On my one trip to London, things got so confusing with all the single-lane and one-way streets and cars driving on the left, that I was very grateful for the lettering embedded in every crossing, either "Look Right" or "Look Left".
It is a good thing that the definitions of "right" and "left" are universal. Or are they? What exactly are "right" and "left", anyway?
For the majority of people, the right hand is the right one to use, and it is almost universal (English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese) that "rights", as in "the rights of Englishmen", use the same word as for the right hand.
Latin dexter means right hand, but rectus is right as in straight. Even "straight" contains the word "right". A square is a right-angled figure, and some one who tries to live RIGHTeously is often called a square, or straight, or strict, which latter term is also related. A strike or a strake is a straight mark, like a stripe. By His stripes we are healed justified and made RIGHTeous. A ruler is a straightedge, and a ruler administers rights or justice, and a justified line is a straight line. I could go on, but it is enough to see that the idea of rightness is ingrained in the human consciousness.
As for driving, who is to say which is left and which is right. I prefer to drive on my own right, but it is a matter of habit by now. By the way, isn't (or wasn't) South Africa a Commonwealth nation, and don't they drive on the left? What does that do to the island theory?
Regards,
William