Brian,
I'll take a complete guess... Being a sea-faring nation, our forefathers
knew that when in a ship approaching another ship coming immediately toward
you, both ships would pass starboard (that is, on the right side). This
avoided the nasty meetings that could occur if one ship turned left and the
other turned right. Seems a natural rule to pass on to the original
roadways that were usually just one lane wide.
Anyone with a better theory?
Scott McKorkle
Issaquah, WA
1978 MGB
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> From: Brian Furgalus <lennon80@usa.net>
> To: Eric Erickson <eric@erickson.on.net>
> Cc: mgs@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: Left hand drive
> Date: Thursday, April 16, 1998 7:20 AM
>
> Actually, there is. I read in a book a few years ago (don't remember
> the title), that the reason that American's steering wheel is on the
> left is actually related to the Conestoga(SP) or covered wagon that the
> pioneers used. It seems that the brake lever for the wagons was on the
> left side, thus the rider had to sit and 'drive' the horses from that
> side of the wagon. Now for the reason of driving on the right-hand side
> of the street, I don't know. Anybody?
>
> Eric Erickson wrote:
>
> SNIP
> > In fact I had
> > always wondered why Americans drove on the "other" side of the road -
is
> > there an equally interesting answer to that.
> SNIP AGAIN
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