Why exactly did france swop sides of the road?

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steviebyday

just to be bloody awkward like they always are................

neoplop

"In days of old logic dictated that when people passed each other on the road they should be in the best possible position to use their sword to protect themselves. As most people are right handed they therefore keep to their left. This practice was formalised in a Papal Edict by Pope Benefice around 1300AD who told all his pilgrims to keep to the left.

French, being Catholics, followed Pope Boneface's edict but in the build up to the French Revolution in 1790 the French Aristocracy drove their carriages at great speed on the left hand side of the road, forcing the peasantry over to the right side for their own safety. Come the Revolution, instincts of self preservation resulted in the remains of the Aristocracy joining the peasants on the right hand side of the road. The first official record of this was a keep right rule introduced in Paris in 1794."

DeathButler

Did they swap, or did we? There's only a few countries that drive on the left, like us.

Rillifane

The rule was imposed by the French government in 1794 and spread by Napoleon. The precise reason why they chose right over left is not known.

Its most likely just an arbitrary choice by people who liked things to be orderly and created a very large number of arbitrary rules that survive to this day.

Its been suggested that they chose right over left because the latter had been the usual way of doing things and he liked to shake things up.

The difficulty with this theory is that we're not entirely sure which side was in traditional use. Although some claim there is evidence that the Romans drove to the left is is hardly conclusive.

Most of the theories about which side of the road earlier civilizations used are really quite absurd when carefully analyzed. They depend, for the most part, on suppositions that have little reality.

The idea, for example, is that knights approached each other bearing left to have their right arm nearer to a potential opponent. But it is just as likely that they would bear right to demonstrate that their intentions were peaceful. Legends aside, knights didn't constantly engage in fighting and combat was, more often than not, pre-arranged since no one wanted to travel around wearing all their armour and carrying all their weaponry on their person (weapons and armour were usually carried on a pack horse when not in use).

zimoski

i think your the akward 1

Ray

maybe it has something to do with the ancient Roman road system.

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