Left vs Right: Why South Africans Drive on the Left Side of the Road
Have you ever wondered why we sit on the right side of the car and stick to the left side of the road in South Africa, while about 65% of the world drives on the right? It feels like an arbitrary traffic rule, but the divide between left-hand and right-hand traffic is actually a 2,000-year-old story shaped by Roman swordsmen, massive American cargo wagons, and French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
Here is how history, warfare, and heavy transport carved the globe in two—and why South Africa ended up in the left-hand traffic column.
The sword era: How self-defence set the original rule
Long before the automobile, travel happened on foot or horseback. In ancient Rome and medieval Europe, the left side was the default choice for one primary reason: most people are right-handed.
Weapon readiness: Travelling on the left allowed knights and soldiers to keep their right hand and weapon closest to approaching strangers.
Safe scabbards: Because swords were worn on the left hip, walking or riding on the left prevented scabbards from clanking into travellers coming from the opposite direction.
Mounting horses: Mounting a horse from the left side (to avoid tripping over your own sword) meant it was far safer to mount from the curb or shoulder rather than in the middle of traffic.
Archaeological digs at ancient Roman quarries in Britain reveal deeper wagon ruts on the left side leading away from the quarry, suggesting loaded heavy carts exited on the left.
The 1700s Shift: Big wagons force a right-hand rule
If left-side travel was the natural standard, how did the right side take over most of the world? Enter the Conestoga wagon in 18th-century North America.
These massive, multi-horse farm and freight wagons didn’t have a driver’s seat. Instead, the driver sat on the rear-left horse so his right arm could easily reach the whip to control the rest of the team.
Sitting on the left horse created a new visibility problem: drivers needed oncoming traffic to pass on their left so they could gauge the distance between wagon wheels. To make that happen, wagons had to stay on the right side of the dirt road. By 1792, Pennsylvania codified this into the world's first major keep-right traffic law.
Revolutionary France & Napoleon’s conquests
Over in Europe, class conflict flipped the driving side. French aristocrats traditionally rode on the left, forcing peasants onto the right-hand ditch. During the French Revolution of 1789, aristocrats began keeping a low profile by blending in on the right.
Napoleon Bonaparte later enforced the right-hand rule across every territory he conquered—including Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands. The countries that resisted Napoleon (most notably Great Britain) stubbornly kept their traditional left-hand rule.
The imperial legacy: How South Africa got left-hand driving
As the British Empire expanded during the 19th and 20th centuries, it exported its official Highway Act of 1835 across its territories.
This is why a distinct block of nations across the world drives on the left today:
Africa: South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Uganda.
Asia-Pacific: The United Kingdom, India, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan (which adopted left-side driving independently in 1872 when building its first railway with British assistance).
Quick comparison
Fun Fact: Sweden’s Dagen H
On September 3, 1967 (known as Dagen H, or "H-Day"), Sweden switched from driving on the left to driving on the right overnight to match its Scandinavian neighbours. Traffic was halted early in the morning, cars carefully switched sides, and driver education campaigns prevented major chaos.
