Different countries drive on different sides of the road.

不同的國家對應該靠道路的哪一邊行駛有著不同的規矩。

The story begins long before any cars, when we were just walking around, like a bunch of schmucks.

而箇中緣由早在汽車出現之前，每個人都呆頭呆腦的走在路上時就開始了。

Archaeologists have found paved roads dating back like 6000 years.

考古學家發現人們最早在大約 6000 年前便已經開始鋪設道路。

But the biggest road network by far, was built by the Romans.

但目前為止規模最大的道路網路仍屬古羅馬人所建造的羅馬路網。

By 200 AD, they pretty much controlled all of Europe, including Britain.

在西元 200 年時，古羅馬人控制了包括不列顛島的幾乎整個歐洲。

And since they built the roads, everyone had to to follow their rules.

而由於路是他們鋪設的，每個行走在上面的人們也都得依循他們的規矩。

We know that most people are right handed, and for most righties, it's much easier to mount a horse from the left.

我們知道大部分人的慣用手是右手，而對於大多數右撇子來說，從左側上馬比從右側上馬來得容易。

And you don't want to do this in traffic, so people would do this on the left hand side of the road.

而沒人會想在車水馬龍中爬上馬背，所以人們大多會在道路的左側上馬。

Riding on the left also makes it much easier to pull your sword if anyone's coming at you in an aggressive and dickish way.

靠左側騎馬也讓你能夠在其他人不懷好意地朝你靠近你時，能夠更輕易地拔劍對峙。

Because of Rome, most of Europe traveled on the left for like 1800 years—long after the Empire had fallen.

因為羅馬帝國的關係，幾乎整個歐洲都靠持續左行駛了約 1800 年，在帝國傾頹之後仍長久保持。

But today, most of Europe travels on the right—and that's because one little dude who wanted to be a dick.

然而到了今天，幾乎整個歐洲卻都是靠右行駛的－而這全只是因為有個小矮子想要當個渾蛋。

Napoleon had a Napoleon complex.

拿破崙有著強烈的自卑感。

His goal was to make the greatest empire ever.

他的目標是想要建立史上最強大的帝國。

And part of that, to him, was to make everybody drive his way.

而對他來說，其中一部分就是要讓大家都按照他的意思行駛在路上。

He had to get rid of the roman style, and make everybody drive on the right.

他必須擺脫古羅馬帝國的傳統，於是便強迫大家靠右行駛。

And people were like, "Alright you already invaded, you won, it's not really a big deal, whatever. Gotta go home to my wife anyway, and she's a real piece of work."

於是人們便心想：「好喔，反正你都入侵了，戰爭也打贏了，這又不是什麼大事，我還能怎樣哩，隨便啦。我得回家陪我老婆，她可難伺候了。」

But the one place Napoleon couldn't get to was England.

但拿破崙直到最後仍未能征服英格蘭。

And as kind of a "screw you" to Napoleon, they made traveling on the left the law of the land.

而作為對拿破崙表達「去你的」的一種象徵，英國於是立法規定必須要靠左行駛。

Yeah, there was a guideline around in 1773 that suggested they do this, but they made it official with the Highway Act of 1835.

沒錯，雖然早在 1773 年英國就有篇行政準則建議人們這麼做，但他們在 1835 年高速道路法案時正式將靠左行駛定為法律規定。

When the British and French were busy colonizing the heck out of the world, they brought their customs with them.

而在後來英國與法國人們忙著在世界各地到處殖民時，他們也把本國的習慣帶到了殖民地去。

And that's why most often if a country was a French Colony like Vietnam or Morocco, they drive on the right.

而這就是為什麼像是越南或摩洛哥等過去的法國殖民地通常會靠右行駛，

And if they were a British colony like Australia or India, they drive on the left.

而像是澳洲或印度等過去的英國殖民地則是靠左行駛。

But there was one British Colony that didn't follow the rules.

但有一個英國殖民地並沒有遵循這個規則。

America was a big fricking place, and we had to transport a lot of stuff over great distances.

美國是個大得要命的地方，而我們得將一大堆貨物運送很長一段距離。

A dinky little horse cart wasn't gonna cut it, we needed some big old wagons.

由一匹馬所拉的馬車可無法勝任，我們需要大型的貨車。

Two, four, or even six animal teams were the norm!

由兩匹、四匹或甚至六匹馬所拉動的貨車是當時的常態！

So, you got yourself a wagon, where you gonna sit?

而在駕駛貨車時，你要坐在哪呢？

Well, since you're probably right-handed, you're gonna sit on the left rear horse, because that makes it easier to whip all of the animals with your right hand.

由於你很大概率會是右撇子，所以你會坐在左後方的馬匹上，這樣你便能更輕易地用右手揮動鞭子來使役馬兒們。

And since you're sitting on the left, you're gonna drive on the right to make sure you don't crash into oncoming traffic.

因為你坐在左側，你便會靠著右側行駛，來避免撞上迎面而來的其他人。

America starts to drive on the right.

於是美國人便開始靠道路的右側行駛。

In the mid 1800s we started paving our roads.

在十九世紀中葉時，我們開始鋪設道路。

We dug deep drainage ditches on each side.

我們在道路的兩側挖掘了深深的排水溝。

The wagon riders didn't want to risk falling into the ditch, so they started sitting on the right.

為了避免掉進水溝裡，貨車駕駛們開始坐在車子的右側。

So now they're driving on the right, while sitting on the right.

他們於是坐在右側靠右行駛。

And when the first cars came along, they didn't think of that any differently.

而當車子開始出現在街頭時，大家的思維並沒有什麼改變。

The first American cars were all right-hand drive!

最早出現的美國車駕駛座全都在右邊！

Even Henry Ford's first car, the Model A, in 1903, had its steering wheel on the right hand side.

