Approaching Traffic Safety as Preventive Medicine

This is not to suggest that altruism does not exist or that most people do not comply with most social mores—the social and moral incentives are powerful. However, the evidence suggests that immediate personal gratification will often win when in competition with relatively weak moral imperatives. 

Coupled with the importance Western society places upon individual choice— upon autonomy and self-reliance—we can begin to sense why we need to address the culture around road use rather than only focus on changing specific unsafe 

Eliminating Serious Injury and Death from Road Transport 

Of course, not all Western societies place the same degree of importance on personal freedom. The United States is at one extreme and nations like Sweden are at the other, but the continuum is one where individual choice is highly valued across the spectrum. Each of us wants to be master of our own destiny. The 64 million question is to what degree What are—or should be—the limits to our personal autonomy  

The public road system can thus be viewed, in essence, as a commons. Let s consider some examples of how the dilemma of the commons pans out in everyday traffic situations. 

---