Hi, Ardith Hinton! ->Alexander Koryagin
I read your message from 30.11.2020 23:56

 AH>> When it really mattered which side of a horse a knight mounted on
 AH>> & what the chances were of meeting up with an enemy who was
 AH>> approaching from the opposite direction, it made sense to keep to
 AH>> the left.

 AK>> I also want to note, that women also were road traffic
 AK>> participants, and during those times they sat on their horses
 AK>> sidelong with their both legs hung on the left side of horse.

 AH> Yes... we call it "riding sidesaddle". Years ago I saw a picture of
 AH> Queen Elizabeth II mounted that way on a formal occasion when she
 AH> was wearing a full-length skirt. In less formal situations she &
 AH> other female members of the royal family evidently wear jodhpurs
 AH> (riding breeches). Until the 20th century it would have been
 AH> unthinkable, however, for a female to wear trousers....

So we see why the cavaliers could not afford the right road traffic. If the
queen got off the horse/carriage from the left side going to the Buckingham
palace, it was a strong example. ;)

 AK>> So, if the traffic on roads had been right-sided women could have
 AK>> gone under the horse approaching from the opposite direction, in
 AK>> case they fell from their own horses. It case of left-side
 AK>> movement they could get safely into the road ditch, the worst
 AK>> scenario.

 AH> Good point. I am told right-handed people generally prefer to mount
 AH> from the left & horses generally learn to expect that. It would be
 AH> safer, both for males & females, to mount/dismount at the edge of

Yes, it is also a point. And I can see no good reasons why did they migrate to
the right side traffic.


 AK>> So, returning to our horses, the women used to dismount from both
 AK>> horses and carriages from the left -- and a universal rule, as we
 AK>> know, is a good and easy rule.
 AH> I hadn't thought about carriages, but I get the drift.
 AK>> You should not rake your brains and think which variant is better.
 AK>> That's why they still follow the rule in England.

 AH> Dallas has driven in England with me as a passenger & navigator. We
 AH> both thought the roundabouts there were a great idea because they
 AH> don't take up a lot of space... and if you're not sure which exit
 AH> to use you can drive around in circles until you've figured it out.
 AH> On North American freeways you may not get a second chance to read
 AH> the signage, and if you take the wrong exit you can easily waste
 AH> half an hour getting to wherever you should have been.

But we also have a circular motion in the places where several roads are
connected with a doughnut style road. It works, too. ;)


Bye, Ardith Hinton!
Alexander Koryagin

english_tutor 2020

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