Arizona weekly citizen., 1881-11-27
HIGHWAY ETIQUETTE.
''Tarn to the Right When You Meet
 on the ROad.''
IL.as Yeras Optiel

It Is true that the words, "turn to tho
 right have not only passed into ( prOyerb in our country, but also into 6
 statute. Hence, we now say, turn tC the right, as the law directs
 l have heard or read somewhere, but
 I cannot now recall where, that the GUS
 tom in our country of taking the right
 hand of the road in meeting vehicles | from the opposite direction, was first | adopted in this country at the success | ful termination of the Revolutionary struggle, previous to which time the usage was directly the reverse, as Is vet | in the mother country.
 The motive for the change was said to be the desire felt by the people in their newborn independence, of differ | ing, in this as well as in other things, from the customs prevailing in this | country from which they had just been separated. The rule which prevails in the mother country, by common law, I 1 think, Is given by some quaint poet as follows:
 The rule of the road Is a paradox quite h driving your carriage along. II you keep Co the left you sure to s,o right If you keep to the right, you gO wrong Tn Our country the earliest lesson we are taught is,' to "keep to the right as the law directs" not only in morals out also lon the highway and byeway, and wherever two persons or vehicles might possibly come in collision.
 Certainly, the reason given for a change from the custom of the mother country, is too frivolous even for the im- pulsive times of the revolution; and if a change were desirable at all, for the sake of difference, there were many other customs that might, with just as much prOpriety, have been changed, winch have, nevertheless, continued to this day Tn thls country as they were in the land of our fOrefathers.
 | think sufficient reason for the diff ference of custom in this one particular, may be found in the very different cir cumstances of the two countries. In the mother land, which was an old set tied country, the roads were broad and level and safe to travel on, and 1t was not dangerous to drive on any part of the track even to the very verge.
 Accordingly, having plain track be- fore him, the only point to which the attention of the driver need be directed was to avoid collision with the vehicles meeting him, and as he sat on the right hand of his own carriage, in which po- sition his eve best commanded the wheels on that side, 1t Is but reasonable that he would turn to the left, as by SO doing he would be able most surely 70 guard against the only danger to be aD- prehended.
 On the other hand, i'll our newer cOun- try, tine roads were narrow and rough and generally bOrdered by dangerous banks and ditches. Accordingly 1t be- hoOved the driver to keep as far from the verge of the road as possible; or, If compelled to approach 1t, to do so on the side of the road nearest to which he sat, and where he could best see the danger, if danger there be. The chances of striking the opposite carriage on the uugUarded side Is less formidable than the danger of Oversetting his own on the other side. And 50 We of America properly enough turn to the right" as the law bids Us do.
 If 1t be inquired, why, then, not have made the change before the revolution, if there were reasons for a change at all? He may be answered that the law of the mother country neglected the matter until the severance of the two countries had left 1t an open question on this side of the ocean. And the mat ter is now one of statute law in our country.