Driving on the wrong side of the road gets complicated. Your brain is so used to focusing on doing in one way that it gets confused when you present another version.
I shouldn’t say the wrong side of the road because we have many countries that drive on the left of the road. But since I always drove on the right of the road, it felt wrong to go on the left side of the road. Don’t you feel the same?
Who Drives on the Left Side?
The countries with British influence, such as the ex-British colonies, all drive on the left side. Just out of curiosity, I google how many countries drive on the left side of the road. It seems 76 does. 76 countries where the Britts took over their land and declared to belong to the British Empire.
Then I thought, Why did the British decide to drive on the left when all the other countries went to the right?
Some History
I had to dig a bit into UK history, and then while reading, I remembered some of the historical passages that I had to learn in school. Remember when the knights had their swords on the left side of their hips? And when a fight would start, the knight would use his right hand to reach the sword to fight. The majority of us are right-handed, so if anything happens on the right side, we can immediately respond to the threat with the right hand.
When you visit an old castle in Europe, do you remember noticing that the stairs go up clockwise on the left wall? Did you ask why? You would have the right side to defend yourself if something attacked you. Interesting right?
I loved history. The period I love the most is the late Middle Ages, until passing just a bit on the Late Middle Ages. I think this was a fantastic period in humanity’s history.
It seems that driving, marching, or even walking on the left was a custom in older civilizations.
Science Explanation
I read an article a long time ago saying that our brain has two hemispheres, and each one controls a different body part at the time. So, I am saying that our species, the human being as we know it today, developed walking with two legs.
Now, they had free hands. They used their hands to perform other tasks, different tasks simultaneously, which before was impossible since they were walking in four limbs. Research shows evidence of a clear, right-handed preference for making stone tools in prehistoric societies.
So, I guess our brain favors the right side.
Nonetheless, in 18th century United Britain, the transport by wagon pulled by horses was very popular. The driver would sit on the right side of the wagon behind the horse with the whip in his free right hand. However, there was a lot of traffic congestion. I imagine everyone would drive on whatever side they wanted. That’s why they had a lot of congestion and probably accidents. So, a law was passed to keep all traffic on London bridges to the left, and later, it was incorporated throughout the British Empire.
So… that being said, we drive on the left side of the road. I still have moments when I think something is wrong. I still look on the left side when entering traffic, but the right side is the one to be watched.
My brain is getting trained, and most of the time, it goes smoothly, but sometimes I question myself: Am I on the right side? Then, I had to look at what the others were doing to find the normal.
Driving in New Zealand
The roads are very tight. There is not too much space to park or to make any maneuver. It’s like we are on top of each other. This makes sense; we live on an island, and space must be used to the fullest.
The cars are all small. Rarely we can see a truck like the ones in the US. The makes are mainly Australian, French, German, Japanese, and Korean.
The highway is called an expressway, an all-purpose road with two lanes and intersections like a roundabout. The motorway is more like a freeway with two lanes but no intersections.
The speed limit here is different from in the US. In the city, 40 or 50 km/h (25 or 31 miles/h). Outside the city’s 80 km/h (50 mile/h) and on the expressway and motorway, the speed limit is 100 km/h (62 mile/h).
The traffic signs are different in the US and even in Europe. The majority of their traffic signs are the same, but there are some new ones I never encountered before. But as we know, each country has its own rules.
Then I thought to myself, it is a good exercise for my brain. Gets to do something new. There is always a bright side to any new situation.
