{"id":87,"date":"2009-09-07T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-08T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/?p=87"},"modified":"2009-09-07T21:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-08T01:00:00","slug":"driving-in-the-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/?p=87","title":{"rendered":"Driving In The UK"},"content":{"rendered":"
So what do John Wayne, weed-eaters, attorneys general, and driving on the \u2018wrong side\u2019 of the road have to do with one another? Well while you\u2019re pondering that one, allow me to share an, at the time, very small epiphany \u2013 and, in the bargain, slide in a \u2018what I did on my summer vacation\u2019. It\u2019s Glasgow Airport, 6:45 a.m. (local time, after a largely sleepless, trans-Atlantic night). The expected \u2018I\u2019m sorry sir, that model is not available\u2019 opening line from the car rental desk followed by the decidedly unexpected \u2018Would you take a Mercedes in lieu?\u2019 had already brightened the morning significantly. (In passing, I\u2019d recalled from a distant time that the Brits have a variety of labels for \u2018washroom\u2019 \u2013 WC, bog, \u2018loo\u2019 \u2013 that, to the North American ear, may or may not compute at this silly hour. \u2018A Mercedes in the toilet?\u2019 What an odd question; and why is that particular car being parked in such an queer spot?) Having located my vehicle (in a parking lot), doing the usual, again North American, entry from the passenger side, and holding my breath, I insert Emily\u2019s (my constant travel companion, aka GPS) UK brain and (victory number 2) am greeted with \u2018loading maps\u2019 \u2013 and, as bonus, a clear route out of the airport labyrinth, over the Pennines and on to York.<\/p>\n

I suck in a second breath and fling myself (and my lovely little B-Class) into the surge of morning, Scottish traffic. Straight onto the M8, chock-a-block with commuters, lorries, coaches, and tourists, I merge \u2013 vehicle as well as brain \u2013 with the flow, chanting quietly \u2018mirrors, signal, move\u2019 \u2013 inverted, reversed, counter-intuitive. Slowly the shilling drops, as it would continue to do so over the next few weeks of crisscrossing this lovely land, on all manner of multi-laned, single-tracked, and everything in between roads: here, where one drove on the wrong side (compared to most of the rest of the globe) thrived a near-universal respect for rules of the road and<\/em> the drivers with whom one shared these thoroughfares. Two immediate observations: the \u2018passing lane\u2019 is reserved for, wait for it, passing! Audi\u2019s, BMW\u2019s, and the occasional Deux Chevaux (go figure!) slide past, then, signaling, return to the middle of the M8\u2019s three lanes. Not a truck or a bus to be seen on track three. No oblivious, sub-speed idlers; no hyper-aggressive jackrabbits; just those overtaking \u2013 and only while overtaking<\/em>. The corollary, of course is that traffic moves along swimmingly, in an orderly, \u2018at the limit\u2019 fashion, with very little lane-hopping and, accordingly, much less visible impatience and acted-out road rage. (Incidentally, in the two-week, 2000 kilometer journey, I didn\u2019t see a single traffic accident.)<\/p>\n

And secondly, as one \u2018downshifts\u2019 to \u2018A\u2019 series roads, villages are encountered (with their countrified, \u2018curbed\u2019 thoroughfares and speed zones, generally of the 30 MPH variety). Nobody<\/em> violates these limits! As far as I could discern, not because of speed traps, flocks of crossing sheep (or children), houses perched precariously a generous 10 inches from the travelled portion, or one-lane bridges (that\u2019s another story). It, marvelous to relate, appears to be a widely shared and observed respect for the privilege of sharing the roadway. What a novel awareness!<\/p>\n

Figured out the weed-eater connection yet? Not long after my return, commuting into Toronto, with 1080 (the \u2018inside track\u2019 on traffic facts, as it were) on the wireless, I was \u2018privileged\u2019 to be party to a call in, debating a (some would say, Draconian) bylaw proposed for parts of Quebec. The (inflammatory) issue: should we be allowed to operate power tools, in the open air on Sunday? The usual lines formed up, represented by the polarities of: \u2018It\u2019s the Sabbath and one should treat this as a (universal) day of rest\u2019 at one extreme; \u2018I work hard six days a week \u2013 it\u2019s my right<\/em> to cut my grass, build my deck, whack my weeds. . . if I want\u2019, at the other. Not too hard to fill either argument with a good load of buckshot (fired on any day of the week I please from my \u2013 it\u2019s my right to bear arms \u2013 12 bore!) This is a most decidedly \u2018ecumenical\u2019 culture and certainly not one that should be governed by the conventions of one religion \u2013 however prevalent. As for the proffered work week \u2013 no other time. Oh, really!<\/p>\n

No, the real issue is one that is increasingly prevalent in our social weave \u2013 entitlement! Have a listen to any rationale (adolescent or otherwise), justifying one\u2019s \u2018right\u2019 to ________ (you fill in the blank). God (or any other deity for that matter) bless John Wayne and all his progeny. The rugged individualist, the swaggering, \u2018nobody\u2019s gonna tell me what to do and when to do it\u2019 mentality that pervades this culture of ours certainly, and for a very long time, has dominated our approach to the roads.<\/p>\n

And finally, to the sometime attorney general of Ontario, Michael Bryant. To refresh, this politically and professionally accomplished individual, with his deeply steeped personal and educational history in the laws of the land, killed a cyclist with his car on the streets of Toronto recently. Not to adopt a too-biased perspective, said cyclist has been variously describe as arrogant, swaggering, criminal, substance- and relationship-abusing, interpersonally confrontational, etc., etc.; in short (together with some other, uncatalogued characteristics), something of a sociopath. The tragedy which unfolded, followed a late-evening confrontation between driver and cyclist, as the latter exacted his \u2018fair share\u2019 of a downtown lane (after all, he was<\/em> a cycle courier of nearly two decades experience and needing to \u2018stake his claim\u2019 to the roadway or be marginalized); and the former, encased in his thousand pounds of armour, his damsel at his side, inched his steed forward, issuing the implied and all too familiar challenge of \u2018move it or lose it \u2013 you\u2019re on my<\/em> road\u2019, tapping the latter\u2019s rear wheel with bumper. Tempers flared, battle engaged. Casualty list: one literally dead, the other metaphorically so.<\/p>\n

The \u2018debate\u2019 of who was in the wrong, how could this heartbreak have been avoided (\u2018should the police have escorted Mr. Sheppard home?\u2019), a reiteration of cyclist etiquette, driver arrogance, and on and on . . . continues; the mutual victims being championed to prop up one\u2019s personal soap box; pilloried as examples of \u2018what\u2019s wrong with cyclists’ (or drivers, depending on one\u2019s point of view). The real villain \u2013 John Wayne. Entitlement. The battle cry of \u2018it\u2019s my right\u2019, bannered on the pennant flying at staff\u2019s end, from the saddle scabbard. The real victims. Not Mr. Bryant or Mr. Sheppard; but civility, mutual respect, and ultimately, society. And, BTW, Michael, this is Canada — driving on the wrong side of the road is not<\/em> allowed.<\/p>\n

David Howard<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So what do John Wayne, weed-eaters, attorneys general, and driving on the \u2018wrong side\u2019 of the road have to do with one another? Well while you\u2019re pondering that one, allow me to share an, at the time, very small epiphany \u2013 and, in the bargain, slide in a \u2018what I did on my summer vacation\u2019. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=87"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=87"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=87"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=87"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}