While searching for references for this article today, I also happened to see this one, entitled "When the Legal Thing Isn't the Right Thing".

Unmoved by common sense, I sat in traffic for 10 minutes to go that one mile, while other cars continued to whiz past me on the right.



There was a time I would have felt morally superior to those selfish people breaking the law. I would have told myself that they had no regard for other people and congratulated myself on being a model citizen.



I don't feel that way anymore.



Instead, I recognize that I am cowed by authority, particularly when that authority is anonymous, mere words on a sign.



Somewhere in my civic upbringing, I confused obedience with goodness.



It's too late to reeducate myself now.



As much as I reason with myself, and as much as I believe I'd be justified in crossing over that solid line, I will bow to rules that makes no sense.



It's the legal thing to do - it may even be the moral thing to do - but I know it can't be right.

This brought to mind a discussion about freedom I had while driving with a woman in Bogotá, Colombia, some 25 years ago. She said, "Americans think they are free, but they aren't. We are free here, but it's dangerous. Americans don't like that."

I also thought about Latin American traffic rules, which are in sharp contrast with the US mindset evident in the CS Monitor article. For example, let's say you are traveling down a boulevard in Latin America, where there are two lanes on each side of a median. If one is not from Latin America, one would say that this is a four-lane street. But if you are from Latin America, you will instantly know that this is really a 13 lane street. In addition to the obvious four lanes, there are two outside lanes and a middle lane on each side, where motorcycles and very small cars can squeeze when traffic is blocked; so that makes ten. Then, for those frequent times when there is a wreck or a disabled bus, it is also permissible for cars to travel on the median or outside grass shoulder, bringing the total to 13 lanes.

Traffic signs, including speed limits and traffic lights, are more suggestions than hard and fast rules. You just have to know the real rules. You can't break the real rules, though. The real rules include:

1. Go as fast as you can as long as there is no one with a radar gun in sight.
   
   
2. Red lights mean stop unless there's no one else around, you're in a real hurry, or your car/truck/bus is bigger than anything else in the vicinity.
   
   
3. The pavement is an indication of where the road is, but they really didn't put down as much asphalt as they would have liked to when they made it, so feel free to drive outside the lines here. At night, driving on sidewalks is permissible, too.
   
   
4. Stop for absolutely no pedestrian unless she is 16-25 and her clothes were spray painted on recently. Then, stop abruptly, honk, whistle, smile, and hiss to see if she'd really rather be driving with you.
   
   

Of course there are other rules, but these are probably among the most important and will get you started. Whatever you do, be careful and don't become a chivo expiatorio, or you could be in for some trouble.