THE ISSUE IN...

BELGIUM: A TRADITION AT THE CROSSROADS

WORLD

The tiny nation may break with tradition and introduce stop signs. Belgium has clung to a custom that once gave the right of way to persons of higher social status, which evolved into giving priority to vehicles on the right—common in Europe. But collisions persist, prompting insurers to press for the change—and the government isn’t happy. “We’d have to put signs at every crossroads,” a spokesman says. “We have a lot of intersections.”