# Did Canadians ever drive on the left? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 19, 2001, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-canadians-ever-drive-on-the-left/55045 "2001-02-19T03:16:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-canadians-ever-drive-on-the-left/55045/1 "2001-02-19T03:16:22Z")
Did Canadians ever drive on the left? The obviously have some strong ties to the UK. I’m surprised they don’t have this one. How about the other colonies, like India? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-canadians-ever-drive-on-the-left/55045/2 "2001-02-19T03:32:03Z")
For starters, here’s an alphabetical list of countries which have wrong-hand…, er-uh, left-handed driving [Deviants](http://www.fia.com/tourisme/info-pratic/lefthand.htm) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-canadians-ever-drive-on-the-left/55045/3 "2001-02-19T03:41:00Z")
And the answer is…ta da…the British parts of Canada until the 1920’s drove on the left, but the French parts drove on the right always. From [here](http://www.travel-library.com/general/driving/drive_which_side.html) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-canadians-ever-drive-on-the-left/55045/4 "2001-02-19T03:48:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SmackFu \* > \*\*Did Canadians ever drive on the left? The obviously have some strong ties to the UK. I’m surprised they don’t have this one. How about the other colonies, like India? \*\* Actually, driving on the left occurred in both Canada AND the United States, before states and provinces agreed on what side should be preferred. In Ontario and Quebec, (as well as Manitoba and Saskatchewan), which comprises the majority of the country’s people (and cars), they always drove on the right. Driving on the left persisted in Atlantic Canada and parts of B.C. until after the First World War, at which point they pretty much had to conform with the rest of North America. Newfoundland, which did not join Canada until 1949, drove on the left right up to the time they joined, or shortly before. Many other former British colonies drive on the left, such as India, Australia, and NEw Zealand. Its worth nothing that in Canada, Quebec ALWAYS drove on the right, this being the French custom, and they stuck with it after Britain took over, as per the terms of the Quebec Act. Bear in mind that at one point the French were a majority in Canada, so Canada had a different start in this regard than most British colonies. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-canadians-ever-drive-on-the-left/55045/5 "2001-02-19T04:02:30Z")
“Actually, driving on the left occurred in both Canada AND the United States, before states and provinces agreed on what side should be preferred.” Do you mean that we in the US drove automobiles on the left? Or wagons? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-canadians-ever-drive-on-the-left/55045/6 "2001-02-19T05:23:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by samclem \* > \*\*“Actually, driving on the left occurred in both Canada AND the United States, before states and provinces agreed on what side should be preferred.” > > Do you mean that we in the US drove automobiles on the left? Or wagons? > > \*\* Very early on, you betcha. Not automobiles, but the early U.S. was a mishmash of right- and left-driving practices, as you would expect in a country with a diverse selection of immigrant populations. By the time cars were around, right-side driving was the standard. ---
**Author:** ![Tsugumo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4da419/32.png) [@Tsugumo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tsugumo)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-canadians-ever-drive-on-the-left/55045/7 "2001-02-19T08:01:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SmackFu \* > **Did Canadians ever drive on the left?** A few times, but I was just really tired…woke me up fast though, heh. - Tsugumo ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-canadians-ever-drive-on-the-left/55045/8 "2001-02-19T08:49:22Z")
Ha ha! Finally I get to use this cite!!! From the [History of Nova Scotia](http://alts.net/ns1625/nshist00.html): > [@](#): > > 1923 April 15 > Highway Driving Rule Changes Sides > The “rule of the road” changed, in Nova Scotia. After this day, all drivers keep to the right-hand side of the road. Previously, automobiles, streetcars, horses, bicyclists, and all other vehicles and travellers adhered to the left-hand side of the road. Since 1 December 1922 there had been a problem for automobile drivers who crossed the border between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick… on that date New Brunswick had switched to driving on the right-hand side of the road, while Nova Scotia remained with the left-side rule. -from Chapter 10, “[1 January 1920 to 31 December 1939](http://alts.net/ns1625/nshist10.html)”. It also mentions that BC changed from left to right on 1 January 1922. [This 1910 picture](http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/cgi-bin/www2i/.visual/img_med/dir_73/b_07574.gif) from the [BC Archives](http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/exhibits/timemach/galler08/frames/index.htm) has at least one car driving on the left. Interestingly, the BC Archives site does not actually mention the change of side of driving. Thanks, **samclem** , for that link! I _knew_ there had to be some sort of overview on this issue out there… ---
**Author:** ![dqa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dqa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dqa)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-canadians-ever-drive-on-the-left/55045/9 "2001-02-19T18:27:51Z")
So far we’ve established that Atlantic Canada drove on the left, Upper and Lower Canada, and later Manitoba and Saskatchewan drove on the right, and BC drove on the left. I have to assume the Northwest Territories followed the lead of those central provinces. That leaves out Alberta and the Yukon. Anyone have any ideas on these last two pieces? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-canadians-ever-drive-on-the-left/55045/10 "2001-02-19T18:37:38Z")
Actually, I saw nothing about PEI… ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-canadians-ever-drive-on-the-left/55045/11 "2001-02-19T21:42:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sunspace \* > \*\*Ha ha! Finally I get to use this cite!!! > From Chapter 10, “[1 January 1920 to 31 December 1939](http://alts.net/ns1625/nshist10.html)”. A little farther down in this section is one of the most interesting facts I ever learned from the internet: _In Lunenburg County, 1923 is still known as The Year of Free Beef; the price of beef dropped precipitously because oxen which had been trained to keep to the left could not be retrained – oxen are notoriously slow-witted – and many teamsters had to replace their oxen with new ones trained to keep to the right; the displaced oxen were sent to slaughter._ ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2001, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-canadians-ever-drive-on-the-left/55045/12 "2001-02-20T00:32:42Z")
> [@](#): > > In Lunenburg County, 1923 is still known as The Year of Free Beef; the price of beef dropped precipitously because oxen which had been trained to keep to the left could not be retrained – oxen are notoriously slow-witted – and many teamsters had to replace their oxen with new ones trained to keep to the right; the displaced oxen were sent to slaughter. So that explains all of the dopers who disappeared when the boards changed over? :eek: