The right-hand drive: Why and where?

Have you ever been to a foreign country and got confused by their right-hand drive vehicles? This can be a bit unsettling and takes a while to get used to, especially with their opposite road configuration from your home country.

But why are there left-hand and right-hand driver vehicles?

To be clear, right-hand driving is when the steering wheel of a vehicle is placed on the right side and the flow of traffic is on the left side of the road. Left-hand drive, like in the Philippines, is the opposite of that. 

History

Britain imposed right-hand driving in the 1800s, which resulted in territories it colonized following suit. In 1835, Britain made this mandatory and became influential to countries it had close ties to, including Japan, where its first railroad was constructed with the help of Britain. 

It's origins have something to do with "right-handed knights preferred to keep to the left in order to have their right arm nearer to an opponent" while riding a horse, according to the website www.worldstandards.eu.

There's also a theory that left-handed French statesman Napoleon Bonaparte had something to do with right-hand drive, as he supposedly ordered his people to drive on the right side.

However, with the arrival and success of the first mass-produced automobile, the Ford Model T in the U.S, which was a left-hand drive vehicle, it became the norm in most countries amid its global influence.

Right now, most right-hand driving countries are former British colonies, while the U.S., Latin American countries, and European countries drive left-hand vehicles.

Right-hand drive in PH

In the Philippines, right-hand vehicles are banned under Republic Act No. 8506.

It states: "It shall be unlawful for any person to import, cause the importation of, register, cause the registration of, use, or operate any vehicle with its steering wheel right-hand side thereof in any highway, street or road, whether private or public or of the national or local government except such vehicles that are acknowledged as vintage automobiles, manufactured before 1960, in showroom condition, and/or are to be utilized exclusively for officially and legally sanctioned motorsports events, and off-road special purpose vehicles."

RA 8506 was enacted in 1998 and carries a penalty of prison correccional in its medium period and a fine of fifty thousand pesos (P50,000) for possible violators.

Meanwhile, left-hand driving in the Philippines was imposed decades earlier by the late President Sergio Osmena.

Executive Order No. 34, signed by Osmena in 1945 ,"deemed advisable to change the existing regulations providing for the driving of vehicles on the left side of the road so that the vehicle traffic in the Philippines shall conform with the practice of driving on the right side of the road obtaining in most countries of the world."

President Osmena cited the "certain economic advantages" of driving on the left side of the road and having left-hand vehicles. 

Among those advantages, according to the former President, is "that it would reduce the price of motor vehicles imported into the Philippines from the United States."

Countries

Here's a list of countries that use right-hand vehicles, in case you are about to visit some of them.

• Anguilla
• Antigua and Barbuda
• Australia
• Bahamas
• Bangladesh
• Barbados
• Bermuda
• Bhutan
• Botswana
• British Virgin Islands
• Brunei
• Cayman Islands
• Channel Islands (Guernsey & Jersey)
• Christmas Island
• Cocos (Keeling) Islands
• Cook Islands
• Cyprus
• Cyprus, North (unrecognised, self-declared state)
• Dominica
• East Timor (Timor-Leste)
• England
• Eswatini (formerly Swaziland)
• Falkland Islands
• Fiji
• Great Britain (GB)
• Grenada
• Guernsey
• Guyana
• Hong Kong
• India
• Indonesia
• Ireland (Eire)
• Ireland, Northern
• Isle of Man
• Jamaica
• Japan
• Jersey
• Kenya
• Kiribati
• Lesotho
• Macau
• Malawi
• Malaysia
• Maldives
• Malta
• Mauritius
• Montserrat
• Mozambique
• Namibia
• Nauru
• Nepal
• New Zealand
• Niue
• Norfolk Island
• North Cyprus (unrecognised, self-declared state)
• Northern Ireland
• Pakistan
• Papua New Guinea
• Pitcairn Islands
• Saint Helena
• Saint Kitts and Nevis (officially the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis)
• Saint Lucia
• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
• Samoa
• Scotland
• Seychelles
• Singapore
• Solomon Islands
• South Africa
• Sri Lanka
• Suriname (Surinam)
• Swaziland (officially: Eswatini)
• Tanzania
• Thailand
• Timor-Leste (East Timor)
• Tokelau
• Tonga
• Trinidad and Tobago
• Turks and Caicos Islands
• Tuvalu
• Uganda
• United Kingdom (UK)
• United States Virgin Islands
• Virgin Islands (British)
• Virgin Islands (USA)
• Wales
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe

—VAL, GMA Integrated News