Your Horn Would’ve Sufficed

The UK has recently made some unwritten rules of the road into written rules of the road. I say “unwritten” as my mum’s, dad’s, and their siblings’ reactions to these changes were, “But you were supposed to do that anyway,” but I digress. There are people in my office who are complaining about these changes, but [Coworker #1] — a nineteen-year-old self-declared petrolhead — is being the most vocal.

Coworker #1: “The route I take from work means I’ve got to turn down a road by the doctors’ offices. And the doctors would just cross the road looking down at their phones, not even realising I was there. So, one day, I decided to just swing in and give the doctor the scare of his life, and he now looks before crossing. If I did that now and hit him, I’d be liable!”

Me: “I mean, you would have been liable had you hit him before, as you knew he was there and he was using the road before you were.”

There’s silence.

Coworker #1: “No, not true.”

Coworker #2: “No. It is. If the police saw you do that, you would have most likely gotten a conviction.”

Coworker #1: “Oh…”