Originally Posted by
B. Carfree
(Forgive me, Bard.) The fault, Dear Looigi, lies not in our laws, but in ourselves.
I've got to agree with Genec on this. Traffic laws are pretty easy to understand and obey. However, when people narcissistically place their need for speed and thrills ahead of other road users' safety, then bad things happen. They don't happen every time, but they do happen.
I don't really care when the lawbreaking doesn't affect other users. If you want to go ten mph over the speed limit on an empty freeway, have at it. Overdriving your vision by a similar amount on a winding road is a different matter entirely. Running a stop sign in the middle of no where has no impact on anyone. Rolling the stop sign in town when pedestrians are present is an aggressive move.
I have to go just bit further on this... I wonder how much the car itself "influences" this narcissistic behavior. People view their cars as an extension of themselves... they often buy cars to suit their egos... Cars are sold to the public as a stroke of their egos; cars are tied to sex in a big way in commercials. How much does this then "drive" the motorist to want to fulfill their narcissistic needs... seeking to "win the race..." in spite of "the race" merely being nothing more than a long queue to the office or home.
Think about this for a moment... many cars are really quite overpowered for what they have to do... (Yes, I understand that pickup trucks may be powered just fine for the duties they perform) so naturally the driver now has all this excessive power and essentially "no place to go." What results? Aggressive driving? Perhaps?