The right way to drive?

Senator Donie Cassidy recently proposed that we examine changing the side of the road that Irish motorists drive on. The reason for this was that he wanted to make it easier for immigrants and tourists to drive in Ireland. I wonder if we will ever see such a big revolution on Irish roads? But, how did this problem come about? A lot of scientists think that traffic on the left side of the road was and is more natural. Since the beginning of time, most people are right handed. In the middle ages warriors wore their scabbards on the left side and because of that they preferred to meet people on their right hand sides because otherwise it was too awkward. The conclusion was that being on the left side is safer. The left side was also used in ancient Rome. We don’t have a lot of evidence about this because it was so ingrained in the culture. No one wrote about it and no one set out to paint it. The left side also dominated in the Austro Hungarian empire and because of that in Czechoslovakia for many years, finishing in 1939. In Poland, driving on the left side was prevalent in the Austrian part of the country. In the rest of the country, people drove on the right. After 1918 Poland became independent and everybody started to drive on the right hand side. Stories still exist about Pope Boniface VIII laying down the law about this in 1300, stating that all of Europe had to drive on the left hand side, but no documents exist to back this up. Certainly, driving on the right side was popular in Europe in the beginning of the 19th century after the Napoleonic wars. Some people claim that driving on the right was prevalent in France after the revolution, as a rebellion against the English and we know that to this day French people don’t like English people. My conclusion is that the rules of the road have their origin in Europe. Left side was first in Europe, on the British island and in the middle of Europe and this was a relic of Roman days. Driving on the right side emerged in France and was made popular throughout Europe through Napoleon’s expansion through Europe. Driving on the left is normal today in many countries, i.e. England, Ireland, Cyprus, Malta, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Thailand, Jamaica etc. Right side driving is prevalent in continental Europe and French and Spanish colonies, or in the countries which battled English imperial ideas, including the USA. But we have few differences. Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia changed over to driving on the right at the beginning of WWII under German orders. In Sweden, the change came about in 1967 because they wanted have a single system throughout Scandinavia. Overall, 27 percent of world traffic is on the left side and I know that I am from a country where people drive on the right, but I don’t see any sense in Ireland changing her rules. I don’t have to highlight how much money it would cost, but the fact is that it is really hard to change the drivers. For me, it’s like you want to make a cat bark and a dog speak. Left side, right side, I don’t see any difference, the important thing is to go straight!