RULE OP THE ROAD. 



679 



Such is the case in England, and in parts of 



Italy and Switzerland. Couplets and quatrains 

 in considerable number have boon composed to 

 impress tin- Knglish rule on the memory of those 

 persons who can call to mind a particular max- 

 mi with more readiness if it l>e set forth in 

 rhyme. One of these is as follows : 



Tin' rule of the road is a paradox quite; 



In riding or driving uloiitf, 

 It' von keep to the lett you ore sure to go right, 



If \ou keep to the ritfht, to go wrong. 



Much debate has arisen upon the respective 

 advantages resulting from keeping to the right 

 or turning to the left. Those who prefer the 

 American method of keeping to the right urge 

 that it is better to adopt the same rule for the 

 carriage ways as for the footways, in order not 

 to burden the memory with conflicting rules ; 

 they also contend that it is better because it 

 gives more scope and sweep to the whip of the 

 driver. The advocates of the English method 

 can find no argument save that by turning to 

 the left each driver can see at a glance whether 

 the passing wheels have space to keep clear of 

 each other. 



The fact that the American rule of the road 

 differs from the English rule has provqked much 

 comment. It is argued that as we have inher- 

 ited the crude framework of our Government 

 and the mass of our common law from England, 

 so we should have inherited the English rule of 

 the road as part of those customs and laws. But 

 the reason of the divergence is not difficult to 

 determine. The earliest Anglo-Saxon emigrants 

 to New England were for some time prior to 

 their landing on Plymouth Rock domiciled in 

 Holland, where the rule of the road was to keep 

 to the right. Habituated by their stay in Hol- 

 land to observe this custom, the pilgrims of the 

 ' Mayflower " very naturally followed it after 

 arriving in America, and it became the approved 

 method of avoiding collision. The custom must 

 have received additional confirmation from the 

 French Huguenots who sought an asylum here 

 (and who, of course, followed the custom of 

 France in this respect), and from the influence 

 of the Dutch in New York. 



For Vessels. But the observance of the rule 

 of the road is far more important at sea than on 

 land, because the safety of life and property is 

 so absolutely dependent upon it. On a dark 

 night on a broad ocean ships are traveling in 

 different directions, each carrying a light or 

 lights as a beacon. This beacon would not suf- 

 fice without the establishment of rules for pass- 

 ing, overtaking, and crossing. 



The laws of all the commercial nations regu- 

 lating traffic on the sea are very nearly identical, 

 so that, though each ship obeys the regulations 

 of its own government, yet if two vessels of for- 

 eign countries come into collision the same rules 

 to determine the blame are enforced against each. 



By the Constitution of the United States, 

 Congress has the exclusive power to regulate the 

 traffic on the high seas and inland navigable 

 tide waters; yet some of the States have laws 

 (often relics of preconstitutional times) regulat- 

 ing navigation on the waters within their bound- 

 aries; but in such instances the State laws are 

 identical with laws of Congress and need not 

 be specifically mentioned here. The laws passed 



by Congress are divided under three heads 

 lights, signals, and sailing and steering and 

 dec hire that every steam vessel which is under 

 sail, and not under -team, shall he r..n-jd, t, ,| a 

 Milling vessel, and every steam \es-el which is 

 under steam, whether under sail or not, shall be 

 considered a- a steam vessel. 



Lights. In all weathers, between sunrise and 

 sunset all steam vessels under way shall carry- 

 on the starboard side a green light of such char- 

 acter as to be visible on a dark night, with a 

 clear atmosphere, at a distance of at least two 

 miles, so constructed as to throw a uniform and 

 unbroken light over an arc of the horizon of ten 

 points of the compass, and so fixed as to throw 

 the light from right ahead to two points abaft 

 the beam on the starboard side. Similarly, a red 

 lamp must be carried on the port side, and these 

 lamps must be fitted with inboard screens, so as 

 to prevent them from being seen across the 

 bows. In addition to these side lights, all ocean- 

 going steamers and steamers carrying sail shall 

 show at the foremast head a bright white light 

 visible for five miles. Steam vessels, when tow- 

 ing other vessels, shall carry two bright, white, 

 masthead lights, one over the other. River 

 steamers navigating waters flowing into the 

 Gulf of Mexico must carry on the outward side 

 of their smoke pipes red and green lights. All 

 other steam vessels must carry the red and green 

 lights and two white lights, one at the bow and 

 the other at the stern, at least 15 feet above the 

 bow light. The lights of ferryboats, however, 

 are to be regulated by the supervising inspectors 

 of steam vessels. 



All vessels at anchor must show a white light 

 in a globular lantern, at a height not exceeding 

 20 feet above the hull. Open boats are not re- 

 quired to carry the side lights, but if they do 

 not they must have red and green lanterns to 

 show when they approach other vessels. 



Fog Signals. Steam vessels under way must 

 sound a steam whistle at intervals of not more 

 than one minute ; sailing vessels under way 

 must sound a fog horn every five minutes; and 

 all vessels not under way must sound a bell at 

 intervals of not more than five minutes. 



Steering and Sailing. If two sailing vessels 

 are approaching each other so as to involve the 



A 



risk of collision, each must pass to the port side 

 of the other (see A). When two sailing vessels 



