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Re: Introduction (off-side/near-side) Not much lbc here!

To: David Brister <david@dbrister.freeserve.co.uk>, <triumphs@autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: Introduction (off-side/near-side) Not much lbc here!
From: "TeriAnn J. Wakeman" <twakeman@cruzers.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 04:11:55 -0800
User-agent: Microsoft-Outlook-Express-Macintosh-Edition/5.02.2022
> As to why we Yanks drive on the wrong side
<SNIP>
> most of the rest of the world also drives on the right.

Passing on the left side of one another was a rule made up by the European
power elite back when armed men carried shields and swards. Thyis allowed
people to pass shields towards one another.

This was also the custom in the UK until the Napoleon wars.  Some famous
English general got the idea that if he marched his men on the left side of
the road instead of the right, the French observers would think the column
was moving in the opposite direction (when viewed from a long distance
away).

This became popularized within the UK and became the custom.  The British,
of course imposed this custom onto their colony countries.

The Japanese have historically admired and copied the British motor
industry.  Hence their adapting driving on the left and producing cars that
handle a lot more like British cars than American cars.

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