It is quite reasonable to blame traffic jams, the cost of gas and the great speed of modern life, but manners on the road are becoming horrible. Everybody knows that the nicest men would become fierce tigers behind the wheel. It is all right to have a tiger in a cage, but to have one in the driver’s seat is another matter altogether.

Road politeness is not only good manners, but good sense too. It takes the most cool-headed drivers great patience to give up the desire to beat back when forced to face rude driving. On the other hand, a little politeness goes a long way towards reducing the possibility of quarrelling and fighting. A friendly nod or a wave of thanks in answer to an act of politeness helps to create an atmosphere of good will and calm so necessary in modern traffic condition. But such behaviors of politeness are by no means enough. Many drivers nowadays don’t even seem able to recognize politeness when they see it.

However, misplaced politeness can also be dangerous. Typical examples are the driver who waves a child crossing the street at a wrong place into the path of oncoming cars that may be not able to stop in time. The same goes for encouraging old ladies to cross the road wherever and whenever they want to. It always amazes me that the highways are not covered with the dead bodies of these grannies (奶奶).

An experienced driver, whose manners are faultless, told me it would help if drivers learnt to correctly join in traffic stream without causing total blockages that give rise to unpleasant feelings. Unfortunately, modern drivers can’t even learn to drive. Years ago, experts warned us that the fast increase of the car ownership would demand more give-and-take from all road users. It is high time for all of us to take this message to heart.

Washington D.C. serves as the capital of the United States. The name, District of Columbia honors Christopher Columbus, and the city’s better-known name of Washington, honors the first president. However, it once again ranked first in terms of dangerous driving. The probability of a traffic accident in Washington residents is 109.3% higher than the national average.

As a result, Washington D.C. is working to identify drivers with a history of breaking traffic rules, such as speeding and illegal parking, to send pointed message to warn them seriously of their risks of getting into a deadly crash.

City officials say they hope the pointed messages will deter dangerous road behaviors. “ Some drivers are putting others at serious risk with speeding and red-light running and we hope that this creative approach can gradually reduce serious injury and crashes.” said Jeff Melley, director of the city’s Department of Transportation.

Researchers have studied the relationship between repeated traffic offenders and serious crashes, with some data suggesting a strong connection between the two. That means, drivers with multiple dangerous road behaviors are more likely to be involved in crashes. A team from The Lab led by researchers from the MIT will create a campaign. “We will evaluate whether high-risk drivers who receive these messages have fewer dangerous road behaviors, compared to the group of high-risk drivers who do not receive the messages.”

City officials said the purpose of these pointed messages is to educate the high-risk drivers. Jeff said, “there is no punishment or fine attached to the message and the campaign is to use data to directly communicate with individual drivers.” So some questioned whether the message will work. Anyway, efficient measures begin with creative tryouts.