Right-hand traffic has been introduced in Hungary for eighty years
Until Napoleon, everyone on the European continent was generally on the left.
Right-hand traffic became common in Hungary in November 1941, one of the last countries on the European continent. However, several flights still operated according to the original order; In the article by PestBuda.
The paper writes: Until the French emperor Bonaparte Napoleon, everyone on the European continent generally traveled on the left. We don’t really know the exact reason for this, the accepted theory is that people drive on the left because their right hand – if necessary, they pulled a gun – was facing the future, and the riders wearing the sword also wore it on their left, and right they were pulled out by hand, for which the traffic on the left was more comfortable.
it was first introduced in the countryside
Hungarian left-wing traffic meant more and more in the 1930s, because – after the Anschluss of 1938, when Austria became part of the German Empire – motorists had to return to the other side when they arrived in Hungary. This also had disadvantages that major international routes tended to avoid the country.
However, there was also a peaceful reason for the transition. In the spring of 1941, Hungary handed over the German troops to Yugoslavia, and the German soldiers accustomed to the right caused a serious disruption in domestic traffic. The change took place on July 6, 1941, but only outside Budapest. In the capital and its surroundings, they only switched to the right-hand traffic on November 9, until they had to go to the other side at one point on the roads, leaving the area around the city.
Opening image: Fortepan