Rewarding Rules-Respecters

IN THE COMPETITIVE, get-ahead-somehow world of today, those who respect rules often end up as losers. This is best exemplified on our roads: the car that pushes ahead by any means, with scant respect for the rules, inevitably forges ahead while the obedient and law-abiding get left behind. Overtaking from the left, cutting in and out of lanes, not giving way to traffic from the right: all this is par for the course.

- By KIRAN KARNIK

THE STICK & THE CARROT

As people see that this works, more follow the same path. There is, of course, the “stick” of fines; but poor enforcement ensures that few are punished, and agile mental calculations or sharp instincts indicate that breaking the law is quite safe, given the low probability of being caught. On the obverse, the disciplined law-abider has a decreasing incentive to follow rules, since s/he ends up getting stuck and reaching last. In such a situation, how to counter the downward spiral and ensure better compliance?