There are several reasons to why some countries such as England drive on the left and some on the right side of the road such as Germany. Nevertheless the most common one derives from history. It is believed that ancient travellers on horseback used to ride on the left hand side of the road. As the majority of people are right handed, people on horseback were able to hold the reins in the left hand and have the right hand free in case they had to defend themselves, when attacked.

In 1756 the first legal reference in Britain to stay on the left emerged. The Highway Act 1773 contained a recommendation that horse traffic should remain on the left. In the late 1700s a shift from left to right took place in countries such as America, where large freight wagons started to be used. As there was no driver's seat, the driver used to sit on the left rear horse and held the whip in the right hand. Naturally the driver's preferred that other wagons overtook them on the left so they could stay away from the wheels of oncoming wagons. To ensure this they drove on the right side of the road.However, nothing changed in Britain. They kept on driving on the left, as their wagons were smaller and the driver' sat on the wagon, usually on the right side of the front seat. From there he could use the long whip with his right hand without getting it tangled in the freight behind him.

But not only the introduction of large wagons is seen as a reason for switching sides from left to right in some countries. In France in the 1800s, before the revolution, the aristocracy travelled quickly on the left, forcing farmers and people from the countryside over to the right. After the revolution aristocrats are thought to have joined the peasants on the right. A keep right rule was launched in Paris in 1794. One hears the story that afterwards Napoleon changed the rule of the road in the countries he conquered from keep-left to keep-right. Germany was one of those countries. The justifications for this is supposed to have happened out of symbolic reasons. These were that Napoleon himself was left- (or right-) handed, or that Britain, Napoleon's enemy, kept left.

As those historical changes in driving endured, the English continue driving on the left and the Germans on the right.