Member-only story
Why rules should not be rulers
When we treat rules, however well-intentioned, as unconditional imperatives. we may end up doing more harm than good
When I was younger, so much younger than today, I joined the Institute of Advanced Motorists, a British organization that aims to increase road safety by improving driving standards. Now, like most people, I was convinced that I am a better driver than the mean driver, but at the time I was spending a lot of time in the car and wanted to regain the joy of driving, rather than experience it as a boring chore. So, for several months, every other Sunday, I dutifully went to the group meeting for a check drive with one of the volunteer observers making constructive comments about my driving, gradually improving until the day I was ready for my test with an advanced police class 1 driving instructor.
The most memorable aspect of the test was not that I passed (obviously!), but the advice my assessor gave me. As I was about to overtake a slow vehicle, he told me that it was safe to briefly exceed the prevailing speed limit (providing the circumstances allowed it, of course), and thus reduce the time driving on the wrong side of the road.
