Why do Americans drive on the right?
Published: Tue, 06/17/14
Although I have been to the USA quite a few times I have only
driven there on a couple of occasions. Once I borrowed a truck (a
small pickup) and drove from Virgina to North Carolina and back.
Quite a long way but a very easy drive on the Interstate Highways.
I didn't really have any problems at all until I was back in
Fairfax, Virginia, probably less than a mile from my final
destination when I turned onto a dual carriage way and found myself
facing on coming traffic. I had pulled onto the left hand carriage
way, the right one in the UK, but not such a good idea in the USA.
Luckily the traffic on that lane was still held up at the next
intersection a couple of hundred yards down and the lights had not
yet changed so I had a few seconds to reverse back and get myself
on the right hand carriage way and join the traffic going my way.
At the time I had been driving for over 30 years so that was a
pretty stupid mistake for an experienced driver to make. Well, yes
and no. Obviously I am well aware that Americans drive on the
right, why they do such a daft thing along with the population of
continental Europe and a lot of other countries is a mystery to me
but that is how it is. I had just driven 600 miles and not broken
any American traffic laws as far as I was aware. Then, in a split
second decision, I nearly caused a disaster and I was lucky to
extricate myself from the situation without consequences any worse
than feeling rather stupid.
In the case of my American road trip adventure (and the incident
above was about the most exiting aspect of the journey, although it
was very nice to visit my friend Josh and see some of North
Carolina) so long as I was consciously aware that I needed to be
driving on the right side of the road I was fine. However the
moment I reverted to driving on reflex my sub-conscious mind headed
for the left side of the road as normal behaviour. Anyone who has
driven abroad can probably recount a similar experience and if it
has never happened to you then don't be complacent, it still
could under the right/wrong circumstances.
I don't think anyone would seriously dispute the role of
reflexes in driving. Good reflexes, well established when we learn
to drive, will serve us well throughout our motoring career.
However, exactly the same reflexes are potentially lethal where the
rules of the road are different, especially when as radically
different as driving on the wrong side.
The interesting question is: How much of the rest of your life is
governed by subconscious reflexes? It is impossible to calculate
but it is a very high proportion of your day to day activities and
responses. You probably didn't learn to drive until you were
17 or over (in the USA it could be younger I know) so at least you
know that there was a time that you could not drive and then you
could. This way you know that there was a conscious process is
learning how to drive, you also know consciously that Americans
drive on the right, it is only the unconscious reflexes that
'forget' at crucial moments. However a great deal of your
behaviour and reflex responses were laid down in your psyche when
you were a young child, hence the Jesuit dictum. "Give me the
boy until he is seven and I will give you the man."
Conditioning up to this age tends to be accepted uncritically and
governs a large part of who we seem to be for the rest of our
lives.
Teaching Stav in the early stages is about learning how to move and
coordinate the body and become aware of which subconscious reflexes
serve us and which need to be changed. It is not an easy process
and quite a lot of people find it unbearable and quickly give up.
That is their choice of course but it is also a pity because we can
learn to modify even deep rooted unconscious behaviour and become
much more effective people. So, just as a British driver can make
a choice to override his or her reflex actions and drive on the
right in the USA and vice versa we can choose to challenge our
unconscious behaviour, but it does help to do it through training
such as Stav with an instructor who understands the process of
changing self awareness. Next day course will be on the 5th of
July and we will explore the challenges of learning new ways of
coordinating the body and mind. Booking at
http://www.iceandfire.org.uk/forthcoming.html I know it needs
updating and that will happen asap but the button you need for July
is there.
regards
Graham