Thought this might be of interest. The European part is apparently from an
article in New Scientist (UK) and the US bit's from a Bill Bryson book. It
educated me a little, but that's not hard :-)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>In pre-revolutionary France, carriages, etc rode on the left hand side of
the road. The driver sat on the right hand side of the vehicle so that he
could have his whip in his right (dominant) hand. When two carriages are
passing on a narrow road it is better to pass driver to driver so as it is
easier to see how much space one has. Therefore carriages rode on the left
hand side of the road. Of course, in pre-revolutionary France, only the
nobility had carriages, the peasantry walked. Then, as now, if you are
walking along a road used by vehicles, you walk on the opposite side so
that you are facing the oncoming traffic. Therefore travelling on the left
was associated with the nobility and travelling on the right with the
peasantry. In post revolutionary France, nobody wanted to be thought a
member of the aristocracy, so everybody changed to driving on the right,
and I believe the practice was enshrined in law before Napoleon cam along.
What Napoleon did was to take the �drive on the right� rule to large
chunks of Western Europe that he conquered. Subsequently Hitler extended
it further to countries like Czechoslovakia, which until WW2 also drove on
the left.
Of more interest is why North America drives on the right rather than the
left. This has more to do with the prairie schooners (the carriages used
to cross the wilderness. There was no need for whips, and so the drivers
sat on the left hand side of the carriage. This allowed them to keep the
reins in their right (dominant) hand, and meant that the brake lever was
on the left hand side of the carriage. To allow carriages to pass driver
to driver, they had to drive on the right hand side of the path.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Andrew McP... member of the nobility, obviously ;-)
It's probably good reading in Bill Bryson's book, but I doubt that prairie
schooners would have set the way buggies were driven in the east. We've gone
over this topic in r.a.s. before. Actually, the reason we drive on the right
is quite well documented. It's the same reason we race in a counter
clockwise direction (anti-clockwise to those in the UK, right?), drink
coffee instead of tea and have different spelling and grammar rules than the
British. When the Colonies gained independence from England, there were
strong anti-British sentiments and also a desire to set our own culture.
--
Slot
Tweaks & Reviews
www.slottweak.com
"Andrew MacPherson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
>
> Thought this might be of interest. The European part is apparently from an
> article in New Scientist (UK) and the US bit's from a Bill Bryson book. It
> educated me a little, but that's not hard :-)
>
"Andrew MacPherson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
>
> Thought this might be of interest. The European part is apparently from an
> article in New Scientist (UK) and the US bit's from a Bill Bryson book. It
> educated me a little, but that's not hard :-).
>
> Andrew McP... member of the nobility, obviously ;-)
Saw a television thing about stupid drivers the other day.
It was in the UK and a helicopter pilot was reporting how the driver was
going to the 'opposite' side of the road and back again to the 'correct'
side.
Carefully avoiding the word 'right' ....
Joergen ....Driving on the 'right' side of the road, obviously ;-)
Excuse me but this goes way far back than pre revolutionary France or
colonized US or whatever.
The first civilisation to actually build roads was the roman empire, when
the french were still asterix (eating boars), the english were a horde of
unshaven saxons and the americans we learning how to handle an election
(sorry I couldn't resist).
As you know the dominant hand is the right one, the romans has swords
(called glaive in french but i don't know the english word).
As you also know the roman didn't drive cars or whatever except in hollywood
movies (I just saw Ben Hur again recently).
When you have a sword in its sheat on the right side and you want to climb
on a horse it is much easier to do so from the left side of the horse, and
since you don't want to be crushed by standing on the middle of the road you
tend to put the horse on the right hand side of the road, and you are
standing on the right of the horse, out of the road, and normally once
you've climbed on the horse you don't turn around 180�, so that's why on the
roman highways the cirulation as on the right hand side of the road (they
can still see this accoring to the way the road have been damaged by
traffic).ie the left side of the tracks...
Maybe lok into industrial revolution in England to find an explanation to
this railroad thing that probably moved to the road in england.
