The right priorities

How traffic can be made safer and smoother — if you’re not bumping up against status quo bias

Until we are all moving about in autonomous vehicles, we have to do the hard work of driving ourselves. And when I say hard work, I am not being sarcastic. Operating the pedals and the steering wheel in a car may not require much physical effort, but the cognitive load of getting to our destination without hitting other road users and obeying the rules is significant.

One such situation where there is plenty of scope for collisions is at road intersections. I grew up in Belgium which, like its neighbouring countries, operates a general rule stipulating that traffic coming from the right takes priority. The origins and justification of the rule are unclear, but it was apparently first introduced by a Parisian police commissioner in 1910 (although it was only adopted in Belgium in 1961).

At first sight, the rule seems simple enough: most people know their left from their right side, and so there should be no confusion whether to give way, or whether to enjoy one’s priority.

Exceptions, and more exceptions

Unfortunately, reality can be a bit more complicated. It doesn’t take much imagination to understand the chaos that would ensue if…