Safety and arrogance

Are mathematical physicists too finicky about traffic regulations?

Like many cities, a few months ago Alexandria experienced a blossoming of electric scooters.  They can be found on sidewalks throughout the city and rented through a smartphone app.

It appears to us that the scooter-people have decided that, since they’re not bicycles, they need not obey bicycle traffic rules; and not being cars, they are not bound by car traffic rules; while not being pedestrians, they can ignore those as well.  We’ve seen them scooting on the streets, on the sidewalks, anywhere they’ll fit; going the wrong way on one-way streets, ignoring stop signs and stop lights; to say nothing of their way of parking.

But it’s not a matter of just trendy people being scofflaws.  Alexandria bicycle riders, a much longer-established species, are famous for riding through stop signs (we can’t say for sure we’ve ever seen one stop) and stop lights.  In their defense, about half actually make the required noise before overtaking a pedestrian on the Potomac River bike path (though on a recent run our astronomer reported only two bike bells against eight silent passages).

Nor are automobile drivers notable for their observance of traffic rules.  While waiting for a bus in downtown Washington this past week, our photographer noted (i) three u-turns, despite signs forbidding them; (ii) drivers pulling into the intersection, no doubt hoping that the cars in front would clear, but being disappointed and thus blocking all traffic for almost a complete light cycle, each cycle; (iii) one driver coming to a halt for a stop light several car-lengths from the intersection (causing some congestion behind), texting intently, still texting as the light changed and he started up again, then taking a turn from an inner lane.  All this happened in the space of ten minutes.

We cannot even exempt pedestrians.  It is normal for the Alexandria pedestrian to ignore all traffic lights and crosswalks, striking out across the street as convenient, even on busy five-lane highways.  The smartphone zombie, earphones firmly in place and intent on her phone as she moseys across the road, is all too common.

Well, what harm?  It’s true that these practices are illegal and dangerous, but the increase in danger must be tolerable.  Are our consultants annoyed only because people are not Following the Rules, and they’re used to following mathematical rules exactly (otherwise you get the wrong answer)?

Well, we’ve seen studies (alas, copyrighted, so no links here) that the long increase in American road safety over the past many decades has halted, due to smartphone distraction.  That should be worry enough.

But we note also the serene assumption on the part of all these people that they’ll never have to worry about the rules, because other people will always get out of the way.  The pedestrians assume that no car will actually hit them; the bicyclists, that running a stop sign will have no consequences because someone else will stop, if necessary; the texting driver, that other drivers (or pedestrians or bicyclists) will get out of his way.  It’s this unconscious arrogance, that my convenience is more important than your rules (or safety), that bothers us most.

Unfortunately, there are people (we’ve met some) for whom this arrogance is quite conscious.  For them, making someone else give way counts as a “win” in their mental scorekeeping.  We do not look upon this with any admiration.