Wednesday, February 16 2005, @ 7:44 AM (-0800 GMT)

Gill,

Your "treatise" below on "hiwaymen" and there "ilk" is really
interesting. I had never thought of horse mounted swordmen riding on
the left side of the road so that they could meet oncoming villianous
types with their swords at the ready in their right hands. Very good
point! Very good indeed! Quite clever those Englishmen!

In regards the stagecoach driver sitting on the right side of the
seat, and the guy riding shotgun on the left, I'm going to have to
find an old copy of the movie "Stagecoach" with John Wayne in it and
see whats up. Was Andy Devine in that movie?

The fact that most people are right-handed, and mount their horse on
the left side, kinda gives credence to the idea that the right side
was not a good place to be, lest you "step in it." Doesn't THAT make
sense? <g>

Jim
http://www.ClassicVWBug4Sale.info



On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 14:13:39 -0600, cloud8 > wrote:

>Jim > wrote in
:
>
>> Monday, February 14 2005, @ 10:18 AM (-0800 GMT)
>>
>> Hey Dave,
>>
>> The stagecoach driver sat on the left, and that is because the
>horses
>> on the right side were always the ones with "weak bowels" and you
>> really did NOT want to sit just behind three horses running at
>full
>> tilt that had weak bowels.
>
>Pity the poor guy riding shotgun :-\
>
>Here is another explanation for driving right. The
>rest of the article is pretty interesting. No sources
>however.
>
>http://users.pandora.be/worldstandar...ng%20on%20the%
>20left.htm#history
>
>In the past, almost everybody travelled on the left side of the road
>because that was the most sensible option for feudal, violent
>societies. Since most people are right-handed, swordsmen preferred
>to keep to the left in order to have their right arm nearer to an
>opponent and their scabbard further from him. Moreover, it reduced
>the chance of the scabbard (worn on the left) hitting other people.
>
>Furthermore, a right-handed person finds it easier to mount a horse
>from the left side of the horse, and it would be very difficult to
>do otherwise if wearing a sword (which would be worn on the left).
>It is safer to mount and dismount towards the side of the road,
>rather than in the middle of traffic, so if one mounts on the left,
>then the horse should be ridden on the left side of the road.
>
>In the late 1700s, however, teamsters in France and the United
>States began hauling farm products in big wagons pulled by several
>pairs of horses. These wagons had no driver's seat; instead the
>driver sat on the left rear horse, so he could keep his right arm
>free to lash the team. Since he was sitting on the left, he
>naturally wanted everybody to pass on the left so he could look down
>and make sure he kept clear of the oncoming wagon’s wheels.
>Therefore he kept to the right side of the road.