right hand drive...

...left hand rule and yes an EB tonight after a very quiet day walking the dog, pottering around the house and reading.

In the current book the author talks about countries where road users drive on the left and that this dates back to the middle ages and the era of jousters and sword bearers no less.
As most folk were right handed and wanting to keep the sword or jousting lance closest to his enemy and the scabbard further from him the 'left hand rule' was adopted....and from a friendlier point of view if a friend was met on the road, the right hand could be offered in greeting.
By the 1700s most of the western world (including a 1300AD Papal decree to pilgrims heading to Rome ) kept to the left.

Then in the 18th century American teamsters in the US drove horse drawn wagons and "...these wagons tended to dominate the road and force everybody else to abide by the rule of the road they were using.  Very importantly, in many of those old, large American wagons, they did not include a seat on the wagon for the driver.  Rather, the driver would typically sit on the rear left most horse, when the driver was right handed.  This allowed them to easily drive a whole team of horses with a lash in their right hand.
This then forced the issue of having oncoming traffic on your left as the drivers would want to make sure any part of their team or wagon didn’t collide with oncoming traffic. .. Gradually, this system spread so that by the late 18th century, the first laws in the United States were passed, starting in 1792 in Pennsylvania, where the rule of the road was now officially a keep-right rule.  This quickly spread throughout the United States and Canada."

And there is much more  at: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/06/why-some-countries-drive-on-the-right-and-some-countries-drive-on-the-left/



Pass me that jousting lance!