Driving On The Right Side, And The Wrong Side

(My husband and I recently drove to Florida from a northern state. We decide to do some shopping and navigate our way to a mall near where we’re staying. We’re looking for an open spot to park and turn down a one-way lane with parking on both sides. A Volkswagen in front of us stops, so we do, as well, kind of off to the right of the lane. After a moment, the Volkswagen shifts into reverse and starts driving backward toward us; they are going slowly, thankfully, but their back passenger corner hits our front driver corner. We eventually decide the damage is minimal — on a car that runs fine, but the body has a few dings already — and we’re not going to make them fix anything, but not before this conversation happens:)

Volkswagen Driver: “Where did you come from?”

Me: “We’ve been stopped behind you since before you started backing up.”

Volkswagen Driver: “Well, why are you on this side of the road? You should have been in the other lane.”

Husband: “It’s a one-way.”

Volkswagen Driver: “Where do people drive on that side?” *gesturing again to the right side*

Me: “Literally everywhere except England.”

(I think she thought since we were from out of state she could pull the “that’s how we do it here,” but I’m still floored that I was asked why we were driving on the right side of the road.)

This story is part of our Backward roundup!

Read the next Backward roundup story!

Read the Backward roundup!