就連亨利·福特的第一部車：發表於 1903 年的 A 型車，其方向盤也是裝在前座的右邊。

But by the time he designed the Model T, there were enough cars on the road that how close you were to oncoming traffic was more important than how close you were to the edge of the road.

但在他設計後來的 T 型車時，路上的車子已經多到與其注意車子和道路邊緣的距離，注意和對向來車的距離更加重要的程度。

On the Model T, he moved the steering wheel to the left.

所以在 T 型車上，他把方向盤移動到了左側。

Ford sold nearly 15 million Model Ts in 18 years, so everyone else started to do it too.

福特在 18 年間賣出了將近一千五百萬台 T 型車，於是其他車廠也紛紛仿效這種做法。

But what about Japan?

但是日本又是怎麼回事？

They were never a British colony, and Napoleon never made it that far.

他們從來都不是英國的殖民地，而拿破崙也沒征戰到那兒去。

Like the Romans, and for similar reasons, the Japanese historically travelled on the left.

和古羅馬人一樣，日本人在歷史上也因為類似的原因而靠左行駛。

And in the mid 1800s, they needed some railroads.

到了十九世紀中葉時，他們需要建設一些鐵路。

So they reached out to Great Britain for some help.

於是他們便請求了大英帝國的幫助。

It was during this period of modernization that they made it official: Japan would drive on the left.

而就是在這段進行現代化的時期，他們正式立法：在日本的道路上得靠左行駛。

Not all countries had such a smooth decision process.

但並不是所有國家的決策過程都如此地順暢。

Sweden wasn't aligned with Napoleon during his reign, so they never had to give up the Roman tradition of travelling on the left.

瑞典從未被拿破崙征服過，因此他們並沒有被迫放棄來自古羅馬的靠左行駛傳統。

Not a big deal on horseback, but about 150 years later, 90% of Swedes drove left hand drive vehicles, in a left driving country.

這在騎馬的時代不是什麼大問題，但過了 150 年之後，90% 的瑞典人都開著方向盤在左邊的車，但國家的規定卻是得靠左行駛。

And this led to an abnormally high amount of head-on collisions.

而這便造成了異常高的對撞車禍數量。

So in 1967, Sweden had Ho—, Höger—, Högertrafikom—, Högertrafikomläggningen, or right hand traffic diversion day.

於是在 1967 年，瑞典便決定要進行 Ho—，Höger—，Högertrafikom—，Högertrafikomläggningen，也就是「切換為靠右駕駛日」。

All non-essential traffic was banned between 1 and 6 AM.

所有非必要的車輛禁止在當天的早上 1 點到 6 點上路。

And If you were driving, you had to pull over at 4:50, carefully cross the road, wait a few minutes, and continue driving.

如果你當下仍在開車，便必須在 4:50 停到路邊，小心地跨到對向車道去，等待個幾分鐘，然後繼續行駛。

People got up to watch this, at 4:50!

而人們竟然在凌晨 4:50 爬起來，就為了看個景象！

As recently as 2009, Samoa switched from the right to the left.

最近的案例則是在 2009 年，薩摩亞決定將靠右駕駛轉變為靠左駕駛。

The Samoan government argued that right hand drive vehicles from Australia and New Zealand would be much cheaper for Samoans to import.

薩摩亞政府的理由是，直接從澳洲與紐西蘭進口駕駛坐在右側的車輛，對薩摩亞來說更加便宜。

In the days leading up to the switch, anti-switch protesters warned of mass casualties and chaos.

在切換駕駛方向的前幾天，反對者們警告這將會造成大規模的死傷與混亂。

But, that didn't happen.

但是最後並沒有變成那樣。

The government declared a three day holiday so nobody drove.

當地政府發布了三天的國定假日，於是街上根本沒人開車。

And on 6 am on the third day, people lined the streets to witness the crazy left hand driving.

到了第三天的早上 6 點，人們紛紛聚集到街旁見證這個「瘋狂」的靠左駕駛轉換。

And everybody was fine.

結果大家都平安無事。

Dude, if we did that in LA it'd look like a disaster movie starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

老兄，如果我們在洛杉磯搞這個，場面肯定會像是一部由巨石強森主演的災難片一樣。

And yes I still call him "The Rock." I still smell what The Rock is cooking by the way!

對啦，我還是叫他「巨石」啦。我可還住在能聞到他晚餐吃什麼的地方呢！

So that's why we drive where we drive.

所以這就是我們為什麼靠固定某側駕駛的原因。

And it really has little to do with cars!

其實跟汽車本身並沒有什麼關係！

It's a combination of a lot things: timing, convenience, or someone wanting to leave a legacy.

這其實是好幾個因素綜合之下產生的結果：時機、便利性，還有某人想要名留青史的野心。

And In America, it's because we're really, really big.

至於在美國，則是因為我們的土地面積實在是太大了。

Thanks for watching WheelHouse, remember to like, comment, share and subscribe.

感謝收看本集的 WheelHouse，請記得幫我按讚、留言、分享和訂閱。

If you like left hand drive cars, we talk about a ton of them on Up to Speed. Uh the AE86, Integra Type R—that's my personal favorite.

如果你喜歡左駕車的話，我們在另一個節目 Up to Speed 上聊過很多。像是 AE86，還有我個人最喜歡的車：Integra Type R 等等。

Check those out!

快去看看那些影片吧！

Which side of the road do you drive on? Left or Right?

你是開左駕車還是右駕車呢？

Are you a mailman? Do you have a right hand drive car?

你是美國的郵差嗎？你開的是右駕車嗎？

That must be kind of weird, tell us about that! Please.

在美國開右駕車感覺肯定很怪吧，跟我們分享分享吧！拜託了。

Thanks for watching, bye!

感謝收看，再見囉！