pass by on the other side avoid having anything to do with something that should demand your attention or concern.
☞ This expression refers to the parable of the good Samaritan, recounted in Luke 10. A man travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho was attacked and robbed during the course of his journey. He was left lying by the road and the first two people who saw him 'passed by on the other side' of the road. It was the third traveller, the Samaritan (a man from Samaria) who helped him.