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Driving is a side issue, writes Colin Macpherson
It's to do with swords and horses and carts -- and the predominance of right-handed people
ONE of the more common phrases I hear as I plod through life is "get serious". It usually leaves me perplexed. I mean, we're all concerned about terrorism and education and the price of mint- flavoured dental floss. But there are also those time-independent questions that most of us ponder at some stage, and they are, well, serious. Like why, for example, do people drive on the left in some countries and on the right in others?
It may surprise you to realise that we in Australia are not in such a tiny minority with our left-side driving. According to the CIA's World Fact Book, there are 159 countries or territories where people drive on the right but a healthy 67 nations where people do what we do. In terms of population, this means there are about four billion right-siders (China is the largest) and 2billion left- siders (India being the leader). In other words, a whole third of the world's people are driving lefties like us.
Besides the big guns already mentioned, righties include the US, Russia, most of Europe, Burma, Brazil, Chad and Tajikistan. Among their opposites are Australia, the UK, Indonesia, Japan, Mozambique, Saint Lucia, and Swaziland.
Historically speaking, there is the commonly held belief that in 1300 a papal decree dictated left-hand (yes,...