Well from the urban myths I have seen it goes something like this, The passing on the left does come form wearing a pistol or a sword. You naturally lead an attack with your right hand. Hence why you shake with your right hand to show you are carrying no weapon and are a friend.
In Europe only the nobility and army were allowed to carry weapons and this lead to nobles traveling on the left side of the road. Peasants, did not count in these days, and ended up on the right hand side, when they got the opportunity. Come the French revolution and nobody wanted to be a nobel and the right hand side of the road became very popular. Throw in a general attitude to do the opposite of all those old decant ways and the French Republic switched over to a Right hand side convention. Under Napoleon it then went onto Dominate most of Europe, setting up trade routes, government infrastructure, etc. Plus the convention of moving down the Right hand side of the road. Hence why it now the European norm. As for the US, again the French. Who in the early days of colonization were very big in Canada and the northern states. We had a few wars with them over this land long before the USA was even a glint in George Washington eyes. But the important thing was it was the french who set up the main northern trade route and established the RHS convention. As for the rest of the world. The majority drive on the LHS. Only ex French colonies, countries whose infrastructure was set up by the French or Americans, or where trade links has required it, uses RHS. The Scandinavian countries only recently, past couple of decades, switched to RHS and the Far East despite being land locked to Asia, still LHS. Plus the big one called Africa. Anyway, my Friday morning speculative fun. Andrew Wood wrote: > I don't know whether it is true or not, but I recall hearing this some time > ago.... > The convention of passing to the left on a road dates back to the days of > riding horse back and was related to the normal position for wearing a sword > or pistol. > The first motor carriages had the driver sat centrally but kept to the same > convention. > What I don't recall is the final piece of the story ie why most of the non > British Commonwealth nations decided to go the other way. > > Andy. > > > From: Douglas Beckwith@MITEL on 01/10/2002 11:17 AM > > Aha, a man after my own heart. Now you are talking about real cars. As an ex > > South African living in Canada, I still can't get used to the idea of > > driving on > > the the wrong side of the road. > > > > Doug Beckwith > > > > > > > > > > > > "Veit, Andy" <[email protected]> on 01/10/2002 08:29:14 AM > > > > Please respond to "Veit, Andy" <[email protected]> > > > > To: [email protected] > > cc: (bcc: Douglas Beckwith/Kan/Mitel) > > > > Subject: RE: radar > > > > > > > > > > >Why would someone want to take a car out of UK with the > > >steering wheel on the wrong side? > > > > I can think of at least one good reason to take a RHD car out of the UK - > > its called the Lotus Super 7. > > There, its out in the open now. I am a British car nut. :) > > > > Rerards, > > Andrew Veit > > Systems Design Engineer > > MTS Systems Corp > > 1001 Sheldon Drive > > Cary, NC 27513 > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: John Woodgate [mailto:[email protected]] > > Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2002 3:35 PM > > To: [email protected] > > Subject: Re: radar > > > > > > I read in !emc-pstc that John Shinn <[email protected]> wrote (in > > <[email protected]>) about 'radar', on > > Wed, 9 Jan 2002: > > >Why would someone want to take a car out of UK with the > > >steering wheel on the wrong side? > > > > There are actually more *countries* where you drive on the left. Not > > more RHD cars, though. (No, I don't have the list of RHD countries, but > > it's on the web somewhere - everything is!) > > > > Besides, it is *undeniable* that a British car has the steering wheel on > > the right side. > > -- > > Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only. http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk > > > > After swimming across the Hellespont, I felt like a Hero. > > > > ------------------------------------------- > > This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety > > Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. > > > > Visit our web site at: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/ > > > > To cancel your subscription, send mail to: > > [email protected] > > with the single line: > > unsubscribe emc-pstc > > > > For help, send mail to the list administrators: > > Michael Garretson: [email protected] > > Dave Heald [email protected] > > > > For policy questions, send mail to: > > Richard Nute: [email protected] > > Jim Bacher: [email protected] > > > > All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: > > No longer online until our new server is brought online and the old > > messages > > are imported into the new server. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------- > > This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety > > Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. > > > > Visit our web site at: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/ > > > > To cancel your subscription, send mail to: > > [email protected] > > with the single line: > > unsubscribe emc-pstc > > > > For help, send mail to the list administrators: > > Michael Garretson: [email protected] > > Dave Heald [email protected] > > > > For policy questions, send mail to: > > Richard Nute: [email protected] > > Jim Bacher: [email protected] > > > > All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: > > No longer online until our new server is brought online and the old > > messages are imported into the new server.> > > > > > This e-mail and its contents may be confidential, privileged and protected > by law. 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