# Why do people drive cars nearest middle of the road? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 16, 2020, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-drive-cars-nearest-middle-of-the-road/848051 "2020-02-16T23:00:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-drive-cars-nearest-middle-of-the-road/848051/21 "2020-02-18T18:20:05Z")
Cecil commented on this when discussing [Why the British drive on the left?](https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/634/why-do-the-british-drive-on-the-left/): _… late 1700s, teamsters in the United States and France began hauling farm products in big wagons pulled by several pairs of horses. These wagons had no driver’s seat. Instead the driver sat on the left rear horse, so he could keep his right arm free to lash the team. Since you were sitting on the left, naturally you wanted everybody to pass on the left so you could look down and make sure you kept clear of the other guy’s wheels. Ergo, you kept to the right side of the road. The first known keep-right law in the U.S. was enacted in Pennsylvania in 1792, and in the ensuing years many states and Canadian provinces followed suit._ ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-drive-cars-nearest-middle-of-the-road/848051/22 "2020-02-18T18:21:38Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > I would also point out that in the days before turn signals were omnipresent, people would reach out the window with their arm to signal their intentions. If the opposing drivers are on opposite sides of the road, it is much harder to see. People still reach out the window with their arm to signal certain things. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-drive-cars-nearest-middle-of-the-road/848051/23 "2020-02-18T19:51:52Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > It’s not really a consistent standard. I believe the EU adopted the standard based on some confused notion of the way you should brake when hand signaling to move across traffic, when only one hand is not the bars so only one brake is accessible. If that’s the reasoning, it implies that they think it’s the _rear_ brake that’s more important, which is wrong. > > I’d always advise people to set up with the front brake on their dominant side, since the front brake is far more effective, and it’s better to have it on the side with better fine motor control for modulation. But whatever you choose, better to stick to it for life once you’ve established the muscle memory, I’d never change if I moved to another country. Safety rules etc for bikes mostly seem to be created by people who never ride bikes. For instance that idea that the back brake is the “safer” brake - it really isn’t, as of course you know, and you’re far more likely to lock up a wheel using the back brake, because the rear wheel goes light under braking. Another example - the “rumble strips” they place on divided footpaths that have one side for bikes and one side for pedestrians. They have them aligned perpendicular to the direction of travel on the “no entry” footpath side, and parallel to the direction of travel on the bike side - presumably because they think it makes it smoother. What it actually does, of course, is provide a tramline effect that can grab your wheel or make it skid if you cross at a slightly oblique angle. It’s much safer to detour across the perpendicular ridges. [Link](https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/42859/what-is-the-psychology-behind-laying-out-slabs-at-different-angles-for-cyclists/42860) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-drive-cars-nearest-middle-of-the-road/848051.md?page=1)