FunWhy in Spain do you drive to the right?

Why in Spain do you drive to the right?

Driving on the right is something that is practiced in most countries and we are all surprised that in England you drive on the left , when in fact, in the past, if you rode a horse or went by cart, you always circulated on the left . So when do we go from driving on the left to driving on the right? And specifically, why in Spain do you drive to the right?

Why in Spain do you drive to the right?

It seems that when it comes to driving, it is the English who in theory “are right” or in fact they have seniority on the side of driving if we take into account that in the past, both cars, wagons and horses were driven on the road. left . This is because in this way, most people could have their right hand free to, in case of danger, draw their sword or any other defense weapon that they had on the right side to face the enemy. Also, it is easier for a right hand to ride a horse from the left side of the anima, and with the “guide” on the left. This trend continued until the 18th century (history is therefore definitely on the UK’s side), or until the moment when economies, and in some ways the French Revolution, changed everything.

Napoleon and the kingdoms across the Channel

In 1752 there was the first official driving on the right: it happened in Russia, at the request of Tsarina Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great. But it wasNapoleon who guaranteed the spread of this new customin continental Europe: until the Revolution of 1789, in fact, in France the road was clearly divided between the side reserved for thearistocracy, the leftand the side reserved forpeople, right,so that there would be no mixing of social classes, not even when traveling. Butclass overthrowas a consequence, among many others,the single right traffic rule, codified in 1792. Later, with the conquest of numerous lands throughout Europe,Napoleon imposed this practice on the conquered peoples,And therefore, the guide on the right also extended to parts of Italy and Germany, in Holland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland and also of course, to our country,Spain. Across the Canal, meanwhile, the opposite trend was developing: the first known written rule imposing left-hand traffic was promulgated in 1756 and concerned London Bridge; this convention was definitively written with the Highway Act of 1835 and was also extended to the colonies of the British Empire. At the beginning of the 20th century, therefore,Europe was clearly divided,Regarding the drive side: to therightfor theterritorieswho had suffered theFrench domination, left for Britainand for all those who had survived the Napoleonic campaign unscathed. (Portugal and the Austro-Hungarian Kingdom especially).

Since when do you drive in Spain on the right?

Between 1890 and the 1930s , with the expansion of the automobile and the consequent creation of structured road networks, right-hand driving became almost dogmatic throughout most of Europe.

In the case of Spain , however, there was no regulation to circulate on one side or the other, and the decision was made by the municipal authorities. In this way and curiously, in Barcelona, it was circulated on the right , while in Madrid it was circulated on the left.

It was not until 1918 when in our country the first Regulation on the circulation of motor vehicles was approved in which driving by law was established, “except in the municipal terms of those cities whose municipalities have adopted special provisions.” For this reason, in Madrid, we continued to drive on the left, which caused many accidents, since most of the cars had the steering wheel on the left and also when leaving the capital the person had to change and go from driving on the left to do it on the right.

With the increase in drivers (and cars) in Madrid, it was in 1924, when the then civil and military governor of Madrid, Juan O’Donnell y Vargas, Duke of Tetuán, issued a statement to announce that as of April 10 of that year, the cars would circulate on the right.

Since then, the whole of Spain has circulated on the right despite the fact that state regulation did not take place until the 1930s.

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