Chapter 2. Trust in traffic

A Navigation Table

In the beginning of chapter 2, the author talks about "a sense of trust" that all drivers have. He says that "traffic flow will continue as before, and other drivers will continue to collaborate enough to produce continuity, reliability, and predictability."

 

He refers this trust as "ontological security" which means that people unconsciously believe or want to believe that things are as they appear and driving sequences are what they have been and will continue to be. For example, when you are driving 60MPH on a free way, you don?t expect a car parked in the middle of the free way or oncoming traffic in your lane.

 

However, when something unexpected happens, people lose their trust. But its only temporal that people soon regain their trust in other drivers. Without this trust, people will not be able to function not only when they are driving but also doing any kind of daily activities.

 

As an example of this, he talks about our trust for doctors. We generally trust doctors and expect for what they do. And even if you were given a wrong medication, you may lose your confidence in that particular doctor but it?s not going to stop you looking for other doctors.

 

The author says that trust in traffic does not just happen but it is made to happen through habitual modes of behavior and thinking developed from previous experiences. We know that we are going to stop at the red light and drive on the right hand side. And we also trust others to do the same because that?s just what everyone does almost all the time.

 

Then, he explains that there 3types of commitment residing in trust. These commitment reflects questions such as: What should be done? What is one?s duty, responsibility and rights for one?s self and other drivers?

 

Minimal commitment can be seen when drivers don?t really care about other drivers or rules and often lost in daydreams. Circumscribed commitment occurs when drivers try to satisfy their own desires by controlling others. Such drivers may honk or yell at other driver or tailgate. Authentic commitment is evident when drivers negotiate exchanges while they are driving. These drivers are the best drivers because they don?t create any anxiety upon other drivers.

 

Another aspect of trust he talks about is fiduciary trust. That is, people trust others who they believe have a moral obligation to defend individual interests and community standards. For example, drivers have fiduciary trust for police officers to take care of any car accidents in traffic. And people follow traffic signs or rules because those are made by people who we have fiduciary trust for.

 

But the author criticizes that some traffic laws are not justifiable. One of his criticism of this is in a situation where you are driving on a road says "no changing lanes" but if the lanes are clear and if there are cyclists going about 10MPH, then you are more likely to change your lane and pass by those cyclists, thereby breaking the law.

 

The other criticism is how is the safety of the community determined. Why not set a speed limit for 51 or 52 MPH instead of 50MPH.

 

So, there are some traffic laws we follow just to avoid punishment but not necessarily for our safety reasons.

 

In conclusion, in chapter 2, the author mainly talked about the basic trust we as drivers all have and that trust in fact is an important resource in traffic safety.