Which countries drive on the left vs the right side of the road?
업데이트됨 3 Jul 2026
직접적인 답변
Around 75 countries and territories drive on the left — including the UK, Ireland, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Kenya — while most of the world, including the US, Canada, China, continental Europe and Latin America, drives on the right. Rental cars come configured for the local side, so the real adjustment is yours: mirrored roundabouts, overtaking lanes and turns.
한눈에 보기
- Left-hand traffic
- ≈75 countries/territories — UK, Japan, Australia, India, Thailand…
- Right-hand traffic
- Most of the world — US, Canada, continental Europe, China, Latin America
- Europe's left-side outliers
- UK, Ireland, Cyprus, Malta
- Rental cars
- Always configured for the local side
- Highest-risk moments
- Pulling out of car parks, quiet junctions, after breaks
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The left-driving world at a glance
Left-hand traffic covers roughly a quarter of the world's countries and territories, largely tracking former British influence plus Japan, Indonesia and Thailand. The big blocs: the British Isles (UK, Ireland) and Mediterranean islands Cyprus and Malta; southern and eastern Africa (South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and neighbours); South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal); much of Southeast Asia (Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia); Japan; and Oceania (Australia, New Zealand, Fiji). Most of the Caribbean's island nations also drive on the left.
The right-driving world
Everywhere else drives on the right: all of North, Central and South America (with a few Caribbean exceptions), all of continental Europe, Russia and Central Asia, China and Korea, the Middle East, and northern and western Africa. Notably, the borders can be abrupt — drive from right-side China into left-side Hong Kong, or from Spain toward Gibraltar's UK-influenced roads, and crossings are engineered to swap traffic sides.
Switching sides: what actually trips drivers up
The car helps more than you'd expect — the driver always sits toward the centre line, so a local rental constantly reminds you where you are. The dangerous moments are the unprompted ones: pulling out of a car park or petrol station onto an empty road, turning across traffic (a right turn in left-driving countries crosses oncoming lanes, and vice versa), and the first minutes after a rest stop. Roundabouts run clockwise in left-driving countries and anticlockwise in right-driving ones, and you overtake on the side away from the kerb. Say the rule aloud before pulling out; it sounds silly and it works.
How this interacts with rentals and paperwork
You don't need a special licence to drive on the other side — your normal entitlement carries over, subject to the destination's usual document rules. Those rules are the real homework: many left-driving destinations popular with travellers (Japan, Thailand, Indonesia among them) require an International Driving Permit with many foreign licences, and rental desks check paperwork regardless of which side the country drives on. Check your destination on our free checker and its requirements page, get any required IDP from your home country's authorised issuer, and carry a certified translation companion if your licence's script won't be readable locally.
준비할 것
- Confirm your destination's traffic side before booking a car
- Check its licence/IDP rule — side of road and paperwork are separate questions
- Choose automatic transmission for your first other-side trip if possible
- Extra care at car-park exits, quiet junctions and after breaks
- Carry licence + any required IDP + translation companion for rental desks
자주 묻는 질문
How many countries drive on the left?
Do I need a different licence to drive on the other side of the road?
Which way do roundabouts go in left-driving countries?
정부 및 공식 출처
다음도 참조하세요 공인 발급 기관 안내 여행에 실제 IDP가 필요할 때 어디서 받는지에 대해.