Driving Side Of The Road In Europe In 1922

Map created by reddit user bezzlefordThe map above shows which side of the road people in Europe drove on in 1922. Today, the only countries that still drive on the left are:

Gibraltar however, drives on the right as does Spain. In terms of making the map Bezzleford stated that:

I made this map because I was getting tired of people saying “ugh why are Brits always trying so hard to be different” and I genuinely found someone who said Brexit was caused because Brits drive on the left.

It’s only by sheer coincidence that “only” 1/3 of the world lives in a country that drives on the left and that a majority of those are former British colonies today. I made this map to bring to somewhat bring to light how rubbish the “driving on the left = British” myth is.

Some sidenotes:

Mixed?! – Austria, which historically drove on the left, started to switch in 1921 when Voralberg switched to driving on the right. It wasn’t until 1938 (with the Anschluss with Germany) that the whole country switched to driving on the right. In Spain, until 1924 Madrid drove on the left. In Italy historically the countryside drove on the right whereas cities drove on the left. Rome switched to driving on the right in 1924 and Milan in 1926.

1922? People didn’t drive cars then? – This map refers to driving direction of vehicles in general, motorised or not.

What was the situation before WW1? – Austria-Hungary drove on the left so before WW1 its former territories (including Transylvania, Croatia, and Vojvodina) drove on the left. The Netherlands was also mixed (and formerly completely drove on the left). Rotterdam was the last city to switch to driving on the right in 1917.

Who else switched? – The Netherlands was historically a country that drove on the left (hence why Indonesia and Suriname drives on the left). Finland (as a part of Sweden) also drove on the left but switched under Russian decree in 1858.

But a lot of these countries don’t drive on the left today? When did they switch?

Spain: completely by 1924

Italy: completely by 1927

Portugal: 1928

Austria: by 1938 (anschluss)

Czechoslovakia: gradually during German occupation. Bohemia and Moravia by 1939, Slovakia (as a German client state) by 1941.

Hungary: 1941

Sweden: 1967

Iceland: 1968

Any questions feel free to ask below. I am particularly interested in driving direction (yes I know that’s a bit sad) so feel free to ask about places outside of Europe too 🙂

The most recent country to switch sides was Samoa, which switched to driving on the left in 2009