Why the right hand side?

[Supermalc]

Does anyone know why we drive boats on the right, as we drive cars on the left, or wrong side.

 

 

This actually does have a bearing on boating, because you only find out by hearsay. As there is no requirement for a license to drive a boat, and therefore no 'test' some people do not know which side to pass when you meet, and quite naturally assume it's the same as the road.

 

I would have naturally passed oncoming boats on the left, however I did join the local boat club, and found out first. But many don't.

Edited March 20, 2007 by Supermalc

[Ernie]

I think it all stems from the London underground escalator system.

In the underground system, you are constantly reminded to ‘stand on the right’.

My guess is that when boats were first invented, they picked up the rules from the underground system

[Supermalc]

I think it all stems from the London underground escalator system.

In the underground system, you are constantly reminded to ‘stand on the right’.

My guess is that when boats were first invented, they picked up the rules from the underground system

 

Interesting

[Ernie]

Did I get the answer wrong?? Never was much good at general knowledge quiz's

[slowcoach]

Generally all water traffic keeps to the right. This is historically because, prior to the use of a rudder, the boat was steered by a 'steer board' (cf. tiller), which was located on the right-hand side of the boat (hence "starboard"), because the helmsman, standing in the middle of the boat and looking ahead, used his right hand to operate it. By keeping to the right, boats pass port-to-port, protecting the steer board.

 

 

 

i was told pass port to port for this reason i think

[Supermalc]

Generally all water traffic keeps to the right. This is historically because, prior to the use of a rudder, the boat was steered by a 'steer board' (cf. tiller), which was located on the right-hand side of the boat (hence "starboard"), because the helmsman, standing in the middle of the boat and looking ahead, used his right hand to operate it. By keeping to the right, boats pass port-to-port, protecting the steer board.

i was told pass port to port for this reason i think

 

Could well be the correct answer Richard.

Edited March 20, 2007 by Supermalc

[BGA]

I understand that cars in England drive on the left because horses pass each other on the left. Horses pass each other on the left because knights of old all fought right handed i.e. sword in the right and closest to the enemy passing on your right. also when you get on and off the horse you do so on the left to avoid getting on, or off, into the path of oncoming traffic.

Why do boats drive on the right ? absolutely no idea

[Supermalc]

Henry Ford was the first person to build affordable cars, and put the steering wheel on the left, so you entered the car on the nearside. This dictates you drive on the right.

 

Mr Morris however put his steering wheel on the right hand side of the car, because he wanted his girlfriend on the left. This dictates we drive on the left.

 

But because most boats have their steering wheel on the left, I assumed the reason for driving on the right to be the same as the road.

 

Doesn't matter.....as long as we all do the same.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I've just realized.

 

My first car was left hand drive. No wonder my girlfriends didn't last long. All my incompetent fumbling with my left hand.....I'm right handed

 

Edited March 20, 2007 by Supermalc

[WJM]

"I understand that cars in England drive on the left because horses pass each other on the left. Horses pass each other on the left because knights of old all fought right handed i.e. sword in the right and closest to the enemy passing on your right"

 

 

And as an extension of that - Napoleon banned riding on the left as a safety measure to prevent fights, hence all countries that where part of the Napoleonic Empire keep to the right today - Sweden being a good 'proof' of this, Napoleon never got that far and they only switched in the 1970s

[David Schweizer]

"I understand that cars in England drive on the left because horses pass each other on the left. Horses pass each other on the left because knights of old all fought right handed i.e. sword in the right and closest to the enemy passing on your right"

And as an extension of that - Napoleon banned riding on the left as a safety measure to prevent fights, hence all countries that where part of the Napoleonic Empire keep to the right today - Sweden being a good 'proof' of this, Napoleon never got that far and they only switched in the 1970s

That is correct, but Napoleon I undersatand that he originally marched his armies on the right to confuse the enemy, who, from a distance, would have thought an advancing colmnm was retreating.

[chris w]

I think Wellington was victorious because he quickly realised all the above and, wishing to confuse "old Boney", his cavalry charged backwards on the left hand side.

 

Chris

[Supermalc]

[

Edited March 20, 2007 by Supermalc

[anhar]

Taking roads, the reason we drive on the left and most of the world drives on the right is that there is no reason. Thus it gives endless grounds for discussions in pubs and web forums etc. It had to be one side or the other so some countries chose left and some chose right. That is all there is to it. Pure chance in my view is the real reason.

 

If any of the explanations were a logical reason for driving on one side, I would expect that the whole world would do the same since most people in the world are right handed. The fact that it varies proves there is no logical reason for driving on any particular side so I conclude that it is mere chance that gave rise to the road driving side.

 

However human nature often cannot accept that there is no reason for something, that it is pure chance. So people have felt the need to come up with obscure explanations for driving sides just to appease an inability to accept that it was luck, a 50/50 choice that had to go one way or the other. But none of the explanations explain why different countries came to drive on different sides, which to me is solid evidence of there being no real reason.

 

The nautical world is different because the seas are not owned so there has to be international authority dictating the rules in complete contrast to roads which are run by their individual countries and thereby all have different driving rules. Consequently for the seas an international rule had to be mandated for boats to pass. This standard then filtered down other waterways like canals and rivers.

 

regards

Steve

Edited March 20, 2007 by anhar

[Supermalc]

Because we drive on the 'wrong side' most of our cars are converted from LHD. Some of the cheaper ones have the fuel filler still on the wrong side, so making it inconvenient to refuel.

 

And more dangerously, many clutch cables have to have to tight bends, making them liable to break.

Edited March 20, 2007 by Supermalc

[anhar]

No Steve.....sorry.

