Why we now drive on the right in the Netherlands | Car

We have to go far back in time for this, because it covers the period from the Middle Ages to the French rule in 1795. In those days almost everyone drove on the left side of the road because that was the most obvious choice in violent times, website reports worldstandards.eu.

Since most people are right-handed, the knights on horseback preferred to ride on the left so that they could use their right hand to unsheath their left-handed sword and hit a possible opponent at close range. In addition, driving on the left reduced the chance that the scabbard of the sword, which hung on the left, hit oncoming traffic when passing.

But in the late 1700s, carts that could transport large quantities of agricultural products and other goods became popular in France. Because of their size, they had to be pulled by four or even more horses. These wagons often had no box, so the coachman sat on the horse in the back left – the ideal place to drive the horses with the whip in his right hand. Since the driver sat on the left, he wanted oncoming traffic to pass him on the left so that he was sure that the wheels of passing carriages would not touch each other, with the result that everyone drove on the right.

The French Revolution in 1789 also contributed to the further spread of driving on the right in Europe. Before the Revolution, the left side of the road in France was reserved for the aristocracy and the rural population had to keep to the right. But after the storming of the Bastille, the nobles preferred not to stand out too much and so they also started driving on the right, just like the common man. In Paris it became mandatory to drive on the right in 1794.

Later on, Napoleon’s conquests spread right-hand driving to Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany, Poland and large parts of Spain and Italy. The countries not conquered by Napoleon continued to drive on the left: Great Britain, Austria-Hungary and Portugal. This European division persisted for more than a hundred years, until after the First World War.

Over the years, more and more countries have decided to drive on the right, but the traditionalism of the British has prevented global harmonisation. Although Japan is not a former British colony, the country also drives on the left. That was because in 1872 the first Japanese railway was opened, built with British expertise. The train drove on the left and that remained the case with the further expansion of the Japanese rail and tram network.

When the Netherlands started colonizing Indonesia and the Indonesian archipelago from 1596, it also brought the habit of driving on the left to those regions. After all, the Netherlands drove on the left at that time, because we only started driving on the right after the conquest of the low countries by Napoleon.

In the early years of the English colonization of North America, British driving habits were followed and residents drove on the left. After the United States declared its independence on July 4, 1776, everything that smelled too much of Britain was gradually eliminated, including driving on the left. The influence of other European – especially French – immigrants also played a major role in this decision. It is also an arbitrary choice to drive on the left or right. Both Great Britain and the Netherlands are in the top 10 of the safest countries in Europe.