Q&A: Road Safety
Road Safety
Question
Is there a halakhic prohibition (Torah-level / of biblical origin or rabbinic) against reckless driving on the road? (Driving above the speed limit, not yielding the right of way, etc.) And is there a difference between things that are clearly forbidden and directly cause accidents (such as entering an intersection on a red light) and things that are forbidden but that the public tends to take less seriously?
Answer
I wrote in my article on Jewish law and decision-making that it is forbidden to endanger life, but driving unlawfully within reasonable bounds (that every reasonable citizen does) is not forbidden. One could argue that it is forbidden either because of the law of the land or because one is using the road not according to the terms on which permission was granted (theft), but that does not seem reasonable to me.
Discussion on Answer
In principle, yes. I’m not sure there are such things.
The question isn’t clear. Driving on the road in itself endangers life.
What about driving on a road that isn’t meant for you to use, like a bus lane? Here it seems to me there is more room to forbid it on the grounds of theft, no?
Right, although there is still room for common sense. If you are in a real hurry and there is no chance at all that a bus will be here, then you can cut corners.
So things that common sense says endanger life are halakhically forbidden even if they are considered things that most of the public does? (Leaving aside the law of the land)