Letters | Study says left-hand drive is safer

A research paper from Elsevier published last year, titled “(Side) effects of the rule of the road and neurophysiology on traffic safety: A hypothesis”, conjectured that the safety of driving on the left-hand side or right-hand side of the road can be associated with neurophysiology. 

A definite conclusion could not be reached due to the scarcity and limitations of empirical data into road traffic accidents associated with left-hand or right-hand drive, and more study was required, but the authors suggested that “the rule of the road” and neurophysiology may have important unrecognised “side” effects.

The paper predicted that driving on the left-hand side of the road (with the driver sitting on the right-hand side of the vehicle) was safer.

Neil Dunn, Kowloon Tong