The Rules of the Road: A History of Left and Right-Hand Driving in the US Virgin Islands

John F. McKeon 

My wife and I recently spent the past month driving through Ireland, England and Scotland. The road traffic system is predicated on driving in the left lane. As a long time resident of St. Croix for the past fifteen years I believed that I was well at ease with these conditions. I could not have been more wrong. The steering wheel was on the right hand side of the vehicle rather than the left. I was able to adapt but I came to the conclusion that my use of a left hand drive car while driving in the left hand lane on St. Croix made the driver location switch an arduous and laborious. 

undertaking.Yet in the end, unlike our situation in the islands, it made perfect sense, Driving on St. Croix presents a challenge for even the most experienced motorist. I will not delve into the myriad problems with road conditions but rather discuss driver perception issues. Driving an American built left-hand drive vehicle on an island that drives on the left side of the road presents significant and disorienting challenges. The primary issue is the operators perspective, which is closer to the roadside curb and away from the center and oncoming traffic. This creates difficulties in accurately judging distances, especially with St. Croix’ narrow lanes, its difficulty in merging into traffic and when overtaking other vehicles. A driver's line of sight is obstructed. Intersections always demand extra caution because the driver's usual reference points for road positioning are reversed, and the flow of traffic is counter-intuitive. 

This is where my inner historian became curious. Why do certain countries choose one side while others select the other? Is it cultural or a historically based choice? What is the reasoning for that choice? Finally what explains the anomaly that exists in the US Virgin Islands regarding left handed cars on left lane roads. Once again we need to go back into the past to understand how we got here. 

 The History    

Lets begin with the realization that approximately 85–90% of the world's population is right-handed, while the remaining 10–15% is left-handed. The exact cause is not fully understood, it may be influenced by a combination of genetics and environmental factors. So why the disparate driving choices? 

The initial divergence often traces back to ancient customs and the practicalities of a society dominated by foot traffic, horseback, and carriages.(1)The ancient Romans likely drove on the left. This is supported by archaeological evidence such as the findings of deeper wheel ruts on the left side of Roman roads and is also portrayed in ancient carvings. Popular lore is that it was probably to keep their dominant right hand free to wield a weapon in case of an attack. However, the depth of wheel ruts in Roman quarries and on certain roads suggests traffic flowed on the left side of the road because most people are right-handed, use of the left lane allowed a teamster to hold the reins in their left hand and keep their right hand free for other uses. This also provided a defensive advantage when facing oncoming traffic. 

Then Came the Rules 

In 1793 Denmark officially switched to ‘driving’ on the right, with a decree meant to unify the traffic rules for the entire country. This change was part of a broader European trend, though it was a much earlier switch than many other mainland European countries that adopted right-hand driving later. 

France began to officially establish right-hand driving during the French Revolution, with a "keep-right" proviso introduced in Paris in 1794. The practice flourished throughout France and its conquered territories under Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1789, prior to the revolution, the French aristocracy drove on the left, forcing peasants to the right to designate the existing feudal class structure. Afterwards, the former aristocrats blended in with the commoners by also keeping to the right. 

A decree was issued in Paris making it official to "keep right”.(2) Napoleon spread the right-hand driving rule to many parts of Europe as he attempted to conquer the continent. Nations that resisted him, such as Britain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, continued to keep left. This divide was further solidified by overall expansive European colonialism leaving Great Britain and its colonies to maintain the left-hand tradition. The reluctance to switch by Britain will be one of the keys to understanding how and why we drive the way we do on St. Croix. 

Napoleon failed to conquer Britain so the English never adopted Napoleon‘s rules. (3) Instead, they spread their traditional left across all of their empire including Japan, Africa, India and Australia. That’s why Britain and its former colonies drive left to this day while the rest of the world followed Napoleon. Finally in 1921 the initial comprehensive French Highway Code was finalized, which codified driving on the right in France into law What about other nations? Russia has officially been a right-hand traffic country since at least 1752, when Empress Elizabeth issued a decree to formalize the custom. However, a Danish envoy noted the widespread practice of driving on the right in Russia as early as 1709. Some have inaccurately linked Russia's driving side to Napoleon's influence, but Russia was never conquered by Napoleon and had already established right-hand traffic before his conquests spread the practice across much of continental Europe. 

The informal custom of keeping to the right likely predates the official edict, as evidenced by the 1709 Danish report. Unlike some other European nations, historical evidence does not show Russia ever officially switched from left-hand traffic to right-hand traffic. A historical note of interest is that when Russia gained control of Finland from left-driving Sweden in the nineteenth century, an 1858 decree eventually forced Finland to switch to the right, aligning with Russian practice. 

