why must you drive on the right side of the road in some countries and on the left side of the road in other countries? Investigate the question, and you find a lot of confusion on right versus left. About a quarter of the world drives on the left, and most of those countries used to be British colonies. In England, people drive on the left; but on escalators, they stand on the right, so that people who are in a hurry can go up on the left. In japan, they drive on the left,too,but people usually stand on the left on escalators.