Posted on 05/05/2025 12:05:07 PM PDT by DallasBiff
Australia drives on the left side of the road, and the reason for this is straightforward: historical influence from Great Britain. As a British colony until 1901, Australia adopted many British customs and laws, including the practice of driving on the left. This was not a unique decision; many other former British colonies also inherited this system, but let’s dive deeper into the history and the how’s and why’s of this driving norm.
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The French Revolution wanted to change everything for the sake of change so they changed that too--to have travelers keep to the right. Other countries followed suit, but the British were firmly opposed to the French Revolution and kept to the old ways. Naturally their colonies followed their practice (except for Canada).
Sweden only switched a few decades ago. It was one of the European countries never ruled by Napoleon.
I assumed this was common knowledge, unless you are Millenial and were not taught history.
I think State governments put them in to waste taxpayer money. They sure don't solve any traffic problems with them. When my son and I rented a car in Bruges, Belgium, to drive the 50 miles into Holland to visit the village my father was born in, we came across rotaries too.
Kangaroos always cross streets from right to left.
Canada used to drive on the left too.
Then in the early 1920s, they switched to driving on the right in order to be more compatible with the USA.
Since Oz is upside down on the globe it figures the cars and roads would need to be backwards.
I did the same thing and found it wasn’t too difficult to convert in Australia.
NZ was a bit more difficult as you could drive for 20 min without seeing another car.
We DID check that out on trip to Australia.
Yes its true the water goes down the drain in the other direction.
I drove in Scotland. Driving on the left was bad enough but the roundabouts are killers. They’re everywhere. And some of them have many exits and entries. Very confusing. We were in the country by Inverness...the middle of nowhere...and there was a roundabout! lol
Nope. Kangaroos are erratic. You can’t predict them. The big ones are about 7 feet tall and made of muscle. They can easily destroy a car (don’t ask how I know this)
Roundabouts are simple and effective, reducing traffic fatalities heavily
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