This is the historical reason why the British drive on the left and Americans on the right
Ever wondered why we drive on one side of the road and not the other?
From horse-drawn wagons to modern highways, the seemingly simple fact that Americans drive on the right while the British drive on the left is rooted in centuries of evolution, accidents, and interesting design choices.
In medieval times, horses across Europe tended to ride on the left side of the path. That made practical sense: by staying left, the riders’ dominant right hand remained free for greeting or defence including drawing and using a sword. Over time, that habit stuck, first for horses, then for carriages and coaches.
In Britain, laws gradually enshrined this custom: by the mid-18th century, certain bridges required carriages to keep left, and later laws made left-hand driving the official rule.
Like most answers to a European question, the answer is Napoleon. During and after the French Revolution, the new regime sought to break from aristocratic tradition and level social distinctions. One symbolic move was insisting that all traffic keep to the right. As Napoleon’s armies advanced across Europe, the practice spread, altering centuries of local custom and becoming the norm in many countries.
Across the Atlantic, a different logic prevailed. In eighteenth-century America, large freight wagons were pulled by multitudes of horses which required drivers to sit on the left side. That way, holding the reins in the left hand and a whip in the right, the driver had a better view of passing traffic and clear space to his left. Naturally, those wagons passed each other on the left, which meant travel on the road’s right side.
By the early 19th century, ‘keeping right’ was commonplace in the U.S. That caused Henry Ford to put the steering wheel on the left in his hugely popular Model T, reinforcing what was already the norm.
Over time, most of the world adopted right-hand traffic, but several countries with strong British influence maintained left-side travel.
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