Why do some countries drive on the right and others on the left ?

(last update: 27 February 2011) Save this page to PDF

If you are planning to visit the UK and happen to come from one of the many countries that drive on the wrong side of the road, the following advice, direct from the Ministry of Transport, is for you: Visitors are informed that in the United Kingdom traffic drives on the left-hand side of the road. In the interests of safety, you are advised to practise this in your country of origin for a week or two before driving in the UK.

History and origin List of left-driving countries List of right-driving countries Population distribution Some anecdotes Location of the steering wheel

Compare Chevrolet Cruze With EPA Est 28 City & 42 Hwy MPG. Check Out the Cruze ECO Now! www.Chevrolet.com/Cruze GMC Official Site Great Deals on Select 2011 Models. Get Pricing & Locate a Dealer. www.GMC.com/SummerEvent Compare Ford? Focus See How the Ford Focus Compares Against the Honda Civic Now! www.ThinkFordFirst.com History and origin 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 righthanded, 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 wagons 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 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. Although left-driving Sweden ceded Finland to right-driving Russia after the Russo-Swedish War (1808-1809), Swedish law including traffic regulations remained valid in Finland for another 50 years. It wasnt until 1858 that an Imperial Russian decree made Finland swap sides. The trend among nations over the years has been toward driving on the right, but Britain has done its best to stave off global homogenisation. 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 wasnt until 1872 that this unwritten rule became more or less official. That was the year when Japans 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 oclock 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. Ghana swapped sides in 1974. In the 1960s, Great Britain also considered changing, but the countrys 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 wasnt 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.

Search List of left-driving countries The following is a list of countries of the world whose inhabitants drive on the left-hand side of the road. Most of the drivers of these countries use right-hand-drive vehicles. 1. Anguilla 2. Antigua and Barbuda 3. Australia 4. Bahamas 5. Bangladesh 6. Barbados 7. Bermuda 8. Bhutan 9. Botswana 10. Brunei 11. Cayman Islands 12. Christmas Island (Australia) 13. Cook Islands 14. Cyprus 15. Dominica 16. East Timor 17. Falkland Islands 18. Fiji 19. Grenada 20. Guernsey (Channel Islands) 21. Guyana 22. Hong Kong 23. India 24. Indonesia 25. Ireland 26. Isle of Man 27. Jamaica 28. Japan 29. Jersey (Channel Islands) 30. Kenya 31. Kiribati 32. Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australia) 33. Lesotho 34. Macau 35. Malawi 36. Malaysia 37. Maldives 38. Malta 39. Mauritius 40. Montserrat 41. Mozambique 42. Namibia 43. Nauru 44. Nepal 45. New Zealand 46. Niue 47. Norfolk Island (Australia) 48. Pakistan 49. Papua New Guinea 50. Pitcairn Islands (Britain) 51. Saint Helena 52. Saint Kitts and Nevis 53. Saint Lucia

54. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 55. Samoa 56. Seychelles 57. Singapore 58. Solomon Islands 59. South Africa 60. Sri Lanka 61. Suriname 62. Swaziland 63. Tanzania 64. Thailand 65. Tokelau (New Zealand) 66. Tonga 67. Trinidad and Tobago 68. Turks and Caicos Islands 69. Tuvalu 70. Uganda 71. United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) 72. Virgin Islands (British) 73. Virgin Islands (US) 74. Zambia 75. Zimbabwe

