arbitrary laws

[adrian_turtle]

I used to think the law of driving on the right side of the road was completely arbitrary. Socially determined, with no particular basis in any level of reality, but of course once it has been determined it becomes very important to abide by it. In a community where most people are right-handed, the choice is NOT arbitrary. When a right-handed driver is startled on a right-driving road (by, for instance, a bird hitting the windshield), their stronger arm tends to pull them off the road. On a left-driving road, that panicky flinch tends to pull them into oncoming traffic.

On my recent visit to London I learned the people there drive on the left side of roads and walk on the right side of sidewalks. I know such conventions don't have to make sense. The increased danger of driving cars on the left is pretty small. If cars and pedestrians both kept to the left, I suspect I would just chalk it up to Foreign Customs Are Different and it wouldn't itch my brain like this.

Comments

[silveradept]

Expecting consistency out of humans is often a pathway to large angry rants. But yes, I can see how this would be a bee in the brain, asking for it to make sense.