Page 5 - Italian American Herald - June 2021

ITALIAN-AMERICAN HERALD
FROM THE COVER
JUNE 2021 | ITALIANAMERICANHERALD.COM 5
"Milano Laghi" which from Milan reached Varese and Como. Along this motorway one kept to the right, as in the whole of the province of Milan (except the city of Milan itself) and as in the province of Varese, while in Como they kept to the left.
A catastrophic example of driver confusion over which side to use was what happened after the disastrous battle in Caporetto, in 1917. The rule imposed by the War Command was that in all war zones the left side should be kept, but this information had not reached those far from the front. The result was that the retreating troops kept to the left, as expected in the war zone, while the incoming reinforcements kept to the right, as was the civil rule in almost all of Veneto Tridentino and Friuli Venezia Giulia. This caused great confusion in a situation that was already tragic.
Therefore, traveling by car on Italian roads until 1926 was not at all easy. A car driver certainly had to know the rules of the city in which he lived, but if he wanted to move to another city he had to make sure that he also carefully learned the rules of that city, as well as the rules in force between the cities. Of course, head-on collisions were not uncommon.
It should be noted that the royal decree
Milanese trams of 1928 were designed with doors on the right. Some of the trams are still in use today.
of 1923 also required urban trams to circulate on the right, and this was one of the reasons for granting a two-year period to comply,
and for the delay with which Milan spent adapting to the new rule, since it had a large tramway network to be readjusted. The brand new "1500 series" trams of 1928 (of
which there are still many in circulation) were built on an American design as they are suitable for driving on the right.
With the decree of 1923, the Mussolini government wanted to change the circulation of the railway system as well, but was convinced to keep the left side in railway
traffic due to the complexity of the operations that would have been required for the change and the impossibility of establishing a mixed circulation period. Therefore trains in Italy,
if there is a double track, still circulate today keeping to the left. IAH
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