“Fast and furious... Soviet-style: Crazy stunt drivers of Georgia try to impress Hollywood by speeding through crowded public streets.” The clip, uploaded by the team of would-be-stunts has reportedly received 2million YouTube views in a week. While supposedly there is no such thing as bad publicity, Georgia may find the hard way that this is not an iron clad rule.
With very low levels of domestic savings and no oil and gas resources at hand, Georgia can only achieve higher productivity levels by borrowing abroad and increasing the quantity and quality of foreign direct investment (FDI). Borrowing is pricy given Georgia’s poor country credit ratings (far from investment grade), whereas FDI has been trickling in at speeds that are not sufficient to lift the economy.
Georgia’s geographic location on a trade route from Europe to Central Asia and the general policy environment (lack of corruption, “ease of doing business”, and low trade barriers) do provide international businesses with a sense of economic opportunity. Moreover, there may be something about the country and its people that would attract investors despite a lack of an immediate economic advantage. The innate decency of the Georgian people, their warmth and hospitality to foreigners, beautiful landscapes and great food, are some of the factors that come to mind. After all, other things being financially equal (or even slightly unequal) it makes sense to develop a long term relationship with a country you like…
Yet, as I wrote here last summer, certain cultural factors and traits might deter potential investors from making a long term commitment even in the presence of an obvious economic opportunity. One such factor is bad driving manners. Last week’s YouTube sensation is not a sensation for anyone walking or driving in Tbilisi. Georgia boasts one of the lowest crime rates in the world, yet its capital is not a safe city. It is not safe to walk around Tbilisi given the absence of sidewalks. It is not safe to cross Tbilisi roads given the lack of respect for pedestrians’ rights. And it is not safe to drive in the city given the reckless (bordering on suicidal) behavior of many Georgian drivers.
One could find consolation in the fact that the situation is gradually improving, at least as far as statistics are concerned. After 2008, which was the worst year in Georgia’s traffic history, the number of car accidents and the cost of these accidents in terms of human life have been on a steady decline. Yet, much of this improvement could be attributed to investment in inter-city infrastructure and enforcement of seat belts. To the detriment of tourists, potential investors, and the Georgian people at large, the culture of driving in the cities appears to be resilient to change. It is my hunch, however, that bad driving manners could be eliminated in a fortnight, just like petty corruption was defeated back in 2004-5. All it would take is political will, stricter regulations (higher fines) and tougher enforcement. The results would include lives saved and a greatly strengthened competitive image abroad.
It may well be the case that the stunt drivers made a huge favor to Georgia by raising people’s awareness of the issue and placing it on the new government’s agenda. Dealing with the crazy driving problem provides Bidzina Ivanishvili’s government with a brilliant opportunity to score political points and gain the good publicity it desperately needs at home and abroad. After all, this would be much easier and faster than fixing the economy or mending the fences with Russia.
Comments
It is interesting to see why there is such a huge difference in the driving habits between Armenians and Georgians. In Yerevan, I was amazed when I saw drivers respecting pedestrian rights and driving safe. My expectation was that the situation would be similar to Georgia. I don't think that monetary incentives in Armenia (regulations and fines) are very different from Georgia but driving habits are really different. So, if one finds out that monetary incentives do not perfectly explain the difference in driving habits then one will have to think about some alternative policy measures rather than strict regulations and tough enforcement.
A very interesting observation, Giorgi! By the same token, Kyiv is very different (much better) than Moscow.
I would not go too deep into seeking for explanations. The period of lawlessness that Georgia went through in the 1990s must have been a factor for Tbilisi ending up in a bad equilibrium (drivers drive to kill, pedestrians not crossing even when drivers like me stop, drivers knowing that pedestrian would not cross and driving even crazier, etc.,etc.).
Learning from the very recent Moscow experience, I would say that switching from this kind of bad equilibrium to a good one (pedestrian crossing on "zebras" and drivers stopping, each partying knowing this, etc., etc.,) can happen almost overnight. And whenever a switch happens it will be sustained because it is Nash (crossing on a "zebra" when drivers drive to kill does not make sense, etc.)
The Moscow authorities introduced very high fines for not stopping at pedestrian crossings and started enforcing the new law.
I could not agree more. In one video one can watch how these guys are speeding down a crowded Abashidze street, chasing away pedestrians, among them old people and mothers with children, and doing hazardous overtaking maneuvers. They are substantially risking the lives and the health of other people.
There are few places in the world where you see so much police in the streets. But they are incapable of preventing these guys of endangering other people's lives. As was said in one video, these guys still have their driving licenses (though there are publicly available proofs showing them breaking the law).
When it comes to enforcing traffic rules -- in particular protecting pedestrian rights -- the Tbilisi police is a complete failure.
Still a cool video, although C'était un rendez-vous is much better and classier.
The contrast between Shevardnadze's Georgia and Tajikistan is interesting. In Georgia, everybody was driving crazy "because the police are corrupt anyway". In Tajikistan, people drove very carefully because "the police is corrupt and just looking for an excuse to shake drivers down". Cultural? I'm not sure.
in Armenia, driving was fairly bad until the government cracked down, roundabout 2008. Tigran Matosyan wrote a great study on this: http://bit.ly/Armenia_Seatbelts.
In Georgia, too, things improved dramatically. One challenge is that citizens have mixed views: they are of course happy for others to be fined, but not for themselves to be constrained.
Moreover, fines that would break a poor family may be just a little nuisance for those in the middle class. Interestingly, Switzerland made certain fines proportional to income, landing one person with a multimillion dollar fine for speeding.
I agree, ultimately this is a question of political will, and of a bit of experimentation. You should encourage Koba to include this in future surveys...
Hans, the Swiss idea of fines proportional to income is not a bad one. This would help minimize the political damage..
Eric, I believe that introducing very high fines will work because monetary incentives usually work. But I was thinking about alternative policy measures because high fines may be politically costly. Indeed, I believe that Georgians underestimate risks associated with traffic accidents (thats why pedestrians and drivers behave crazy) which means that most people may be unsatisfied with high fines because it will be too high compared to the perceived risks. So, such policy would be unpopular. Maybe thats why the government hasn't done this yet.
Giorgi, I agree, but the thing is that even small fines (provided there is better enforcement) might be very effective. The fines for not wearing a seat belt are not very high, and there has been no public uproar about this recent policy. People simply started wearing seat belts. From one day to another...
a practical application of fines relative to income would be to make the fines relative to the car's engine size. Yes, you might have people speeding in souped-up Ladas, but typically people want fancy & fast cars to speed in. At least it would be a fascinating experiment!
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