Cell phone use also represents the same "selfish attitude" noted by HawkOwl and by the OP... and really what it comes down to is the fact that there are too many of us on too little road space all trying to climb to the top of whatever respective heap we have to climb, while looking back at the approaching wave of whatever.... be it waves of cars, waves of younger peers or waves of competition... we all feel the need to "do it" now.
That "do it now" feeling is also heavily promoted by our it's gotta be there overnight, just fax it/Fedex it/instant coffee it or fast food it to me right now, instant gratification world.
We've stopped smelling the roses (unless of course they are packaged in an ad and delivered right to the door) and we've decided that little else matters except our own world... which means drivers go on red lights without stopping, cyclists go all the time and we all get crunched in some way.
How do we bring back the right attitude... I donno... seems like since disco died, we're all trying to meet the same deadline. Try reversing that trend.
Maybe we need the aliens to land...