This day in history - 08:09:1136.4

08:09:1136.4 On this day a referendum was held within the kingdom of Gurden to fix, once and for all, the side on which horses, carts and carriages should use when travelling along a road. For years the subject had been one of contention, resulting in a road network jammed up with arguing travellers and animals. It was written in the country’s constitution that any man traveling the roads of the kingdom was to be free to swing his sword at anyone he feared wished him mischief. Unfortunately, the offending passage did not stipulate if the travellers sword arm should be aimed at other road goers or at the pedestrians that lined the streets. This meant that people tended to travel on which ever side of the road they liked, changing as fear or fancy took them. Finally, after the Great Impasse, a city-wide traffic jam that lasted nearly a week, the government of the day had had enough. It was time to put the choice to the people. Of the ballots counted, 3% went for the left side, while 2% voted for the right. While the remaining 95% seemed to be asking for directions to Madam Sin’s Emporium of Pain. The referendum did little to ease the kingdom’s roads but did result in a slew of new and informative street signs, with Madam Sin doing a roaring trade.