Rumors of Lane Changes in the UK

[Carol]

Steve wrote:
<snip>  How many other countries still drive on the 'wrong' side of
the road?
> 
> Miles
> Well, Japan seems to be the most important one, India is another. As
always, wikipedia provides the answer - and a map:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_directionality#Places_where_traffic_keeps_to_the_left

Carol responds:

Better yet, follow the link in note 8 of the wikipedia entry to

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

and click on the link to "History and Origin." But don't forget to
read what I hope is the tongue-in-cheek advice from the British
Ministry of Transport on the first page: "Visitors are informed that
in the United Kingdom traffic drives on the left-hand side of the
road. In the interests of safety, you are advised to practise this in
your country of origin for a week or two before driving in the UK."
 
Yikes. I think not. The rest of the site is very informative and
apparently well-researched. At least the explanations make sense, and
the anecdote about the April Fool's joke in a British paper is worth
repeating:

"A newspaper story one April Fool's Day suggested that, to further
European integration, the UK was to convert to driving on the right.
However, owing to the huge amount of work this conversion would cause,
it would be phased in: for the first six months the regulation would
only apply to buses and taxis."

Let's hope that no bus or taxi drivers took the story seriously!

Just for fun, here's a link to the main page of the site, which links
to other articles on electricity and scripts and alphabets around the
world:

http://users.pandora.be/worldstandards/index.htm

Carol, always amazed by the things she learns on this list (not to
mention from the twenty-two-year-old author who taught her that
texting is done with the thumbs!)