Now why the british-normands-saxons started to "drive" on the "wrong' side
of the road is unknown to me, but i know that almost ALL the trains in the
world are driving on the "english way" ie t
"Andrew MacPherson" <[email hidden]> a �crit dans le message
news: [email hidden]...
Quoted text (35 lines)
> > Thought this might be of interest. The European part is apparently from an > article in New Scientist (UK) and the US bit's from a Bill Bryson book. It > educated me a little, but that's not hard :-) > > >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > In pre-revolutionary France, carriages, etc rode on the left hand side of > the road. The driver sat on the right hand side of the vehicle so that he > could have his whip in his right (dominant) hand. When two carriages are > passing on a narrow road it is better to pass driver to driver so as it is > easier to see how much space one has. Therefore carriages rode on the left > hand side of the road. Of course, in pre-revolutionary France, only the > nobility had carriages, the peasantry walked. Then, as now, if you are > walking along a road used by vehicles, you walk on the opposite side so > that you are facing the oncoming traffic. Therefore travelling on the left > was associated with the nobility and travelling on the right with the > peasantry. In post revolutionary France, nobody wanted to be thought a > member of the aristocracy, so everybody changed to driving on the right, > and I believe the practice was enshrined in law before Napoleon cam along. > > What Napoleon did was to take the "drive on the right" rule to large > chunks of Western Europe that he conquered. Subsequently Hitler extended > it further to countries like Czechoslovakia, which until WW2 also drove on > the left. > > Of more interest is why North America drives on the right rather than the > left. This has more to do with the prairie schooners (the carriages used > to cross the wilderness. There was no need for whips, and so the drivers > sat on the left hand side of the carriage. This allowed them to keep the > reins in their right (dominant) hand, and meant that the brake lever was > on the left hand side of the carriage. To allow carriages to pass driver > to driver, they had to drive on the right hand side of the path. > <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< > > Andrew McP... member of the nobility, obviously ;-)To add to the confusion:
I once heard the following:
In Holland we used to drive our carriages on the left side of the road, but
when the electric tram was introduced (around 1890/1900 I guess), they
discovered that horses were quite scared when a tram (on its track in middle
of the street) passed it. Therefore, they decided that trams should travel
on the rightmost of the two tracks, so the carriage driver could see the
trams coming on the track that was nearest to him. later, when there were
less and less horses in the street, they decided everyone should driver at
the right side.
I don't know if � it's true, but it is a nice explanation.
grtgs,
hgrm
<Snap: Txl explained that driving at the right side is a Roman habit>
I drive on the right side of the road, cuz the COPS here in American take
a dim view of those that try and use the other side...
dave henrie
"Andrew MacPherson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
>
> Thought this might be of interest. The European part is apparently from an
> article in New Scientist (UK) and the US bit's from a Bill Bryson book. It
> educated me a little, but that's not hard :-)
On Sun, 7 Jan 2001 06:23 +0000 (GMT Standard Time),
[email hidden] (Andrew MacPherson) wrote:
Another explanation which I have heard is that, travelling on the left
of the road, one would be easily able to reach for ones sword/dagger
if attacked by an enemy, thief, whatever, and defend with the dominant
hand, as may have been a common problem, particularly for Knights and
Nobles of the early middle ages. Hence Europeans "drove" on the left
until the French Revolution. I must stress this is only what i've
heard - I have no verifiable source to point to.
I was also told by a history teacher (a good 10 years ago or so now)
that men's shirts button up with the opening to the right for the same
reason - easier access to a dagger you may have concealed in there,
should the need arise. Women, I guess, weren't considered to need
daggers those days - or they were all left handed.
DG.