List of right-driving countries The following is a list of countries of the world whose inhabitants drive on the right-hand side of the road. Most of the drivers of these countries use left-hand-drive vehicles. 1. Afghanistan 2. Albania 3. Algeria 4. American Samoa 5. Andorra 6. Angola 7. Argentina 8. Armenia 9. Aruba 10. Austria 11. Azerbaijan 12. Bahrain 13. Belarus 14. Belgium 15. Belize 16. Benin 17. Bolivia 18. Bosnia and Herzegovina 19. Brazil 20. British Indian Ocean Territory (Diego Garca) 21. Bulgaria 22. Burkina Faso 23. Burundi 24. Cambodia 25. Cameroon 26. Canada 27. Cape Verde 28. Central African Republic 29. Chad 30. Chile 31. China, People's Republic of (Mainland China) 32. Colombia 33. Comoros 34. Congo 35. Congo (former Republic of Zaire) 36. Costa Rica 37. Croatia 38. Cuba 39. Czech Republic 40. Denmark 41. Djibouti 42. Dominican Republic 43. Ecuador 44. Egypt 45. El Salvador 46. Equatorial Guinea 47. Eritrea 48. Estonia 49. Ethiopia 50. Faroe Islands (Denmark) 51. Finland 52. France 53. French Guiana 54. French Polynesia 55. Gabon 56. Gambia, The

56. Gambia, The 57. Gaza Strip 58. Georgia 59. Germany 60. Ghana 61. Gibraltar 62. Greece 63. Greenland 64. Guadeloupe (French West Indies) 65. Guam 66. Guatemala 67. Guinea 68. Guinea-Bissau 69. Haiti 70. Honduras 71. Hungary 72. Iceland 73. Iran 74. Iraq 75. Israel 76. Italy 77. Ivory Coast 78. Jordan 79. Kazakhstan 80. Korea, Democratic People's Republic of (North Korea) 81. Korea, Republic of (South Korea) 82. Kuwait 83. Kyrgyzstan 84. Laos 85. Latvia 86. Lebanon 87. Liberia 88. Libya 89. Liechtenstein 90. Lithuania 91. Luxembourg 92. Macedonia 93. Madagascar 94. Mali 95. Marshall Islands 96. Martinique (French West Indies) 97. Mauritania 98. Mayotte (France) 99. Mexico 100. Micronesia, Federated States of 101. Midway Islands (USA) 102. Moldova 103. Monaco 104. Mongolia 105. Morocco 106. Myanmar (formerly Burma) 107. Netherlands 108. Netherlands Antilles (Curaao, St. Maarten, St. Eustatius, Saba) 109. New Caledonia 110. Nicaragua 111. Niger 112. Nigeria 113. Northern Mariana Islands 114. Norway 115. Oman 116. Palau 117. Panama 118. Paraguay 119. Peru 120. Philippines 121. Poland 122. Portugal 123. Puerto Rico 124. Qatar 125. Runion 126. Romania 127. Russia 128. Rwanda 129. Saint Barthlemy (French West Indies) 130. Saint Martin (French West Indies) 131. Saint Pierre and Miquelon (France) 132. San Marino 133. Sao Tome e Principe 134. Saudi Arabia 135. Senegal 136. Serbia and Montenegro 137. Sierra Leone 138. Slovakia 139. Slovenia 140. Somalia 141. Spain

142. Sudan 143. Svalbard (Norway) 144. Sweden 145. Switzerland 146. Syria 147. Taiwan 148. Tajikistan 149. Togo 150. Tunisia 151. Turkey 152. Turkmenistan 153. Ukraine 154. United Arab Emirates 155. United States 156. Uruguay 157. Uzbekistan 158. Vanuatu 159. Venezuela 160. Vietnam 161. Wake Island (USA) 162. Wallis and Futuna Islands (France) 163. West Bank 164. Western Sahara 165. Yemen Search

Population distribution This is a quick table of populations to provide a clue as to just how evenly the sides are represented. As it turns out, some 4 billion people drive right, and 2 billion drive left (when they drive at all, that is). So roughly a third of the world drives on the left.

