Why Thailand Has Left Traffic When The Country Was Never Colonizing?

[Time Traveller]

Conspiracy perhaps?

Edited October 11, 2012 by Time Traveller

[Rob8891]

If you look at pictures of the British House of Commons you'll see two red lines in the floor.These lines are supposed to be two sword lengths apart to stop members of opposing parties from skewering each other when they get worked up. The English reputation for violence is well deserved.

'Tarzan' put that those lines to the test when he grabbed the Mace and started swinging it...

Yup..... all part of the antics of the mass debaters in the loony house....

[Payboy]

It's to do with sword arms.

Works well for modern day road rage too.

Edited October 12, 2012 by Payboy

[Mosha]

rob, what make me laugh about this,

the yanks say the right side of the road is the best side to drive on,

then they make cars with 6,7,8ltr engines and then put the speed limit to 55, wow,,that makes sence,,lol,

jake

They make petrol guzzlers that do less than 20 to the gallon, then moan at the government about (In their eyes) expensive fuel. Instead of demand fuel efficient cars.

Didn't one Pacific nation recently switch back to driving on the correct side of the road, due to most cars having steering wheels fitted on the right side of the car? ie Japanese imports

[davejones]

If you look at pictures of the British House of Commons you'll see two red lines in the floor.These lines are supposed to be two sword lengths apart to stop members of opposing parties from skewering each other when they get worked up. The English reputation for violence is well deserved.

Bunch of chinless wonders there.... spend all their time mass debating and behaving worse than my unruly 16 year old classes at school....

Shows how little you know. Very little time indeed is spent on what you call "mass debating". Most time is spend in committee meetings or not even in parliament at all. I think you watch too much TV (television not ThaiVisa) and have a mistaken view of parliament and probably of the world.

[pigeonjake]

davejones,

calm down,, you a former MP? i think it was a little tonge in cheak,

but in my opinion there all in it for themselfs, they dont give a <deleted> about the country lining there own pockets,,

look at it all, when it came to life how much they had been claiming illegaly,,

claiming for duck houses on a lake, forgetting they had paid of there mortgage and still claiming for it,,

what happened to them,, nothing,, fraud,,, not when your an MP, just a mistake, i forgot i had finnished paying m,y mortgage,,lol

jake,,

[virtualtraveller]

Because everything the British did was Right, even if was the opposite of 'right' side, and then the Americans (and the French) had to do the opposite, just to be 'otherwise' about it.

[pigeonjake]

you mean they moved to the right so that they couldnt say,,

bloody hell that another thing the brits have given us,,,lol

[besth]

The sword length sounds like a good explanation.

I had always heard that the reason for left driving was that when carriages became more popular, most coachmen being right handed, there was danger that if they drove on the right they might hurt pedestrians when they used their whip. Then, when the first cars started to appear, obviously they had to follow the flow of the traffic so they continued to drive on the left. Makes sense too.

I always thought that/those would have been the reasons also for Thailand, but the car presented to the King probably settled any doubts if they existed.

What I don't know is why many (a majority?) of countries decided to drive on the right hand side. Anyone?

[pigeonjake]

its because the left is right and the right is left

[CharlieH]

Drive on the left ? someone should tell the "locals" they seem to drive wherever they want and in any direction that suits.

Edited October 12, 2012 by CharlieH

[CharlieH]

Anyone wants the FULL story go here:

http://users.telenet.be/worldstandards/driving%20on%20the%20left.htm

[Payboy]

I think the "whip" theory is quite plausible. Must check tonight with my favorite mistress which side she prefers to drive her Jazz.

[Rsquared]

Anyone wants the FULL story go here:

http://users.telenet...on the left.htm

Yep.......that pretty well explains it.

[mochafan]

http://www.straightd...ive-on-the-left

I might have known the cheese-eating surrender monkeys were behind all this nonsense about driving on the right ....and of course the as well.

people don't carry swords anymore so driving on the left is just traditional. Why is driving on the right nonsense?

[rsokolowski]

So since we do not use swords anymore (since before cars were invented), we should all drive on the right hand side of the road. Heck even Canada knows what side of the road to is proper to drive on.

[StreetCowboy]

So since we do not use swords anymore (since before cars were invented), we should all drive on the right hand side of the road. Heck even Canada knows what side of the road to is proper to drive on.

Give it a go in Thailand for a few months, and let us know how you get on

SC

[jbrain]

The left side driving brigade..........oops wrong thread.........or not?

[timbothaivisa]

Shortly after men learned to ride horses, everyone rode theirs on the left for the safety reasons mentioned above - Japan included. It was an evolutionary precedent. Only the well-off could afford horses though, so the foot-traffic walked on the right to avoid being trampled. Once the French Revolution made it unfashionable on-pain-of-beheading to appear wealthy, travelling on the right became de rigueur in France. Napoleon was responsible for franchising the policy with his conqest of mainland Europe (the same time as the American War of Independence) . Since then, decisions about whether to drive on the right have generally been made by countries with chips on their shoulders as a way of sticking it to the British, which just goes to show that common sense has never been the overriding factor when it comes to driving on the right

The end. (sorry, couldn't resist!)

