Comments on: Why Some Countries Drive on the Right and Some Countries Drive on the Left

By: Tony

Tony — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 11:12:26 +0000

@Jon, the map reflects which side of the road is used, not on which side of the car the person sits. Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, all drive in the left lane (keep left rule). Indonesia and Vietnam show as left and right respectively, but in my experience that’s only a suggestion, hardly a rule!

By: tim c

tim c — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 01:52:57 +0000

every country’s generally accepted accounting laws dictate which side of a double-entry ledger is for debits and which is for credits. curiously, every country which drives on the left keeps their debit and credit columns on opposite sides from those countries which drive on the right.

By: chris

chris — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:26:24 +0000

In Japan, they go on the left because of the roads from when Samurai roamed. They carried their swords on their left side, since most were right-handed and in Japan if you were (and sometimes still) left-handed it was frowned upon as being incorrect and it would be force-corrected.

As a Samurai, for someone to touch your sword meant that you would fight to the death. Samurai thus walked to the left so that swords would not accidentally clash. After the Samurai were gone, this continued to today where they still drive on the left.

…this story may be complete bullshit, but it is what my japanese teacher told us and it makes sense to me.

By: Who Drives on the Left or Right ? | Shady B. Haroun

Who Drives on the Left or Right ? | Shady B. Haroun — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 14:34:58 +0000

[...] [...]

By: David R. (Canada)

David R. (Canada) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 06:45:20 +0000

I was led to understand that the French aristocracy started the keep-right rule when they adopted the idea of the driver sitting on the left horse in stead of the carriage. It enabled the passengers to get a better view, without looking at the back-side of the driver, and allowed others to more easily see the passengers.

By: eggnostriva

eggnostriva — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 23:11:00 +0000

The reason the teamsters would ride the rear left horse, is that right handed people prefer to mount a horse from the left side.

By: Daven

Daven — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 10:05:25 +0000

@Maire: Good catch on the “dominate” typo. I used it once correctly as the verb form, but used it twice incorrectly as an adjective, which obviously, as you say, is “dominant”, which is the adjective form of “dominate”.

By: Daven

Daven — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 09:59:54 +0000

@Maire: Actually, your "predominantly" correction is up for debate. Both predominantly and predominately are correct, though the former has gained in popularity recently with the latter, which I used, previously being preferred. You can read more on that here.

By: Maire

Maire — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 08:07:48 +0000

…as in “dominant” eye and “dominant” hand. Also, the word is “predominantly” in the first paragraph, not “predominately.”

By: Maire

Maire — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 08:01:30 +0000

“Dominant” is the correct spelling, not “dominate”, as used twice in this article.