 

The precedent as to which side of the road we drive was set by which side of the car the steering wheel was put. This was naturally on the near side, nothing to do with chance. This is the side Henry Ford put the steering wheel.

 

Don't believe me? Try driving a left hand drive car on the left hand side of the road. It's almost impossible to pass safely on single carrage roads.

I'd say you are wrong this time Malcolm. Driving sides must date before the car, back to horse days. So steering wheels are irrelevant. Naturally, if a country was already riding horses and horse drawn vehicles on the right, then the steering wheel would logically go on the left when cars were introduced and vice versa. Therefore the steering wheel is an effect, not a cause of the driving side. As to why pre cars, people horsed on the left or the right, who knows? Had to be one or the other though.

 

Also your claim does not explain why different countries have different sides. Nothing to do with cars. It goes back much further than that. As I say, the fact that the whole world does not drive the same side is pretty convincing evidence to me that it was just chance which country chose which side. If there was some logical and solid reason like those suggested we'd all likely be driving on the same side. But we don't.

 

But as I also said, humans have this desperate need to explain everything, they cannot accept that some things are pure chance even though that is the case. The human sure is a weird creature in many ways.

 

Steve

Edited March 20, 2007 by anhar

[fender]

I think it all stems from the London underground escalator system.

In the underground system, you are constantly reminded to ‘stand on the right’.

My guess is that when boats were first invented, they picked up the rules from the underground system

 

Interesting take! However, seriously using either tubes or trains as an analogy for why boats pass on the right is not a good one.

 

Despite our left hand roads, the underground system itself uses BOTH left and right systems for its trains. The Central and Victoria lines have substantial sections of right hand running. A good way to see a major right hand rail operation in this country is at White City on the Central line.

 

The Ffestiniog railway in Wales has always operated a right hand running system.

 

Most european railways ironically run on the left, due to british influence. It is because of this that the Eurostar trains from London to Paris/Brussels do not have to worry about switching from left to right hand systems. of course once in Paris you'll find the metro operates on the right!

[Alastair]

It is because the regulations were set on the continent, not in the UK.

[Albatross]

I was told it was more dangerous to drive on the right, so I tried it today, and it's really frightening.....

[Supermalc]

Edited March 20, 2007 by Supermalc

[Anon2007]

Maybe these will help....

 

http://www.2pass.co.uk/goodluck.htm

 

http://www.amphicars.com/acleft.htm

[anhar]

You can say what you like Steve. It is a free world.

 

However the facts are......Henry Ford was the first person to build cars most could afford. He put the steering wheel on the left hand side of the car. So they are driven on the right hand side of the road.

 

This has got absolutely nothing to do with whatever I say, so it's impossible for me to be right or wrong.

 

That is a FACT i.e. this is what actually happened. It is also a fact you could choose any colour you liked, as long as it was black. So if your OPINION of cars was to have a red one, you had to respray it yourself.

I am not denying it is a fact Malcolm. I'll accept what you say. But it is not the point at all. What I mean is that if it is a fact, it is not one which resolves this argument, that is, it is not the matter which decided upon which side of the road Americans or anyone else drives. You seem to think that it is but, I'm pretty certain that was chosen in the centuries old horse era, by each country, long before cars arrived.

 

As I said earlier, it seems to me near certain that car makers did not make the decision abouty driving sides, they would have been likely to have followed the existing convention in their countries for horse transport. And those conventions varied round the world. Thus for example Americans made left hand drive cars and drove on the right whilst British car makers made right hand drive vehicles as they drove on the left.

 

Consequently even if one uses your car maker's argument which I find massively unlikely, we are still left with the conundrum that different car makers in different countries came to different driving side conclusions. This is extremely strong evidence that there is no, shall we say, "natural" side upon which to drive. And because there isn't, various countries plumped for one side or the other.

 

All the explanations about driving sides try to come up with a rational or natural answer. But none of them stand up to scrutiny. Thus I conlude that it is just arbitrary and that is why different countries chose different sides. The explanations are then fitted later by people who just can't accept the obvious reason which is that there aint no reason.

 

Steve

Edited March 20, 2007 by anhar

[Supermalc]

Surely if it was pure chance, half the countries would drive on the left, and half on the right. If you toss a coin enough times it is heads 50% of the time i.e. pure chance. So there must be more to it than that.

 

I have known for years why the US drives on the right, as people I knew had American cars. I've no idea why we drive on the left, but assumed it was some long standing tradition.

 

which resolves this argument

 

Steve

 

I'm not arguing......I don't. I'm just curious to know why we drive boats on the opposite side to our cars.

 

Luckily we usually drive boats AFTER driving cars. So when we meet head on, and have a collision, we are only doing 6mph, not 60

[carlt]

 

Same year for the export market.

[Supermalc]

 

Same year for the export market.

 

 

Serves me right.....should have got one with a number plate.

 

Just as an aside.....the Standard Fordson tractor had the clutch pedal, as the brake pedal as well.

 

It's supprising this was not adopted for cars, and became the norm as well.

[Ron]

 

Serves me right.....should have got one with a number plate.

 

Just as an aside.....the Standard Fordson tractor had the clutch pedal, as the brake pedal as well.

 

It's supprising this was not adopted for cars, and became the norm as well.

 

Would that explain why one day driving down a single track road with an overfull slurry trailor in tow, the Fordson tractor I was driving jacknifed, when I put my foot on the clutch?

 

Unbeknown to me (up untill that point ) the nearside independant brake used to come on when you depressed the clutch.

 

It was a little embarrassing as I was trying to let the estate manager pass me at the time, in his brand new yellow citreon - took a while to clear up!