AHC: Have the Commonwealth drive on the right.

[Duke Andrew of Dank]

What would it take for the UK and its empire to drive on the right side of the road like in most of the rest of Europe.

BTW: This is also the same scenario for Japan.

 

[Maeglin]

Napolean successfully invades Britain.

 

[Mark E.]

I think it would be easier to do it the other way around. Have America drive on the left and Canada and Mexico follows. With North America and the British Empire all on the left, Europe would likely change as automobiles became popular.

 

[P L Richards]

I think it would be easier to do it the other way around. Have America drive on the left and Canada and Mexico follows. With North America and the British Empire all on the left, Europe would likely change as automobiles became popular.

Yes definitely! Driving on the right is perversion and contrary to the laws of nature Different Europeanst countrieses adopted right hand driving at different times - Sweden only in 1967, Iceland only in 1970 - so for many of them it would just mean not changing in the first place.

 

[funnyhat]

I think it would be easier to do it the other way around. Have America drive on the left and Canada and Mexico follows. With North America and the British Empire all on the left, Europe would likely change as automobiles became popular.

I don't think European driving customs have much to do with North America. I mean OTL North America all drives right and that has not made the UK change.

 

[Analytical Engine]

I don't think European driving customs have much to do with North America.

It's basically because Napoleon.

 

[funnyhat]

It's basically because Napoleon.

Yes, that was exported from the Revolution (under the ancien régime France had driven on the left). Maybe if there is a British Revolution, the UK switches?

 

[piratedude]

You Probably want a post1900 POD where

Yes definitely! Driving on the right is perversion and contrary to the laws of nature.

I mean I've heard that left hand is more natural, but if it is why didn't people switch back and treat right hand driving as just another revolutionary fad (like the calendar, decimal time, etc)

 

[Meordal]

Left-hand driving was officially made mandatory in Britain in 1835 with the Highway Act 1835. It placed highways under the direction of parish surveyors, and allowed them to pay for the costs involved by rates levied on the occupiers of land. It specified offenses for which the driver of a carriage on the public highway could be punished by a fine.

Among them :

Not keeping on the left or near side of the road, when meeting any other carriage or horse. This rule does not apply in the case of a carriage meeting a foot-passenger, but a driver is bound to use due care to avoid driving against any person crossing the highway on foot. At the same time a passenger crossing the highway is also bound to use due care in avoiding vehicles, and the mere fact of a driver being on the wrong side of the road would not be evidence of negligence in such a case.

It’s means that you need a good reason before 1835 to set British driving on the right. A good solution, and a silly one, could be an authority trying to pacify the population during the late Middle Ages. Since most people are right-handed, swordsmen preferred to travel on the left in order to have their right arm nearer to a potential opponent and their sword and scabbard further from them.

If you do force people to ride on the right side of the roads, attacking someone with your right hand becomes more difficult. Of course, this silly theory only works if all swords were worn on the left hip, which wasn’t always the case...

 

[Mark E.]

Since most people are right-handed, swordsmen preferred to travel on the left in order to have their right arm nearer to a potential opponent and their sword and scabbard further from them.

Or to maneuver passing wagons and cargo with the stronger right arm. I think the choice is rather arbitrary. Britain, left; France and Germany, right. Cars came along with the steering wheel towards the center of the road. America could have gone left with its British roots. With so many vehicles coming from the U.S. and Britain, the rest of the world might have changed. But America went right and the British Empire (and few others) stayed left.

 

[Socrates]

The Habsburg Empire drove on the left too, I believe.

 

[WilliamOfOckham]

Originally thought this was going to be an easy AHC, because of course "the Commonwealth didn't exist after 1795!"

... I really hope I don't make that mistake in conversation.