Just a bit of trivia horses and tractors and automobiles

Never really in all my years ever noticed that all old westerns have horse drawn buggies, wagons and all seem to be driven on the right side.

Early steam tractors were driven on the right side.

Some of our gas tractors were driven on the right side. then thy decided that straddle like a horse would be better . Ford and Ferguson, Oliver are just some examples of this style.

early horseless carriages also driven -- you guessed it right side

Real question is , How come we don't drive on the left side of the road and cars autos be right hand drive. ?

I can think of one logical answer of why A young man with his lady fair, lift her to the left side of a wagon and go around to the right side to drive it.--- will post later to my thought .( It will be just a guess)

We must be shareing the same thought wave. I posted just below on the towing a tractor topic in reguards to rities and lefties..

That begs the question...Why does the (PIC) pilot in command sit in the left seat?

Well, the story I've heard is that some Eurpoean countries drive on the left, because in medieval times a horseman/knight with a lance would carry lance on the right, (dominant hand) and would want to pass oncoming advesary on the right side.

Right side of the road drivers like us come down from teamsters riding on left side of wagon, so as to have reins and whip in center controled by right hand. It then made sense to drive on right side of road, so you could see oncoming vehicle as they passed.

Where does this go with tractors??? Darned if I know. Early on, some reaping machines, combines, and mowing machines were on left side, but later manufacturers changed to right side intake. The grain binder I borrow is left sided.

Gene, pilot in command can be in either seat, but most of the time your right, your thoughts?

right side was handier to the boardwalk, store front, ect, horse drawn buggys and wagons were parked parrellell to the roadway, up near the sidewalk, loading dock ect, not perpendicular to it, also watch the young man and lady mount the buggy, most times she will be assisted up to the seat by the man on the right side, then she will move over to the left while he gets on and picks up the reins,on the right side, better than trying to do all that while standing in ankle deep mud and horse leavings and trying not to get hit by a passing wagon or horse, contrary to what is seen in the movies, western town streets were not dry and level, but rather a muddy rutted mess, the scene in open range where robert duvall walks across the street by using the lumber planks is the best example of what the streets were really like in motion pictures, all this changed over time due to the comming of the automobile when it became possible to pass another vehicle, a driver sitting on the right was not able to see if any traffic was oncomming as well as he could from the left, driving on the left side of the roadway, while sitting on the right, means having to use roundabouts in most places like london has,
to keep traffic moving effeciently, much more elaborate road systems are nessassery

Ray,

as far as i know your correct on your though, although it would have been a sword, as a lance is used across the body, ie held in right hand, used to hit someone passing on the left...

as i understand it most of Europe through the ages passed on the right, i was told in history lessons at school that Napoleon changed all that, as for how true that is, i"m not sure...

likewise Japan passes on the right, as their warriors carried their swords on their left hip, and their culture (shogun warrior code) meant that any clash of swords, accidental or otherwise, was a signal to fight (to the death as i understand it)

Why Do We Drive on the Right

According to Guinness: The Book of Answers:

'Of the 221 separately administered countries and territories in the world, 58 drive on the left and 163 on the right. In Britain it is believed that left hand driving is a legacy from the preference of passing an approaching horseman or carriage right side to right side to facilitate right armed defence against sudden attack. On the Continent postillions were mounted on the rearmost left horse in a team and thus preferred to pass left side to left side. While some countries have transferred from left to right, the only case recorded of a transfer from right to left is in Okinawa on 30 July 1978.'

The reason Napoleon decreed that his troops should march on the right-hand side of the road was as follows. During the Napoleonic period vast numbers of troops were moving around Europe. When two columns passed each other on the narrow roads of the time, with their muskets or pikes slung over their right shoulders, these weapons would crash into each other and cause disruption and delay. The obvious solution was to make the troops march on the right-hand side of the road so that the weapons were slanted away from the approaching column.

I'm just guessing because I never had the opportunity to use a right hand drive tractor of any sort Gas, or steam but those beasts look like they took a lot of mussel to steer .

With less south paws, I believe left handed machinery was easier to watch and right hand was on wheel for turning.

My uneducated guess was that for the wagons and buggies that the woman was placed towards the center of roadways so driver in bad weather conditions and light of only possibly a kerosene lamp, could negotiate rough mountain passes after dark by being able to see the edge before guardrails were thought of.

Good answers guys, and something to think about.

I do still wonder though If this right side docking came from the old seamen ?

My guess is the PIC sits on the left because it's more convenient to be able to reach any center-mounted controls with your right hand while holding the stick or yoke in your left.

Of course, most helicopters are piloted from the right seat. Apparently that's because the collective is on the left side of the seat and to reach any other controls you need to let go of the collective; in the left seat that forces you to switch hands on the cyclic any time you reach for another control.