In the days of Knights out jousting most people then and know are right handed. So that meant you had to ride on the left to hit your enemy. That side of riding was the norm, untill us Yanks went to riding and then to driving on the other side as an FU to royalty.
I noticed when in Canada and the US that we found we would be walking towards people , then we worked out that we needed to walk on the same side of the 'sidewalk' as they drive on the rode . It certainly is the same her too , but I also noticed that the Escalators in the shopping centres etc were the same , here in Australia the left is up and the right is down , not so in the states that I saw cad
Also in Europe in the early days many buildings had a second story that protruded out over the sidewalk. Allowing the lady to walk under that second story kept her from getting the contents of the chamber pots thrown on her. Thus the gallant gentleman became covered in .....well you get the picture.
It goes to letting ladies off on the sidewalk- they had to be on the right to get out onto the sidealk and the man would get out into the traffic side. Henry was one of the few who helped popularize the idea... SO, in reality we are more noble than all those who dive on the right (aka the wrong side)
i drive on the right because that's what they taught me in drivers ed. i don't shake hands with a left handed draw because that's what i learned watching old westerns.
In every country I've been to people tend to follow the driving rule on the sidewalks as well. I was doing just fine on my first RHD in NZ until I came to a roundabout, got confused and swerved across the right lane to go counterclockwise. Not pretty. After that I tied a little US flag on the antenna, and the indigenous drivers graciously gave me lots of slack.
I think its funny what Aussies, Japs and Brits call "The wrong side of the road". A very very small percentage of countries in the world drive RHD vehicles. There are a few other countries, but not even worth remembering in all reality. A couple in SE Asia, and South America IIRC. So define for me whats the "wrong" side of the road ? People here walk where ever. Bike paths and the like, most people follow the same rules of the road, but even then its really fair game.
how do you know we drive on the wrong side, maybe your assbackwards, Cop pulls over a guy going the wrong way up a one way road, cop tells the guy "you know your going the wrong way"!! Guy in car replies" how the hell do you know I'm going the wrong way"
I drive on the right side because if I drove on the wrong side I'd get hit. This is my favorite answer in the whole thread. Cool, do you still have it? Wanna sell it? Wait a minute, are you sure that was your mom?
The history of left hand drive, and right hand drive. http://lhdspecialist.com/history_of_lhd_and_rhd.php
A few years ago, a guy here in town was goin the wrong way down a one way street. He got picked up for drunk driving. He was sitting at an intersection waiting for the light to turn green.
An American was travelling in England and boarded a train for his journey. After walking the length of the train he could not find a seat.However there was a stern looking English woman who had her female dog taking up a seat. She refused to give the seat up to the American.After several more trips up and down the train he returned in frustration and grabbed the dog and threw it out the window and proceeded to sit down. The passenger in the opposite seat watched these proceedings and commented "You Yanks have got it all wrong.You drive your cars on the wrong side of the road,you eat your dinner with your fork in the wrong hand and now you've thrown the wrong bitch out the window"
Once I got my drivers license, I wasn't walking ANYWHERE! Seriously, I tend to walk on the same side as driving.
uuum.... your logic is flawed. somebody stated earlier that driving on the right was a "screw you to royalty" however your measuring system is based on royalty, an inch was the length of the king's thumb up to the first knuckle, a yard was the length from the tip of his outstretched arm to the tip of his nose and a foot was... well his foot. so thatis kind of messed up thinking isnt it??
Well .... ponder this Does the 'side' of the road you drive on reflect which side of the car the fuel filler is on ? An old fella at work told me that because the petrol pumps used to be at the side of the road, this influenced which side the filler was on.
if you walk along a road with no path/sidewalk you should walk on the side facing the oncoming traffic
When flying if you are coming head on to another aircraft we are tought to turn right. And climb for birds.
i was in ireland in march,drove around for a week on the wrong side of the road...it was tough getting used to..the worst part was pulling into traffic on my right..i would forget to get in the far lane..as for sidewalks..they are far game for walking or parking...
Lots of theories, no definitive answers. I'm going with the "It's because the Colonies got their independence and thereafter changed to be different from the motherland (a la England). Hence CCW racing as well. Could be true, cold be a lie. More importantly, why haven't we figured out how to keep birds from shitting on freshly painted cars?
The Jalopy Journal
