands have the steering wheel on the left side , and on two-way roads with one lane for each one, we drive on the right. However, in other countries this is different and that is where right-hand drive cars emerge .
1. Right hand drive
When the steering wheel of the car is on the right, driving is reversed, and that is why in countries like England or Japan, to mention a couple of them, we see that all cars have the steering wheel on the right and the driving lane is it’s the left one.
The origin of driving with the steering wheel on the right dates back to ancient Rome, where knights circulated on the left side of the road to greet or fight with their right hands: let us remember that the majority of the population is right-handed. This was also useful to more easily repel a possible frontal attack. Similarly, there are records that most people preferred to let those coming from the opposite direction pass on their right, for the reasons mentioned above.
Another key factor for the custom of having the steering wheel on the right side is that in the 18th century horse carriages did not have a driver’s seat, and the driver’s right hand had to be left free to whip the horses. This carried over to cars, which is why in some places the steering wheel is on the right hand side – again to allow more freedom for the right hand.
2. Steering wheel on the left
On the other side of the scale we have left -hand drive cars . This is the usual in most countries of the world. This configuration was given and standardized when noticing that it facilitates the handling of railcars (we no longer drive horse-drawn carriages nor do we have to defend ourselves from attacks or greet other drivers by shaking their hands). However, some countries kept the tradition and still drive right -hand drive and in the left lane.
3. Right-hand drive countries
About 30% of the world’s population drives with the steering wheel on the right . This leaves us with an important list of countries where you drive with the steering wheel on the right side . There are countries with these characteristics in all continents, and then at Proautoenthusiast we will list each one of them.
In Africa , right-hand drive countries include Botswana, Lesotho, Kenya, Malawi, and Mauritius. There are also Mozambique, Namibia, Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha, as well as Swaziland, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
In the American continent , from the northern portion we only have Bermuda, while in Central America and the Caribbean we have Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados and Dominica, in addition to Granada, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, British Virgin Islands. and US Virgin Islands. Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago complete the list. In South America we only have Guyana, the Falkland Islands and Suriname.
The Asian continent is where most countries use the right-hand drive . The list includes Bangladesh, Brunei, Bhutan, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia and, the best known from this part of the world, Japan. Also on the list are Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan, and completing the list are Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the British Indian Ocean Territory, and East Timor.
In Europe the list is made up of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, Cyprus, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Ireland, Isle of Man, Bailiwick of Jersey, Malta and, of course, the United Kingdom, being the best known worldwide.
Finally, in Oceania there are Australia, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Pitcairn Islands, Kiribati and Nauru, as well as New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga. With this, we complete the list of countries where you drive with the steering wheel on the right.