[chrisinth]

If you look at pictures of the British House of Commons you'll see two red lines in the floor.These lines are supposed to be two sword lengths apart to stop members of opposing parties from skewering each other when they get worked up. The English reputation for violence is well deserved.

About the same distance as handbags on shoulder straps...............

[maxme]

Because the first car in Thailand was a gift from the English Queen to the King of Thailand.

In the UK they also happen to drive at the wrong side of the road.

OI! I'll have you know the left side is the right side and the right side is the wrong side.

(Do you want a history lesson to explore the facts behind driving on the left?)

Do you want a history lesson to explore the facts behind driving on the left?

Yes, I do.

Doesn't it have something to do with horses and carts. A long time ago I met a Frenchman (in Paris) who said that there is a perfect logic to driving on the left.

I forget what he said. But I do remember that he talked about horses and carts. I guess he was referring back to pre-Victorian times when horse-drawn carriages were the norm in Britain and Europe.

I do know that you're right and that there is a real reason why it's better to drive on the left.

As far as I understand it, (having said that, I am about to get flamed by our cogniscenti), I believe it goes back to the days of knights on hoseback...If they passed each other on the left, it allowed them to take a good swipe at their opponent with their sword. Since most people are / were right handed, this gave them a longer reach, otherwise they would have to reach across their own body and their horse. It also meant that they could hold their shield with their left hand, which meant that the shield guarded their vbody without obstructing their sword arm.

At least, that is what I recall, but I was always asleep in history lessons at school....

So it's more about keeping traditions than being practical then.

[Shotime]

"In the Middle Ages you kept to the left for the simple reason that you never knew who you'd meet on the road in those days. You wanted to make sure that a stranger passed on the right so you could go for your sword in case he proved unfriendly."

That's why in the USA, we drive on the right. When passing someone on the street, you raise your left hand to block a punch, and throw one with your right. So, we walk on the right side, and most of us are right-handed.

What, and whom, are the "cheese-eating surrender monkeys?" Never heard that one before.

[StreetCowboy]

It's to do with road tolls, and using the right hand, in preference to the left, for handing over money.

Before they had toll roads, people in Thailand used to drive on either side of the road, and old habits die hard... Motorcyclists, who are not allowed on the toll roads, generally drive on both sides of the road, though normally any individual will only be on one side, or the other, at least prior to the accident.

There is a reason for everything, though sometimes we don't understand it...

SC

[moe666]

Because the first car in Thailand was a gift from the English Queen to the King of Thailand.

In the UK they also happen to drive at the wrong side of the road.

OI! I'll have you know the left side is the right side and the right side is the wrong side.

(Do you want a history lesson to explore the facts behind driving on the left?)

I guess driving on the left is ok as soon as they issue shields and swords again.

[chiangmaikelly]

This is the real picture.

[StreetCowboy]

Because the first car in Thailand was a gift from the English Queen to the King of Thailand.

In the UK they also happen to drive at the wrong side of the road.

OI! I'll have you know the left side is the right side and the right side is the wrong side.

(Do you want a history lesson to explore the facts behind driving on the left?)

I guess driving on the left is ok as soon as they issue shields and swords again.

I thought it was about why Thailand drives on the left, not the UK.

Of course, in the UK we drive on the left as we shake hands with everyone we meet as we pass, and by passing right-hand to right-hand, we can do this without stopping. The Americans, who are more garrulous, turn side-on to the traffic for a chin-wag and hand-shake. That's why their roads had to be wider, as well; because of all the people stopped chatting in the middle, and also why it is acceptable to pass on the near-side there

There is a reason for everything, though sometimes we haven't invented it yet

SC

[jbrain]

"In the Middle Ages you kept to the left for the simple reason that you never knew who you'd meet on the road in those days. You wanted to make sure that a stranger passed on the right so you could go for your sword in case he proved unfriendly."

So in fact certain countries still live in the middle ages, while others have moved on.

[jbrain]

Of course, in the UK we drive on the left as we shake hands with everyone we meet as we pass, and by passing right-hand to right-hand, we can do this without stopping.

SC

That's also the reason that in my country we drive on the right side, as we are a motorbike loving country, and can salute our fellow bikers without needing to release the throttle which could cause dangerous situations.

[DrTuner]

http://www.straightd...ive-on-the-left

I might have known the cheese-eating surrender monkeys were behind all this nonsense about driving on the right ....and of course the as well.

people don't carry swords anymore so driving on the left is just traditional. Why is driving on the right nonsense?

I think the gangstas would also prefer to drive on the left. Easy to open a window and use your right hand for the standard drive-by shooting, no need for wing man anymore.

[StreetCowboy]

...

...

...

I think the gangstas would also prefer to drive on the left. Easy to open a window and use your right hand for the standard drive-by shooting, no need for wing man anymore.

That seems extremely unsafe. The driver should concentrate on the road, and not get distracted discharging a fire-arm at passersby, or ogling girls. For that latter reason, I find it safer,to avoid distraction, to drive wearing a welder's helmet in Bangkok.

SC

EDIT: And of course, that's why I drive on the right. I can't see the other cars until they flash their headlights full-beam at me...