Quoted text (35 lines)
> >Thought this might be of interest. The European part is apparently from an >article in New Scientist (UK) and the US bit's from a Bill Bryson book. It >educated me a little, but that's not hard :-) > >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >In pre-revolutionary France, carriages, etc rode on the left hand side of >the road. The driver sat on the right hand side of the vehicle so that he >could have his whip in his right (dominant) hand. When two carriages are >passing on a narrow road it is better to pass driver to driver so as it is >easier to see how much space one has. Therefore carriages rode on the left >hand side of the road. Of course, in pre-revolutionary France, only the >nobility had carriages, the peasantry walked. Then, as now, if you are >walking along a road used by vehicles, you walk on the opposite side so >that you are facing the oncoming traffic. Therefore travelling on the left >was associated with the nobility and travelling on the right with the >peasantry. In post revolutionary France, nobody wanted to be thought a >member of the aristocracy, so everybody changed to driving on the right, >and I believe the practice was enshrined in law before Napoleon cam along. > >What Napoleon did was to take the �drive on the right� rule to large >chunks of Western Europe that he conquered. Subsequently Hitler extended >it further to countries like Czechoslovakia, which until WW2 also drove on >the left. > >Of more interest is why North America drives on the right rather than the >left. This has more to do with the prairie schooners (the carriages used >to cross the wilderness. There was no need for whips, and so the drivers >sat on the left hand side of the carriage. This allowed them to keep the >reins in their right (dominant) hand, and meant that the brake lever was >on the left hand side of the carriage. To allow carriages to pass driver >to driver, they had to drive on the right hand side of the path. ><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< > >Andrew McP... member of the nobility, obviously ;-)On Mon, 08 Jan 2001 03:51:37 GMT, [email hidden]
(Disgruntled Goat) wrote:
>I was also told by a history teacher (a good 10 years ago or so now)
>that men's shirts button up with the opening to the right for the same
>reason - easier access to a dagger you may have concealed in there,
>should the need arise. Women, I guess, weren't considered to need
>daggers those days - or they were all left handed.
Men and women's shirts button opposite one another so as to make it
easier for the opposite sex to undo them.
:o)
~daxe
On Mon, 8 Jan 2001, daxe wrote:
So the Puritans had buttons reversed, to make them harder
for the opposite sex to undo??
Quoted text (12 lines)
> On Mon, 08 Jan 2001 03:51:37 GMT, [email hidden] > (Disgruntled Goat) wrote: > > >I was also told by a history teacher (a good 10 years ago or so now) > >that men's shirts button up with the opening to the right for the same > >reason - easier access to a dagger you may have concealed in there, > >should the need arise. Women, I guess, weren't considered to need > >daggers those days - or they were all left handed. > > > Men and women's shirts button opposite one another so as to make it > easier for the opposite sex to undo them.On Mon, 8 Jan 2001 07:49:37 GMT, Doug Milliken
<[email hidden]> wrote:
>> Men and women's shirts button opposite one another so as to make it
>> easier for the opposite sex to undo them.
>
>So the Puritans had buttons reversed, to make them harder
>for the opposite sex to undo??
It was supposed to be humorous, DG. Humor often withers in the face
of dry logic.
~dx
On Sun, 7 Jan 2001 06:23 +0000 (GMT Standard Time),
[email hidden] (Andrew MacPherson) wrote:
>
>Thought this might be of interest. The European part is apparently from an
>article in New Scientist (UK) and the US bit's from a Bill Bryson book. It
>educated me a little, but that's not hard :-)
As far as I read many years ago, it basically comes from the horseback
days and is another "anti-leftie" bias. Basically people tend to be
right-handed and therefore mount a horse from the left-hand side. It's
natural therefore to ride on the left so that you are not mounting
your horse from a position in the middle of the road. Of course that
doesn't matter in the countryside, but in the towns these rituals
developed and were followed too by cars when they appeared.
Personally I like your explanation better - it's nice to be a member
of the left-driving aristocracy, or rather, to not be one of the
peeasants... :-)
John
In article <[email hidden]>, daxe
<[email hidden]> writes
You're not far wrong there. I recall something on tv explaining that
women's were buttoned on the opposite side because, when they were first
used - by the aristocracy I presume - the women never dressed themselves
and had their maids do so for them, requiring the buttons to be on the
opposite side - easier for the maid - to what would have been easier if
they had dressed themselves.
<vain attempt at making it on topic>
Mind you, I'm not sure if it helps with driving efficiency having them
buttoned this way.
</vaamiont>
--
Peter Ives - (AKA Ivington)
Remove ALL_STRESS before replying
No person's opinions can be said to be
more correct than another's, because each is
the sole judge of his or her own experience.