LEFT-DRIVING COUNTRIES
India Indonesia Pakistan Japan Bangladesh Thailand United Kingdom South Africa Tanzania Kenya Nepal Uganda Malaysia Sri Lanka Australia Mozambique Zimbabwe Malawi Zambia Hong Kong Papua New Guinea Ireland New Zealand Singapore Jamaica Lesotho Bhutan Namibia Botswana Trinidad and Tobago Mauritius Swaziland Fiji Cyprus Guyana Macau Suriname Solomon Islands Malta Brunei Maldives Bahamas, The Barbados Samoa Saint Lucia Saint Vincent US Virgin Islands 952,107,694 206,611,600 129,275,660 125,449,703 123,062,800 58,851,357 58,489,975 41,743,459 29,058,470 28,176,686 22,094,033 20,158,176 19,962,893 18,553,074 18,260,863 17,877,927 11,271,314 9,452,844 9,159,072 6,305,413 4,394,537 3,566,833 3,547,983 3,396,924 2,595,275 1,970,781 1,822,625 1,677,243 1,477,630 1,272,385 1,140,256 998,730 782,381 744,609 712,091 496,837 436,418 412,902 375,576 299,939 270,758 259,367 257,030 189,000 157,862 118,344 97,120

RIGHT-DRIVING COUNTRIES
China 1,210,004,956 United States 265,562,845 Brazil 162,661,214 Russia 148,178,487 Nigeria 103,912,489 Mexico 95,772,462 Germany 83,536,115 Philippines 74,480,848 Vietnam 73,976,973 Iran 66,094,264 Egypt 63,575,107 Turkey 62,484,478 France 58,040,988 Italy 57,460,274 Ethiopia 57,171,662 Ukraine 50,864,009 Congo (former Zaire) 46,498,539 Burma 45,975,625 South Korea 45,482,291 Spain 39,181,114 Poland 38,642,565 Colombia 36,813,161 Argentina 34,672,997 Sudan 31,065,229 Morocco 29,779,156 Algeria 29,183,032 Canada 28,820,671 Peru 24,523,408 North Korea 23,904,124 Uzbekistan 23,418,381 Afghanistan 22,664,136 Venezuela 21,983,188 Romania 21,657,162 Taiwan 21,465,881 Iraq 21,422,292 Saudi Arabia 19,409,058 Ghana 17,698,271 Kazakstan 16,916,463 Syria 15,608,648 Netherlands 15,568,034 Ivory Coast 14,762,445 Chile 14,333,258 Cameroon 14,261,557 Madagascar 13,670,507 Yemen 13,483,178 Ecuador 11,466,291 Guatemala 11,277,614

Grenada Dominica Kiribati Seychelles Antigua and Barbuda Guernsey Bermuda Saint Kitts and Nevis Cook Islands Turks and Caicos Islands British Virgin Islands Anguilla Nauru Tuvalu Falkland Islands

94,961 82,926 80,919 77,575 65,647 62,920 62,099 41,369 19,561 14,302 13,195 10,424 10,273 10,146 2,758

Cuba Cambodia Burkina Faso Greece Belarus Angola Czech Republic Belgium Hungary Serbia Portugal Mali Somalia Niger Senegal Tunisia Sweden Bulgaria Dominican Republic Austria Azerbaijan Guinea Switzerland Bolivia Chad Rwanda Haiti Burundi Tajikistan El Salvador Benin Honduras Paraguay Libya Israel Slovakia Denmark Georgia Finland Croatia Laos Sierra Leone Togo Kyrgyzstan Moldova Norway Nicaragua Jordan Turkmenistan Eritrea Lebanon Lithuania Armenia Costa Rica Central African Albania Uruguay United Arab Emirates Bosnia and Herzegov. Panama Congo Mongolia Latvia Mauritania Oman Liberia Macedonia Slovenia Kuwait Estonia West Bank Gambia Gabon Guinea-Bissau Gaza Strip Bahrain Comoros Qatar Cape Verde Equatorial Guinea Djibouti Luxembourg Iceland Western Sahara Belize