Russia is an exception in the modern era. Despite Russia's long history of driving on the right, millions of right-hand drive vehicles, primarily used cars imported from Japan, are in use in the eastern regions of the country. This sometimes creates hazardous driving conditions for drivers unfamiliar with these vehicles. So Virgin Islanders and Russians do the same thing… only the exact opposite of each other! 

China officially switched to driving on the right in 1946, a policy mandated by the American-backed Nationalist government. However, the transition wasn't fully realized everywhere, and special administrative regions like Hong Kong and Macau (not surprisingly former British and Portuguese colonies), continued to drive on the left due to their colonial history and isolated borders after 1949, a move that was also adopted in Taiwan. Before 1946, different parts of China had varying rules, with some areas like Shanghai and the Japanese-occupied Northeast China following different systems. These regions continued to drive on the left even after 1946 because of their colonial legacies. When the Communists took over mainland China in 1949, the border with Hong Kong was sealed, forcing the city to continue relying on vehicles imported from the UK. 

Portugal switched its colonies to the right in 1928, but Macau kept driving on the left due to its close ties with Hong Kong. Mainland China, with the exception of Hong Kong and Macau, drives on the right side of the road, and uses left-hand drive vehicles However, the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau are exceptions, driving on the left and using right-hand drive vehicles. 

How did the driving rules in the Danish West Indies come to be? In countries that drive on the left, vehicles typically have the steering wheel on the right hand side. In right-hand driving countries, the opposite is true: the steering wheel is on the left, but not in the British or US Virgin Islands. In the mid eighteenth century, many European nations, including Denmark, had a left hand driving custom until the end of the century. This extended to their colonies as well. Left was already the established norm when the US acquired the islands in 1917, even though the Danes changed the system in 1793! 

Why? We drive on the left in the US Virgin Islands strictly due to our convoluted colonial history under French, British, Dutch and eventually Danish rule. The British influence persisted because of Britain’s extensive historical presence and their influence in the Atlantic World. (4) They held a formidable presence right next door on neighboring Tortola. The British and Danes engaged in multiple disputes over territorial claims in the region throughout the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries. During the Napoleonic Wars, Great Britain temporarily occupied the Danish Virgin Islands (St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix) (5)

Now we come to the unique car and road configuration in the USVI. Many vehicles in the islands are imported from the mainland US, which means most cars have the steering wheel on the left. This results in a unique situation where drivers sit on the left but must drive on the left side of the road, a system that was maintained for “practicality”. 

The British Virgin Islands (BVI) follow the British standard for driving. The standard is to drive on the left side of the road. While a significant portion of vehicles are left-hand drive imports from the US, many vehicles have the steering wheel on the right side, as is standard in the UK. 

Visitors must obtain a temporary driving license, which can be acquired from a rental car agency. The BVI has a blend of vehicles reflecting both American and British imports conventions, with left-hand drive imports being common. In the West Indies, colonies and territories drive on the same side as their parent countries, except for the United States Virgin Islands. Many of the island nations are former British colonies and drive on the left, including Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and The Bahamas. However, most vehicles in The Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos and both the British Virgin Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands are left hand drive due to their being imported from the United States. 

Henry Ford’s Model T 

Henry Ford put the steering wheel on the left in the ‘Model T’ for safety and practicality. Prior to the birth of the automobile in the US, the rise of large freight wagons in the eighteenth century influenced a shift toward right-hand driving, particularly in the United States, because drivers sat on the left-rear horse and could more easily use their right-hand whip to control the team and see oncoming traffic. This established the standard for cars in the United States. The Model T was the first car to put the driver on the left as a standard feature. It quickly became the affordable choice. Ford had sound reasoning in his decision to put the driver on the left as it permitted passengers to step out of the car directly onto the sidewalk and away from the roadway. With the driver on the left and traffic on the right, the driver could better see oncoming cars and judge the distance between them.(6)

As we have witnessed, the global custom of driving on the left or right side of the road is rooted in a millennia of cultural, evolutionary, warfare, and imperial dictates. In modernity the switch to the right-hand rule was propelled by different and more current influences, including large freight wagons in the United States, where drivers sat on the left and needed to pass on the right to see oncoming traffic. With the dawn of the automotive explosion and its means of mass production this tradition was solidified by car manufacturers like Henry Ford. 

