UK series 英国系列 11 | Why do the British drive on the left?
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Have you ever wondered why the British drive on the left? This has a historical reason and it's all about keeping your sword hand free!
你有没有想过英国人为什么靠左行驶？这有历史原因的，简单的说是为了方便拿到剑！
In the Middle Ages you never knew who you were going to meet when travelling on horseback. Most people are right-handed, so if a stranger passed by on the right of you, your right hand would be free to use your sword if required. (Similarly, medieval castle staircases spiral in a clockwise direction going upwards, so the defending soldiers would be able to stab down around the twist but those attacking (going up the stairs) would not.)
在中世纪，骑马旅行时一个人永远不知道会遇到谁。大多数人是右撇子，所以如果一个陌生人从你右边经过，你的右手可以在需要的时候顺利拿起来。（同样的的道理，中世纪城堡的楼梯顺时针向上旋转，这样防守的士兵可以在转弯处刺下去，但进攻的士兵上楼梯不会那么方便的。）
Indeed the ‘keep to the left’ rule goes back even further in time; archaeologists have discovered evidence suggesting that the Romans drove carts and wagons on the left, and it is known that Roman soldiers always marched on the left. This ‘rule of the road’ was officially sanctioned in 1300 AD when Pope Boniface VIII declared that all pilgrims travelling to Rome should keep to the left.
事实上，“靠左走”可以追溯到更远的时代；按照考古学家发现的证据表明罗马人在左边开着马车，众所周知，罗马士兵总是在左边行进。公元1300年，教皇博尼法斯八世宣布所有前往罗马的朝圣者都应靠左行驶，此时，这一“道路规则”得到了正式批准。
This continued until the late 1700s when large wagons became popular for transporting goods. These wagons were drawn by several pairs of horses and had no driver’s seat. Instead, in order to control the horses, the driver sat on the horse at the back left, thus keeping his whip hand free. Sitting on the left however made it difficult to judge the traffic coming the other way, as anyone who has driven a left-hand drive car along the winding lanes of Britain will agree!
这种情况一直持续到17世纪末，那时大型货车开始流行于运输货物。这些马车是由几对马拉的，没有驾驶座。相反，为了控制马，司机坐在马的左后方，这样他的鞭子手就可以自由了。然而，坐在左边很难判断从另一个方向来的交通，这一点，任何人在英国蜿蜒的车道上开过左舵驾驶汽车的人都会明白的。
These huge wagons were best suited to the wide-open spaces and large distances of Canada and the US, and the first keep-to-the-right law was passed in Pennsylvania in 1792, with many Canadian and US states following suit later. In France a decree of 1792 ordered traffic to keep to the “common” right and Napoleon later enforced the rule in all French territories. In Britain there wasn’t much call for these massive wagons and the smaller British vehicles had seats for the driver to sit on behind the horses. As most people are right-handed, the driver would sit to the right of the seat so his whip hand was free.
这些大货车最适合用在加拿大或美国这些有又广阔又开放的土地上，1792年在宾夕法尼亚州通过了第一个右行驶法律的法案，许多加拿大和美国州随后也效仿。在法国，1792年的一项法令命令交通保持“共同”权利，拿破仑后来在法国所有领土上实施了这一统治。在英国，人们并不需要这些大型货车，而英国的小型车辆有座位让司机坐在马背上。由于大多数人都是右撇子，所以司机会坐在座位的右边，这样他的鞭子手就自由了。
Traffic congestion in 18th century London led to a law being passed to make all traffic on London Bridge keep to the left in order to reduce collisions. This rule was incorporated into the Highway Act of 1835 and was adopted throughout the British Empire.
18世纪伦敦的交通拥堵导致为了减少交通事故，定了一项法律，那就是伦敦桥上的所有交通都保持左行驶。这一规定被纳入1835年的《公路法》，并在整个大英帝国开始采用。
Drive on the left sign in Australia
在澳大利亚靠左行驶
There was a movement in the 20th century towards the harmonization of road laws in Europe and a gradual shift began from driving on the left to the right. The last Europeans to change from left to right were the Swedes who bravely made the change overnight on Dagen H (H Day), September 3rd 1967. At 4.50am all traffic in Sweden stopped for ten minutes before restarting, this time driving on the right.
到20世纪，欧洲出现了一场统一道路法规的活动，并开始逐渐从左行驶转向右行驶。最后一个从左到右改变的欧洲国家是瑞典，他们在1967年9月3日的达根日（Dagen H）当晚突然地做出了改变。凌晨4点50分，瑞典所有车辆都停了10分钟，然后开始在右侧行驶。
Blue drive on the left, red drive on the right.
蓝色是靠左行驶的国家，红色是靠右行驶的国家。
Today, only 35% of countries drive on the left. These include India, Indonesia, Ireland, Malta, Cyprus, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and most recently, Samoa in 2009.
如今，只有35%的国家靠左行驶。这些国家包括印度、印度尼西亚、爱尔兰、马耳他、塞浦路斯、日本、新西兰、澳大利亚，近期加入靠左行驶的是在2009年的萨摩亚。
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