Riding Shotgun: Bangkok, Thailand by Emil West
- 11 years ago
The rules of shotgun are varied among different social groups. There are probably thousands of variations. But they have evolved to promote civility in allocating a scarce resource (the front seat).
One variation is that you cannot call "shotgun" until you have left the building. IE you cannot call "shotgun" as soon as the ignition is off but rather have to wait until you have run your errand and have left the front door of the building. However usually only the driver has to hear it to confirm not everyone in the party.
There are also rule regarding the number of times one person can ride shotgun in a row.
Usually two or three times are the limit (formal and informal). It is common courtesy to surrender shotgun in this circumstance even if you have the legal right to "shotgun". However this is up to the discretion of the person owning the rights and sometimes is not enforced due to large age disparity or much lower social standing of those in the back seat.
One variation is that you cannot call "shotgun" until you have left the building. IE you cannot call "shotgun" as soon as the ignition is off but rather have to wait until you have run your errand and have left the front door of the building. However usually only the driver has to hear it to confirm not everyone in the party.
There are also rule regarding the number of times one person can ride shotgun in a row.
Usually two or three times are the limit (formal and informal). It is common courtesy to surrender shotgun in this circumstance even if you have the legal right to "shotgun". However this is up to the discretion of the person owning the rights and sometimes is not enforced due to large age disparity or much lower social standing of those in the back seat.