Key Points
- A WA man is in jail in the US after the car he was driving collided head on with another, killing two people.
- About 65 per cent of the world's population drives on the right side of the road.
- Safety concerning foreign drivers has come under the spotlight in a number of countries.
Driving in another country where cars travel on the opposite side of the road to what you are used to can be daunting.
The United States is one of the countries that have right-hand traffic while Australia has left-hand traffic.
An Australian man is currently in jail in the US following a deadly crash where his car is alleged to have been travelling on the wrong side of the road.
Police have said they believe he may have been confused about which side he should have been driving on.
Left or right?
About 65 per cent of the world's population drives on the right side of the road, mostly in cars where the steering wheel is on the left-hand side of the car.
Australia is among those countries that have right-hand drive cars that drive on the left side of the road.
Left hand drive vehicle have the steering wheel on the left, so when driving on the right hand side of the road, the driver is towards the centre of the road. Source: Getty / urbazon
Fatal crash on US roads
It's understood a Western Australian man is in jail in the US awaiting a court hearing after the car he was driving collided head-on with another vehicle near the small town of La Honda in California, killing two people.
The that because the man had not been in the country long, the California Highway Patrol believed "he may have thought he was driving on the correct side of the road."
The mother of the man understood to be in jail over the crash has posted to social media about the incident.
“Luke had a terrible car accident where he accidentally drove on the wrong side of the road. 2 people have tragically passed away which Luke and our family are devastated about,” she wrote.
According to updates made to the post, she has travelled to the US to support her son and a bail hearing has since been set for a future date.
International drivers on foreign roads
In some cases foreign drivers may not only be driving on a different side of the road than what they are used to but they may also have to deal with unfamiliar conditions. Source: Getty / SCM Jeans
In New Zealand, an educational campaign called the Foreign Driver's Project was introduced in 2016 to reduce the potential risk of international visitors on the roads.
According to a report from Stuff, NZ authorities are considering whether international drivers can be banned from one particularly "challenging" road that heads to Milford Sound.
Concerns that unprepared drivers unfamiliar with the risks posed by natural hazards in the area had been putting themselves and others at risk in the area have been raised.
In 2017 the Victorian government installed multilingual signs along the Great Ocean Road to help international drivers better navigate the tourist route.
Western Australia has done something similar, installing signs in German, French and Mandarin on a stretch of road frequented by tourists that has seen numerous deadly car crashes.
Arrows were also painted on the road along Indian Ocean Drive in a bid to prevent head-on crashes.
Is left hand traffic safer than right hand traffic?
While a study carried out in 1969 found countries where drivers stick to the left have lower rates of traffic crashes than those who drive on the right, a more sought to consider whether the human nervous system favoured one over the other.
It's thought that handedness, eye movement bias and left/right side brain functioning could be factors influencing this.
Signs reminding motorists to drive on the left can be found in many parts of Australia. Source: Getty / Simon McGill
Indirectly though, it was found that neurophysiology would suggest left-hand traffic driving “might be safer, especially for those whose first language involves the Latin alphabet.”
Moving to the left or right throughout history
Cultural studies expert Jon Stratton, who is an adjunct professor at the University of South Australia's School of Creative Industries, said traffic rules were only introduced as the number of vehicles on roads increased.
“Historically, there wasn't any need for making people move on the left-hand side of the road or the right-hand side of the road because there simply wasn't enough traffic and what traffic there was it was relatively slow,” he said.
Stratton said carts were able to see someone coming and they moved out of each other’s way.
“It’s only when you get increasing amounts of traffic that it became an issue,” he said.
Stratton said in London this was during the Industrial Revolution.
Milford Sound is a popular New Zealand tourist destination. Authorities there are reportedly investigating if foreign motorists can be banned from driving to it. Source: AAP / .
“The local government made a decision that they wanted people to drive on the left and that then became generalised across the country."
In other parts of the world some believe sticking to the left was favoured because of the nature of controlling horses on a cart.
“If you were right-handed, you had the whip in your right hand, you might be on one of the horses on the left hand, so that you can use your whip on the horses with your right hand," Stratton said.
"This means that you would be better off on the right-hand side of the road."
But rules around vehicle movements may even have been determined earlier through the way pedestrians moved.
Cars with the steering wheel on the right hand side are designed for use on left hand traffic roads. Source: Getty / andresr
“If somebody came at you, or somebody coming from the other direction, wanted to attack you, you could get your sword out quickly and attack them,” Stratton said.
Commonwealth countries generally followed the British, in driving on the left and territories usually followed their ruling country's lead.
Stratton said over the years some countries switched from having vehicles travel on the left to right or vice versa.
In many cases it was simply to follow suit with another country such as the USA and was considered a progressive move.
Switching sides in recent times
In 1967, Sweden made the change from driving on the left-hand side to driving on the right-hand side.
While the BBC reported it was thought the change could boost the country's reputation, safety was also behind the decision.
Most people in Sweden drove cars with steering wheels on the left, which was believed to be a factor in the country having a high rate of car accidents.
So when the changeover occurred, most drivers were positioned towards the centre of the road.
In 2009 Samoa became the first country in decades to switch from driving on the right-hand side of the road to the left.
The prime minister at the time made the decision to bring the country in line with nearby countries New Zealand and Australia.