10,951,334 10,861,218 10,623,323 10,538,594 10,415,973 10,342,899 10,321,120 10,170,241 10,002,541 9,979,116 9,865,114 9,653,261 9,639,151 9,113,001 9,092,749 9,019,687 8,900,954 8,612,757 8,088,881 8,023,244 7,676,953 7,411,981 7,207,060 7,165,257 6,976,845 6,853,359 6,731,539 5,943,057 5,916,373 5,828,987 5,709,529 5,605,193 5,504,146 5,445,436 5,421,995 5,374,362 5,249,632 5,219,810 5,105,230 5,004,112 4,975,772 4,793,121 4,570,530 4,529,648 4,463,847 4,383,807 4,272,352 4,212,152 4,149,283 3,909,628 3,776,317 3,646,041 3,463,574 3,463,083 3,274,426 3,249,136 3,238,952 3,057,337 2,656,240 2,655,094 2,527,841 2,496,617 2,468,982 2,336,048 2,186,548 2,109,789 2,104,035 1,951,443 1,950,047 1,459,428 1,427,741 1,204,984 1,172,798 1,151,330 923,940 590,042 569,237 547,761 449,066 431,282 427,642 415,870 270,292 222,631 219,296

Total

1,940,043,524 34%

Vanuatu 177,504 Guam 156,974 Sao Tome 144,128 Micronesia 125,377 Andorra 72,766 American Samoa 63,786 Greenland 59,827 Marshall Islands 58,363 Northern Mariana 52,284 Monaco 31,719 Liechtenstein 31,122 Gibraltar 28,765 San Marino 24,521 Wallis and Futuna 14,659 Total 3,824,348,286 66%

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. The 2012 FIAT 500 Now Available at a FIAT Studio. Visit The Official Site Today. www.fiatusa.com Mazda USA Used Car Search Search your local Mazda Dealer's Certified Used Car Inventory. www.MazdaUSA.com Right Hand Drive Jeeps Postal Pete Sells Postal Jeeps Always A Great Selection www.PostalPete.com

Location of the steering wheel Almost always, in countries where one drives on the right-hand side of the road, the cars are built so that the driver sits on the left-hand side of the car. Conversely, driving on the left-hand side of the road usually implies that the driver's seat is on the right-hand side of the car. It used to be different, though. All early automobiles in the USA (driving on the right-hand side of the road) were right-hand-drive, following the practice established by horse-drawn buggies. They changed to left-hand-drive in the early 1900s as it was decided that it was more practical to have the driver seated near the centreline of the road, both to judge the space available when passing oncoming cars, and to allow front-seat passengers to get out of the car onto the pavement instead of into the middle of the street. 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 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. Nowadays, the driver always sits on the side of the car that is nearest to the centre line. However, there are a few exceptions, among other things certain kinds of specialised service vehicles. For example, street-sweeping vehicles may have the reverse driving position to place the driver next to the gutter. Italian-built trolley buses were right-hand-drive for many years in order to observe the passenger doors better. 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. Some countries restrict imports of vehicles that have their controls arranged differently from the norm for the country, but foreign tourists are usually allowed to drive their odd vehicles while they visit. Non-standard vehicles may be required to have a sign on the back announcing this, which typically reads, "Right-hand-drive" or "Left-handdrive" or just "RHD" or "LHD". Cambodia (which drives on the right) banned all right-hand-drive vehicles in January 2001 in order to control imports of stolen and smuggled vehicles from Thailand. It required all car owners to have their vehicles modified so that the steering wheel is on the left or risk confiscation. About 80% of the officially registered vehicles in the country had to be modified in order to comply. 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 lefthand-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 standardised 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. Cars driven on the right side of the road usually have headlights which are aimed slightly to the right when not on full beam, and vice-versa with cars intended to be driven on the left. In Europe, it is common for travellers from the UK to affix deflectors to their headlights to prevent them dazzling oncoming drivers when driving on the "wrong" side of the road. Also, windscreen wipers are usually aligned to give more coverage to the driver's side than to the passenger side.

Japanese people sometimes import left-hand-drive models of cars, whereas the standard Japanese car in Japan is right-hand-drive. This is done purely for prestige. A Mercedes or BMW with the steering wheel on the left is seen as more authentic and carries something of a cachet. It is also more expensive than the right-hand-drive version of the same vehicle.
(last update: 27 February 2011)

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