What adjustment issues confront the rookie motorist? The adaptations I was forced to handle in the UK were a source of confusion. We easily accepted the left hand side of the road. We are accustomed to it on St, Croix and are used to it . However we were equipped with a right hand drive rental. This offered an especially challenging situation for anyone motoring overseas with a right hand drive vehicle. The navigating of roundabouts and turns proved difficult to adjust to as they are oriented differently depending on which side of the road is being driven on. I could only imagine the additional awkwardness manual transmission cars require. Or the use of the non-dominant hand for the gear stick 

Another problem is that some people have difficulty distinguishing left from right. This can be a complex cognitive skill that involves high-level functions like visual-spatial processing, memory, and language integration, making it more challenging when combined with the need to drive on the opposite side of the road. This can lead to difficulties and potential accidents aggravated by the reality that left-right confusion is a common human trait beyond the context of driving, For right-handed individuals, the confusion is often exacerbated when visiting countries with different driving sides, as they must adjust to keeping their dominant hand on the steering wheel and a gear stick, or to a different orientation for turns and roundabouts. Even the location of the mirrors on the vehicle can be a hindrance. 

By Air or by Sea! 

It is easy to see these patterns in the aviation as well as the maritime world. Boats should pass each other on the right (starboard) side to avoid collisions, a rule rooted in maritime tradition where steering oars were placed on the right side of the boat. While driving on roads requires following a left or right-hand traffic rule based on location, boat traffic is consistently right-hand passing globally. 

What about piloting an aircraft? Beyond airport traffic patterns, there are also "left-right" rules that govern which aircraft has the right-of-way to prevent mid-air collisions. When two aircraft of the same category are converging at approximately the same altitude, the one to the other's right has the right-of-way. An aircraft that is being overtaken has the right-of-way. The overtaking aircraft must alter its course to the right to pass safely. When two aircraft approach each other head-on, each must alter its course to the right to pass safely. 

In the end, the global journey of right-hand drive and left-hand drive vehicles as well as the thoroughfares they traverse serves to illustrate the diverse, surprising and often confounding influences that shape our world. From ancient customs involving swords and horses to the colonial legacies of empires and the industrial ambitions of early car manufacturers, the decision to drive on one side of the road versus the other is rooted in historical circumstances devoid of any universal law of logic. The fact that two-thirds of the world drives on the right, and the rest on the left showcases a global network of adaptation and choice, Ultimately, the main lesson for every driver on the road, isn't which side of the road they are on, but rather which side they should be on. 

Historian John F. McKeon lives on St. Croix USVI and in Southampton NY. He holds degrees from Trinity College Dublin, (MPhil with Distinction). and St. Joseph's University New York (Summa Cum Laude) B.A. East Asian History with a Philosophy Capstone Minor in Labor, Class and Ethics. John also has certificate from the Oxford University Epigeum Research Integrity Center. He is a current member of the Society of Virgin Island Historians. 

Foot Notes

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1. Jacobs, Elijah L. "The Right Hand and the off Horse." Southwest Review, vol. 52, no. 2, 1967, pp. 193-96. JSTOR, www.jstor.org.i.ezproxy.nypl.org/stable/43467883. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025 Southwest Review, vol. 52, no. 2, 1967, pp. 193-96. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025 

   
   

2. The August Decrees of 1789, formally abolished the feudal system, including noble and clerical privileges, such as tax exemptions.This was a pivotal moment that dismantled the structure of French society, asserting that all citizens were now equal under the law.    
   

3. Britain's ultimate victory over Napoleon was at the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815, where a British-led coalition army under the Duke of Wellington and allied Prussian forces defeated Napoleon's French army. This decisive battle ended Napoleon's rule and concluded the Napoleonic Wars, a conflict that lasted for over two decades and saw Britain's consistent efforts to curb French domination in Europe   
   

4. While the US Virgin Islands were never a British colony, British influence remains in the USVI through shared cultural elements, particularly the prevalence of an English-based Creole language, and historical population links. Historically, many enslaved people were brought to the islands by the British, forming a key part of the Afro-Caribbean population. This legacy includes cultural norms, a strong connection to and social structures. 
   

5. The first occupation occurred from 1801 to 1802. A second, longer occupation took place from 1807 to 1815. Both times, the islands were restored to Danish rule following peace treaties 
   

6. Why Do Different Countries Drive on Different Sides of the Road? Ancient civilizations, the French Revolution, freight wagons and the Model T all played a role in influencing what side of the road the world drives on. ANDREW SHELDON AUGUST 17, 2021