It was not until the late 1700s did things really started to change when large wagons pulled by horses became the most common way to transport farm products in France and the United States. In the absence of a driver's seat inside the wagon, the driver sat on the rear left horse, with his right arm free to use the whip to keep the horses moving. Since he was sitting on the left, it was better for other wagons to pass on his left, so that he could keep to the right side of the road.
The British Government refused to give up their tradition of left-hand driving, and in 1773 it introduced the General Highways Act, which encouraged driving on the left. This was later made law by The Highway Act of 1835.
Meanwhile in post-revolution France, under their left-handed ruler Napoleon, adopted the rule of driving on the right side of the road. And as the British and the French colonized many parts of the world, they insisted that the countries they occupied drive on the same side of the road. This explains why former British colonies such as Australia, New Zealand, and India drive on the left, while former French colonies like Algeria, Ivory Coast, and Senegal drive on the right.
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