[FIXED] Perhaps it is me

[Zachariah]

FLEABAG !!!!
- hey dude hit me on IM

[FleaBag]

Word up Z! I don't have you on IM hehe... *Checks your profile!*

[COBRAws]

actually, the carriage was BEFORE the automobile :P And no one can tell where the carriage was invented. Anyway i doubt it was in England, because its the only place in the "old continent" where people used and still use, to drive in the opposite direction.

my half cent (??)

[Chris M]

The correct format is day/month/year, and the correct side of the road is the left hand side...

Now while I think forcing everyone to use the correct way would solve alot of problems, perhaps making it a user-selectable format may be less dictator-like

Chris

[MorrisMcD]

Did the United States ever drive on the left?
Yes. The evidence we have been able to collect is mostly indirect, but it seems almost certain that in the early years of English colonization of North America, English driving customs were followed and the colonies drove on the left, gradually changing to right-hand driving after independence. Kincaid quotes an English author writing in 1806 as saying, "in some parts of the United States, it is a custom among the people to drive on the right side of the road," implying that in other parts, people still drove on the left. We also know for certain that the colonies farther north along the coast drove on the left well into the 20th century (see the question about Canada below). I have read that the first law requiring drivers to keep right was passed in Pennsylvania in 1792, and that similar laws were passed in New York in 1804 and New Jersey in 1813, but I don't yet have primary sources for this information so it is possible that these states weren't changing sides, but only codifying existing practices in law. Other anecdotes from various sources also support the conclusion that most states drove on the left until some time in the early 1800s. American cars had their steering wheels on the right (the best arrangement for driving on the left-hand side of the road) until the early 1900s (see the discussion of this below).

However, Kincaid is not convinced that left-hand driving was ever widespread in the American colonies. He points out that the colonists were not exclusively English (for example, the Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam, which later became New York, would have been accustomed to driving on the right), and says that the first vehicles used by the colonists were carts and postilion-control wagons such as the Conestoga, which are best driven on the right. Wagons like the stagecoach (best driven on the left) were not introduced until much later -- too late to change the established practice.

http://www.brianlucas.ca/roadside/

[Nutz]

History and origin

About a quarter of the world drives on the left, and the countries that do are mostly old British colonies. This strange quirk perplexes the rest of the world; but there is a perfectly good reason.

In the past, almost everybody travelled on the left side of the road because that was the most sensible option for feudal, violent societies. Since most people are right-handed, swordsmen preferred to keep to the left in order to have their right arm nearer to an opponent and their scabbard further from him. Moreover, it reduced the chance of the scabbard (worn on the left) hitting other people.

Furthermore, a right-handed person finds it easier to mount a horse from the left side of the horse, and it would be very difficult to do otherwise if wearing a sword (which would be worn on the left). It is safer to mount and dismount towards the side of the road, rather than in the middle of traffic, so if one mounts on the left, then the horse should be ridden on the left side of the road.

In the late 1700s, however, teamsters in France and the United States began hauling farm products in big wagons pulled by several pairs of horses. These wagons had no driver's seat; instead the driver sat on the left rear horse, so he could keep his right arm free to lash the team. Since he was sitting on the left, he naturally wanted everybody to pass on the left so he could look down and make sure he kept clear of the oncoming wagon’s wheels. Therefore he kept to the right side of the road.

In addition, the French Revolution of 1789 gave a huge impetus to right-hand travel in Europe. The fact is, before the Revolution, the aristocracy travelled on the left of the road, forcing the peasantry over to the right, but after the storming of the Bastille and the subsequent events, aristocrats preferred to keep a low profile and joined the peasants on the right. An official keep-right rule was introduced in Paris in 1794, more or less parallel to Denmark, where driving on the right had been made compulsory in 1793.

Later, Napoleon's conquests spread the new rightism to the Low Countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Russia and many parts of Spain and Italy. The states that had resisted Napoleon kept left – Britain, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Portugal. This European division, between the left- and right-hand nations would remain fixed for more than 100 years, until after the First World War.

http://users.pandora.be/worldstandar...the%20left.htm

[makaiguy]

Fascinating as the left/right driving stuff is ....

The most logical, to me, way of expressing the date is year / month / date, as it gradually focuses your attention from the wider concept to the narrower one.

If asked "How long until lunch?" we don't respond "30 minutes and 1 hour" we respond "1 hour and 30 minutes", going from the wider focus to the narrower one.

Y/M/D also allows a sort by date to work.

[Jordan17]

To me, from the UK, MM/DD/YY just seems totally odd. You shoukd start from the beginning and work through.

Second, Minute, Hour, Day, Month, Year, Decade, Century.....

Does this format not seem like the logical one to use? I know in the US (& Canada?) all date formats are like MM/DD/YY and you wouldn't want to change, but for me it seems logical to start from the smallest item (a day is smaller than a month...right?)

As for the left/right side of the road. I don't care about that. Its just the way it is. If it changed, I would get used to it, but its like saying everyone should speak the same language. But language helps derive cultures. I dont think the UK would change this.