Reißverschluss
I live near the point where the M25 / M23 joins up with the old Brighton Road up towards Croydon. At the junction of the motorway, two lanes merge into one, often causing long queues at busy times.
I often bypass much of this as I go down the outer lane and merge in at the end, finding that few (if any) other vehicles do as I do, as British drivers tend to merge into one lane as early as they can in such situations.
“What?!” I can almost hear British drivers exclaim at me declaring my driving behaviour, “how selfish of him to “jump the queue”!”.
As a side note, in travelling internationally I see that no nationality loves to “queue” more than the British. Given almost any opportunity, they will “queue up” as early as they can (eg at airport departure gates). Other english-speaking countries don’t typically even use the word “queue”, they may say “line” or “form a line”. They are simply not as attached to the action or the word.
Now, back to the title of this post, “What’s in a name? – Reißverschluss”. As the authors of “Transport for Humans” (a book where Rory Sutherland and Pete Dyson seek to improve travel by applying behavioural science) put it:
Germans have created a wonderful word to create a social norm for drivers. Lane merges typically frustrate patient drivers, who see people cutting in late as rude and dangerous. Under the Reißverschluss (or “zipping directive”), however, lanes of traffic are actively told to merge at the final opportunity, but to do so with cars alternating (taking turns) over who is let through. It has proven to be fairer, faster and safer.
When drivers do this, highway capacity is seen to increase by around 20% at peak times, so it is actually the drivers merging into one lane too early who slow things down. Interesting, huh? So, next time you are driving and feel the urge to be a “good”, “patient”, and “safe” driver by merging early, perhaps think again. Depending on the road layout ahead, merging later can be fair, faster and safer.
Sexual Harassment
The use of a name to change behaviour is a powerful thought for me, as is also the use of a name or term to give wide social meaning to a phenomenon that may not be widely identified. A powerful example of this is the term “sexual harassment”.
A recent “Sideways” podcast by Matthew Syed entitled “All in a Name” tells the story of Sandra Bundy and how the case the took to the courts established the term “sexual harassment” in the lexicon and accelerated change in the law and behaviour in the workplace and broader society.
Graduate Tax
In the UK, in 2010 the government at the time hiked university/college fees to what has now been fixed for some time at £9,250 per year. For a three-year degree in England or Wales, by the time you complete your course and add on the cost of housing (called “Maintenance Loans”), the typical student graduates with over £50,000 in what are called “Student Loans”.
These then incur interest at quite a high rate (until recent pressure about this, they were at several percentage points above the rate of inflation). In addition, students are told the following:
- “You won’t have to start repaying it until you start earning a decent salary”
- This is currently around £27,000 per year, which is higher than most graduate salaries for the first few years after university, during which time the interest keeps being added to the capital.
- “When you do start to pay, it will only be a small deduction from your salary”
- That small deduction is 9% deducted at source from your pay, which is in addition to existing income taxes and national insurance deductions.
- “If you don’t pay it off in full, we will cancel the remaining debt after thirty years anyway”
- Note, they’ve recently changed it and made that forty years.
Again this is termed “Student Loans”, yet many students find:
- First, the balance they owe never seems to go down, both due to the accumulation of interest before and after they start paying, and
- Second, they will never be able to pay it off, so they simply keep having that deduction for all or almost all of their working career.
They may call it a Student Loan system, but “if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck.. it is probably a duck”.
Imagine if they called it was is really is, a “Graduate Tax”? Would we be so relaxed as a society about it? It is one thing to say “well, students benefit from their education, so it is only fair they pay towards it”, but it is quite another to say “if you choose to go to university and don’t have rich parents to pay off your student loan you will pay a tax of 9% of whatever you earn for the next forty years”.
Hmm. I for one believe that society would benefit both socially and economically by eliminating the graduate tax and instead encouraging a diverse and well-rounded society by choosing to allocate government revenues (that we already pay for with our income taxes) into extending the already free state education for three more years at college or university. Yes, my generation had that in the UK, so we never had to worry about paying a Graduate Tax, instead, we could focus on building our own careers and contributing economically to society.
Cancer as a Health Journey, not a “Fight”
A final thought on “what’s in a name” for today is for you to consider the language we use around cancer. Regular readers will know I had cancer this year and my language around this has always been to talk of a “health journey”.
I note that, in our society, we talk of “fighting cancer” and “being brave”, and even congratulating people when they “win”, when they get the all-clear. Everything that is said is around a fight, a war, a battle.
For those who have not had cancer, let me give you my perspective as someone who has.
First, it is downright exhausting and also demotivating to hear this language, no matter how much it may make those uttering those words feel better in themselves as they see those they care about, those they love going through it.
When I was on my health journey through cancer, I didn’t feel either that I was brave or needed to be brave, I simply had to do my best at any given moment during what was a truly tough experience both physically and mentally. I wasn’t brave, I wasn’t fighting an opponent.
In fact, if I did think about it I would respect and understand the cancer cells, as what they do is what they are designed to do, they were simply doing what they do. For sure I didn’t want them in my body, but I also get that they are only doing what they do. It isn’t a war.
Now those are some thoughts from me on going through cancer, but what if I had not got the all-clear, or what if I get a recurrence in the coming years? Imagine how that would then feel for me. I would no longer be someone to congratulate on “winning” the “fight”, I would become someone to be sympathetic with and to say “wasn’t he brave”. Nope. Every time I hear of people being congratulated for surviving, I think of all those who died. Sorry, the “fight”, “battle” and “brave” language is truly damaging.
As for me, I was on a health journey and the road ahead may yet have some speed bumps or tight corners. Whatever comes along will be part of the journey. Thanks for reading and for letting me get those thoughts out there.