quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:

Well that would be true for either right- or left-hand drive.

If you're working a team of side by side animals, most people being right handed, would sit on the left so they could easily tend to both sides of the team with their whip or stick.

I lived and worked in Puerto Rico for several years, traffic there drives on right side of the road, same as U.S. mainland.

While I was there, I made many visits to St. Thomas and St. Croix. Despite the fact that both of these islands are U.S. territory, traffic drove on the left side of the road, a hold-over from British times.

I was told that at one time, the local legislatures decided that since they were U.S. territory, they would change to driving on the right. That did not last very long, not because of the vehicle drivers, but because of donkeys.

Local farmers used donkey-drawn carts to schlep their produce to market. The donkeys had plodded along on the left side of the road for all of their working life, and they were not about to change, to satisfy the whims of some politicians. They refused to move to the right side of the road, so traffic on these islands reverted to driving on the left.

One of the phrases that was commonly used when I was working in Spain, was "terco como mula," which we translate as "stubborn as a mule."

I would have a real hard time adapting to left lanes, right hand drive cars especially manual transmission.
Not that I couldn't do it - I'd just have to really pay attention otherwise trouble could brew real fast.

Lived in Jamaica for 4 years and in Australia for almost 14 years. Traveled back and forth to USA in those times. Switching between left and right hand driving was not an issue.

Manual transmission in Jamaica.

Half the time I drive in North America [Canada and USA] and here in yUK. We have one car - the main family car - with RHD and auto, the other is LHD and manual. We've done it that way since forever.

I've been driving in both regions, including Western Europe, since I was eighteen years old, and I'm now almost 74.

Doesn't bother me none.

I always assumed it was tied somehow to their very long and rich maritime traditions of having the pilot seat and better visibility on the right side of the Cigarette boat!

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
I would have a real hard time adapting to left lanes, right hand drive cars especially manual transmission.
Not that I couldn't do it - I'd just have to really pay attention otherwise trouble could brew real fast.

I found it wasn't too bad when I rented a car in Barbados because the right side steering wheel made it feel natural driving on the left and unnatural when driving on the right. However with the poor conditions of many of the roads drivers seemed to drive all over the entire width of the road trying to avoid holes, then as a car approached, at the last minute, each veer left. I kept saying to myself "live left, live left....."
Shifting with your lefthand becomes second nature pretty quickly.

Where I would be concerned is riding a motorcycle on the left, especially through intersections on multi lane roads, and heaven forbid through a roundabout.

from the 'explanation' above:

"Up to the late 1700's, everybody travelled on the left side of the road because it's the sensible option for feudal, violent societies of mostly right-handed people.

Jousting knights with their lances under their right arm naturally passed on each other's right, and if you passed a stranger on the road you walked on the left to ensure that your protective sword arm was between yourself and him."

As is being tossed about here neither of these make much sense; someone mentioned that mounted men carried their lance on the right but contacted to the left. And 'everybody' didn't travel on the right anyway, the protocol, if you can call it that, was by rank, ride right down the middle and the lesser moved into the mud for the greater and if rank wasn't clear or someone was obnoxious then argument led to profanity leading to violence. It was a system that worked for awhile, 1000 years or so.

Now comes the time of Revolution and the 'Monster' Napoleon. From the time he took the stage he was at war. With the interior lines of communication he was blessed with (imagine being inside a semi circle and sending messages, supplies, etc. inside that parabola, looks pretty easy, shortest distance is a straight line thing) but he was cursed with moving men, ordnance, supplies on a virtually constant schedule, hence, jams. The interior lines, a benefit made more crowds.

Feudal rules wouldn't work, he had a war (actually wars) to fight so with an immediate problem and no time for an engineering solution he sent the word and the word was law: walk, ride, drive on the right. Problem solved, mostly, and at no charge thank you very much.

The Brits never seeing anything they didn't want (Like an ancient Marine Corps saying: If it's loose it's mine, If it's not nailed down it's loose and if I can pry it up it's not nailed down) so they adapted the plan for their own movements but not willing to give credit, they changed sides, red-coats drove on the left. Take that.

Americans, a new Breed, though being mostly Anglic were pals with the French and were not fond of the Brits due to the very recent unpleasantness with Revolutions and so forth, also saw the benefit in case they ever needed it so they went righty. And here we are.

Or you could ask why Americans drive on the right side of the road.

The following is from Wikipedia about Conestoga Wagons, which were apparently in use beginning in the early 1700s, and were the tractor trailers of their day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conestoga_wagon

"The early freight wagon was not intended to be ridden upon. The wagon had a brake handle on the left side between the two wheels and a teamster either walked beside the wagon or could ride standing (and could sit for a rough ride) on a pull-out board, called a lazy board, that provided access to the brake handle. The left horse near the wagon was referred to as the wheel horse and was sometimes ridden. The Conestoga wagon began the custom of "driving" on the right-hand side of the road."

Since the Conestoga Valley was settled by the Germans, I personally suspect that driving on the right was probably an early German custom.

I’m still here.