Rules of the road

:This article concerns rules of the road regarding land vehicles; for sea-going vehicles, see International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.

Left or right

See also: Road

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The first rule to learn for a particular country is which side to drive on. This is so fundamental that it is sometimes known simply as the rule of the road.

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If traffic goes on the right hand side of the road:

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• Viewing from the centre of the road and facing either side, you see vehicles approaching from the left and those coming from behind on your right;
• The driving seat on a vehicle is on the left, hence the designation left hand drive (LHD);
• traffic signs are mostly on the right side of the road;
• roundabouts (traffic circles) go anticlockwise;
• pedestrians crossing a two-way road should watch out for traffic from the left first.

If traffic goes on the left hand side of the road:

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• Viewing from the centre of the road and facing either side, you see vehicles approaching from the right and those coming from behind on your left;
• The driving seat on a vehicle is on the right, hence the designation right hand drive (RHD);
• traffic signs are mostly on the left side of the road;
• roundabouts (traffic circles) go clockwise;
• pedestrians crossing a two-way road should watch out for traffic from the right first.

In most early motor vehicles the driving seat was in the middle. Later some carmakers chose to have the it nearest the centre of the road to help drivers look out for oncoming traffic, whilst others chose to put the seat on the other side so that the drivers could avoid damaging their vehicles on walls, hedges, roadside gutters and other obstacles. Eventually the former idea prevailed.

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