Predictably Irrational

   Topic of this blog post has been borrowed from the book by the same name. I am currently reading this book written by Dan Ariely. It is a very interesting book. I am sure we display and encounter irrationality everyday. This book probably triggered me to write this blog which I might not have written otherwise.

   
There is one irrational behavior I want to talk about, which I experience everyday while getting back home from my work. Let me describe the situation. There is a traffic light around one mile away from my house. The road approaching the lights is one lane but right at the lights it is two lanes. One is to go straight and the other is to go straight or turn right into an office complex. Right after the lights, it becomes one lane again.

    During the evening time hardly anyone would turn into the office complex. So we could safely assume that both lanes, for all practical purposes, is to go straight. Also there is no road sign which explicitly says that the right lane only turns right. Given all this, you would think that the cars as they approach the lights would distribute themselves evenly in those two lanes but I almost always see cars lined up on the left lane and the right lane is invariably empty. Only reason I could think of for this behavior, is that since right after the lights the right lane merges with the left, so it is kind of the right of way for the left lane. Or it could just be following the cars ahead of us.

    I almost always get on the right lane and am able to get off the lights quickly. It may not be a big deal after all. Everyday as I approach the lights I hope the car waiting pattern at the lights might have changed but to my surprise and advantage, it remains the same. One day I might see the cars evenly distributed in those two lanes but that day I would also lose my advantage.