It’s funny you mention this, I have been thinking about traffic issues a LOT recently. I will tell you exactly how to fix it. It is fairly simple, actually. Police need to crack down HARD on two rolling violations, line-cutting and crosswalk charging.
The driving problem here stems from the fact that our government encourages self-centered and rude behavior (like the one you described). Because there is little enforcement on what one might call “courtesy crimes,” people who follow common courtesy are the ones that are punished. I am sure you have experienced this many times.
The thing is, behavior shapes reality. People here are rude and self-centered because they are rewarded for being so. If, instead, we punish those behaviors strictly, and encourage courteous behaviors, then people will start behaving better just out of fear of consequences. But, eventually, this new behavior builds new tracks in the brain and becomes their default behavior type.
Through acting more courteous, people actually BECOME more courteous. And all it take is cracking down on those two behaviors. It gets even cooler, though. Because we have actually changed people’s brain patterns, that behavior could bleed over to other aspects of their life. Be enforcing courteous driving, it is highly likely that we build a more courteous community across the board.
None of this is conjecture, it is all based on solid psychological and neural brain science. It is well documented that behavior and thought are a two-way street. Thought shapes behavior and behavior shapes thought.
