My theory:
Bear with me for the first paragraph. LBC content coming. If you're
only into the technical aspects of MGing you may just want to delete
this. But if you also enjoy something more esoteric, read on.
Went out walking the German Shorthair in the +43F (+6C) degree day. It
was much better than the -28F (-33C) two nights ago.
When I walk the dog I bear left. The dog is being trained to heel on
the left which is the correct side. Hunters are usually right handed.
When the dog returns with game it comes to the left side so the hunter
may safely control his shotgun (weapon) with the normally dominant right
hand. Bearing to the left with a left heeling dog puts the dog on the
verge and you between it any any other pedestrian. Non dog lovers feel
safer that way. It also makes more space for others to go by you.
LBC content coming up. While walking this got me to contemplating about
mounting horses from the left, and the Brits driving on the left. Again
most people are right handed. Back in the days when journeying men went
about they carried edged weapons. Usually on the left as a long blade
is drawn more easily with the right hand when carried on the left. If a
man walked to the left, his left side mounted weapon was further from
any passerby. That meant his body was concealing or shielding from
theft any weapon. It also meant that when you drew your sword, the
sword hand was closer to any potential adversary. You could go into
action faster too as you didn't need to replant your feet or turn your
body.
Came the knight (Not LUCAS of course.) and the more frequently
encountered mounted person. He mounted the horse from the left because
of the left hanging sword and rode to the left for the same reason as
explained above. You mounted your horse from the left so carriage
drivers got into carriages from the left even if the seat was two
persons wide. You drove the carriage from the left side. As carriages
became more common they also followed the general rule of the road, keep
left. Came the horseless carriage. Horse carriages beared left, thus
the horseless ones followed the existing rule.
Why didn't America bear left? We had no knights! We didn't even have
the developed roadways of Europe. The few roadways were barely one
horse wide let alone a carriage wide so we went down the middle. When
it became necessary to designate a side for vehicle traffic we went
right. (Take that any way you want!) Why? I haven't really considered
it.
I believe that with dual track railroads in the US, the trains normally
travel on the left track not the right.
Regards,
Blake
|