RE: driving on the right

["Ian J Haseltine" <Jim_Haseltine@classic.msn.com>]

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From: 	owner-quattro@coimbra.ans.net on behalf of BernieD1@aol.com
>In England  driving on the left side of the road came from rules for the
>sport of  jousting. When jousting the knights would come at each other in
>such a way that allowed them to hold the joust?? in their right hand. This
>was reinforced by the fact that when jousting in this fashion the joust??
>would not hit the left side (heart side) of the opposing knight thus avoiding
>fatal injuries. Thus people began to get use to staying to the left side of
>the road.
The lance was held in the right hand and aimed at the shield of the opposing 
knight (unless they were trying to kill each other) while using their own 
shield to protect themselves. To do this, the knights had to pass left side to 
left side, like driving on the right. Later lance equipped brigades of the 
British army such as the Light Brigade would pass to the left, because as they 
passed their target they could allow the lance to rotate downwards or to the 
right so that the direction of the charge would help to release the lance from 
its target.

Back to jousting - In those times knights made up less than 1% of the 
population so I cant see that their jousting practices would have had any 
effect on the side of the road that the general population used.

I favour the idea that we drive on the left BECAUSE just about everybody else 
drives on the right. It matches with water freezing at 32 degrees, 12 inches 
in a foot, 3 feet in a yard, 5 1/2 yards in a rod, 4 rods in a chain, 10 
chains in a furlong and 8 furlongs in a mile, 12 pence in a shilling and 20 
shillings in a pound. All these and more are done to confuse the foreigner.

Jim Haseltine
88 Ur quattro