How did America, since it is a former British group of colonies, come to drive on the right side of the road, while in Britain people drive on the left? Was it always customary everywhere in Britain to keep left (riding a horse or a carriage of course) while passing oncoming traffic? If so, I should think that that would have carried over to America with English settlers. Is there some logical reason for choosing to drive on the right here in America, or was it just an arbitrary decision to do so?
Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Board, PigBoy. Cecil Adams has addressed your question in his column entitled Why do the British drive on the left.
Please feel free to spend some time browsing the archives of columns by Cecil and by our Mailbag staff. Much of the world’s human knowledge is already contained therein.
The serious answer (which is related to my initial smart-ass remark) has, of course, been answered by Cecil: