Sunday, October 26, 2008

A Moronic Oxymoron

But let's not discuss Daylight Saving Time. Let's talk of cars and traffic ...

In some countries, particularly in the remnants of the British Empire, people drive on the left. In others, including most of continental Europe and America, people drive on the right. Which is better?

To answer the question, we need to consider the facts. Most people are right-handed. Old Roman tradition was to carry the shield with the left and the sword with the right. Most vehicles still have manual gear shifts. Most shift levers are towards the centre consoles of the vehicle. So I think the better answer can be determined. But there are many factors to consider, and arguments can be made for either side.

However, let's not have those arguments. Instead, every year, let's drive for six months on the left, then for six months on the right. Once in March and once in October we should swap everything round. That makes perfect sense.

4 comments:

Piper Wilson said...

Oh dear lord!

Please don't work for the government! Please, please, please!!

Otherwise we will probably end up doing exactly as you said.

Anonymous said...

This may have more to do with an arbitrary decision as to which way to drive through the early tollway toll booths in the 1810s/1820s.

Rana said...

Cheers Greg. I have no real concern whether people drive on the left or right, none at all - I was only using the analogy to suggest that it is stupid to shift from one to the other twice a year. Which was "obviously" another dig at daylight-losing-madness, again I don't actually care whether we have CET or GMT, I only want them to leave time as it is and save us all a lot of bother!

Ann Cardus said...

I'm curious. Your definition of "a lot of bother" is changing some clocks twice a year. I wish that's how I'd define "a lot of bother".