Before closing this chapter on traffic, it will be well to point out that nearly all vehicles travelling rapidly can pass each other safely if allowed a clear space of eight feet; hence all roadways should, if possible, be made of a width between the kerbs of some multiple of eight: a convenient width for the footpaths, so far as foot-passenger traffic is concerned, is found to be one-fifth of the entire width of street. It is scarcely necessary to add that vehicles pass each other on the left side, pedestrians on the right. It is not easy to assign a cause for the former beyond custom, except that the whip is held in the right hand, and in consequence free play is given for its use as the driver sits on that side and can watch his wheels in passing. In France and other countries the right side is the “rule of the road.” In the case of pedestrians it is perhaps more convenient for many reasons to pass on the right side, one being that the umbrella or parasol is always carried in the right hand, which is also used to remove the hat when bowing, and another because one’s tendency in passing any obstacle is to give way with the left shoulder. For regulating the traffic and for the protection of foot passengers, “sanctuaries,” as they are termed, have often to be constructed by surveyors in broad streets or awkward centres of traffic, and it is well to place a lamp-post on these sanctuaries, on which may be advantageously fixed a notice, “Keep to the Left,” so as to regulate vehicular traffic. On the lamp-posts at the edge of the footpaths it is also sometimes customary to fix small enamelled iron plates bearing the inscription on both sides, “Keep to the Right,” so as to regulate the pedestrian traffic. Of the danger to life and limb to pedestrians in London much has frequently been said, and no wonder, when we consider the number of persons who are daily injured and sometimes killed according to the Registrar-General’s returns. Some years ago it was proposed to erect light iron bridges over the most dangerous crossings approached by winding stairs, but “time is money” in the mighty metropolis, and the scheme was abandoned because it was felt that most persons would prefer the risk of being run over rather than spend the time in ascending and descending the necessary steps for this purpose. [7] _Vide_ ‘Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,’ vol. lviii. [8] _Vide_ Report of the Society of Arts on the application of Science and Art to street paving and street cleansing of the metropolis, 1875. [9] Ibid.