A World Magazine blog post says many European cities are working to make their residents drive more like we do in Hawaii:
Seven European cities are removing their traffic signs as part of an experiment to prove all that is necessary for traffic management is human consideration. The traffic planners want drivers and pedestrians to interact in a free and humane way through friendly gestures, nods of the head, and eye contact. “The many rules strip us of the most important thing: the ability to be considerate,” says Dutch traffic guru Hans Monderman, one of the project’s co-founders. “We’re losing our capacity for socially responsible behavior.” But since humans are inherently selfish and sinful, would this traffic utopia really be possible universally?
It’s a nice idea, but I think it only happens here in the islands because the person you cut off is likely to be your auntie or uncle or next-door neighbor (or at least know your auntie or uncle or next-door neighbor). So we go to great lengths to show consideration toward other drivers. We’ll even disobey traffic signs to wave someone ahead of us. If we lived in a big, anonymous city like London, though, I’d have to say our selfishness and sinfulness would inevitably turn us into road-raged lunatics.