490 ch. xxii 



CHAPTER XXII 

 THE RULE OF THE ROAD 



The rule of the road is to a great extent a matter 

 of tradition and unwritten, although in some cases 

 it is recognised and enforced by laws and ordi- 

 nances. 



In the United States, and generally on the Con- 

 tinent of Europe, vehicles which meet keep to the 

 right ; that is, they have their left sides toward each 

 other ; in the case of ships this rule is rigidly pre- 

 scribed by the laws of navigation. In Great Britain 

 and in some parts of Europe, the opposite rule is 

 observed, and vehicles keep to the left, while pedes- 

 trians, as far as any custom regulating their move- 

 ments is observed, keep to the right. The reasons 

 for this variety of customs are not easy to trace. In 

 all countries when times were less peaceful than at 

 present, and when nearly every man carried a sword 

 or a cudgel, a pedestrian naturally presented his left 

 side to an approaching stranger as giving the best 

 opportunity of warding off an attack with his left 

 arm while enabling him to attack with his ricrht. 

 Inasmuch as those of high rank, however, usually 

 insisted upon taking the wall side, this custom could 

 not have been universal, although the desire to keep 

 to the wall and at the same time to present the left 



