Owning the Road

 The Volokh Conspiracy had a series of posts on a book: The Hidden Rule of Ownership.

The posts tempted me but so far I've not gotten the book either from the library or Amazon.  It describes six bases for "ownership":

• First in time – "First come, first served"
• Possession – "Possession is nine-tenths of the law"
• Labor – "You reap what you sow"
• Attachment – "My home is my castle"
• Self-ownership – Our bodies, ourselves"
• Family – "The meek shall inherit the earth"

I thought of that book when crossing the intersection at Reston and Glade on the route to the garden.  I used to jaywalk it routinely, but now I'm older and more cautious so I wait for the "walk" sign, or at least for the green arrow allowing cars to right turn from Reston onto Glade to vanish. The "walk" sign comes on a couple seconds after that.  

So I walk across, knowing by the rules of the road I have the right of way, and the cars which zoom up Reston and want to make the right turn without stopping have to stop.  So far they have.

But this day I was coming back.  A car heading east on Glade was making a right turn onto Reston as I was crossing Reston.  I hadn't reached the median yet, but the car stopped anyway until I finished crossing. Personally, when I drive, I don't give pedestrians all that room.  If I can make the turn without requiring the pedestrian to stop, I do.

That got me thinking--as a pedestrian I have a sense of ownership of the road.  But as a driver I also feel ownership.  And as an ex-Christian I don't observe the Golden Rule--my driving on turns likely causes the pedestrian some uncertainty even if it doesn't put them in any danger.