{"id":329569,"date":"2026-09-07T18:03:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T14:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/real-estate-mauritius.mu\/?p=329569"},"modified":"2026-09-07T18:13:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T14:13:10","slug":"driving-on-the-left-mauritius","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/real-estate-mauritius.mu\/en\/driving-on-the-left-mauritius\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Mauritius Drive on the Left? History and Practical Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mauritius drives on the left because the island was a British colony from 1810 to 1968, and Britain had made left-hand driving compulsory on its own roads in 1835 before spreading the rule across its empire. The current Mauritian Road Traffic Act still enforces it directly: section 123AM requires vehicles to keep to the left lane on dual carriageways, moving right only to overtake or turn at a junction.<\/p>\n

A colonial legacy, not a geographic coincidence<\/h2>\n

Before the British, Mauritius was held by the Dutch and then the French, who already drove on the right, like the rest of continental Europe after the Revolution. The switch came with the French capitulation of 1810, when the island became a British colony and metropolitan traffic customs gradually took hold as motor vehicles appeared at the turn of the twentieth century. Britain itself had codified left-hand driving through an 1835 law, rooted in older conventions and then generalised with the rise of the motor car. Colonies and former colonies of the British Empire \u2014 India, southern and eastern Africa, Australia, the English-speaking Caribbean \u2014 kept the rule after independence, Mauritius included in 1968.<\/p>\n

What Mauritian law says today<\/h2>\n

Left-hand driving is not just a habit here: it remains written into current Mauritian law. The Road Traffic Act (consolidated text, Issue 9) sets out lane discipline on motorways and dual carriageways in section 123AM \u2014 drive in the left lane by default, moving right only to overtake, turn right at a junction, or avoid an obstruction. The same Act sets out a few other rules that visitors usually discover on the road rather than before it:<\/p>\n