The story goes that when the streets of the world started getting congested with horse carts, the inevitable fight would break out between carriage drivers when they came up against each other, and neither was willing to give way.
In France, the problem was so great that it reached the ears of Napoleon, and the Emperor decided to intervene. It was his decree that each carriage should stay to one side of the road to allow enough room for both to pass.
But to which side? Given that most carriage drivers carried a whip, which was also the handiest weapon when arguments degenerated, and given that most had the whip in their right hand, it was decided to place that errant hand furthest away from the opponent. Hence, all carts drove to the right of the road. And, when carts gave way to cars, the convention stayed.
Why, then, do the British drive to the left?
The logic of driving to one side of the road was well-appreciated on the other side of the English Channel. But then, the British were not ones to take orders from a French emperor!
(Of course, the reader must have guessed by now that this story was originally narrated in French.)
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