>She went on to say that when driving carriages the driver
>sits on the right and the passenger sits on the left. Even here in the
>colonies.
That's because that's where the brake handle is. And most coach drivers
were right-handed.
Same thing for boats. The old boats had the rudder, or steer-board
(sterbrod or some such in Viking lingo), on the right side because the
helmsman was right-handed. This side came be known as "starboard". The
other side was "port-side" because you tied your boat up the dock on that
side so that you did not damage your steer-board.
The right-side driving in America had been attributed to several
possibilities. One of my favorite candidates is the toll road. The wagon
pulled up on the right of the road to pay the toll so the driver (remember
him, the guy who applied the brake with his right hand?) would be able to
pay the toll to the guy at the side of the road. (Then the toll guy would
turn the pike. This is how toll roads got to be called turn-pikes or
turnpikes.)
The first motorcars in the USA were right-hand-drive. They had external
handbrakes on the right side. They were driven on the right of the road as
in the coach tradition. Later, the idea of having the driver sit towards
the middle of the road for visibility whilst overtaking came along, and here
we are.
Phil Ethier Saint Paul Minnesota USA
1970 Lotus Europa, 1992 Saturn SL2, 1986 Suburban, 1962 Triumph TR4 CT2846L
LOON, MAC pethier@isd.net http://www.mnautox.com/
"It makes a nice noise when it goes faster"
- 4-year-old Adam, upon seeing a bitmap of Grandma Susie's TR4.
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