DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: You have got questions. We have answers. Just "Ask CNN." Here's today question and its answer.</s>JOSEPH MCINTYRE: Hello, my name is Joseph McIntyre, and I am from Scotland. I would like to ask</s>CNN: Why do different countries drive on different sides of the road?</s>KEVIN DELANEY, SAFETY MGR., ROYAL AUTOMOTIVE CLUB FOR MOTORING: I think it's probably a case of why do we Brits drive on the left? And we do it because we've always done it, it's a custom. There was an act of parliament in 1835, which was to deal with people who were driving carriages and animals, which simply said that if you meet an animal or a carriage coming in the other direction, you must move to the left-hand side of the road. But its origins go back beyond that. There is at least a tradition that it was to do self-defense, so that if you met a stranger coming towards you, you passed each other, you on the left, so that you could defend yourself with your right hand, your sword hand, or your pistol hand. And while that may sound a little bit unusual, the houses of parliament are so constructed that, in the House of Commons, the two front benches are exactly two swords length apart. So it may well be that it was the case. Perhaps much more likely is the fact that when Napoleon embarked on his conquest of Europe, he took with him what was called the Code Napoleon, which included a direction that everybody shall drive, or lead their animals on the right-hand side of the road. And I believe that we Brits simply stuck with the left to spite Napoleon.
Ask CNN: Why Do Different Countries Drive on Different Sides of the Road?