Clarifying the Rules of the Road

Extract

The primary Rule of the Road at Sea is to keep to the right in practically all cases. The single exception which comes to mind in regard to fully manœuvrable vessels under power is overtaking in a narrow channel, when the overtaking vessel should keep to port and take the risk of meeting any on-coming traffic, like the working rule on the roads ashore. The alternate use of true direction as a frame of reference at sea, suggested by Lieutenant-Commander N. L. Fendig, U.S.C.G. in this Journal (October 1958) would lead us from simplicity into confusion. The same confusion would apply ashore if the roads were marked with compass courses, and vehicles were to give way to eastern traffic, which would sometimes be on the right, and sometimes on the left hand.

The notes by Commander Clissold, R.N.R., under the above heading in the same Journal, are both sensible and workable, but hardly stimulating in nature, as they deal with tedious detail like the rules themselves, without calling for a new outlook. I find the basic Rule of the Road beautifully clear compared with the pages of exceptions and details, most of which show no correlation with each other, or to the basic rules. While I believe that the present rules are the best possible for fully manœuvrable powered vessels, those concerning vessels of limited movement are complicated with confused detail lacking a clear cut system based on relative manœuvrability.