In search of personal accountability

One of the fascinating things I simultaneously both admire and despise about humans is that they’ll always try to beat the system.

Whether it’s in general life, or at work, I see similar patterns emerging.

I live near a train station, where parking is limited and costs something like two dollars per day. These days, that’s very cheap.

But to take advantage of that parking, you need to get there pretty early or it fills up.

As a result, many people have now taken to parking at my local park instead. There are usually spots along the grassy verge, even if you aren’t arriving early in the morning.

Parking at the local park is free, and there are (currently) no tickets required.

It’s a win for the commuters, who can still park relatively close to the train station and take the train, without needing to arrive super early.

So what’s the problem?

Well, this convenient parking is in a residential area, which, with the growth of commuters in the area, now gets very crowded with cars around the park.

Some of the areas of the verge around the park are designated (and clearly sign-posted) as no parking zones.

Even though there is plenty of parking all around the park, some people choose to park in the no parking zones anyway.

Why? Because the zones have the easiest and most convenient access to the park pathways where you can walk to the station.

So these people are beating the system, because they get to park very close, for free, with no repercussions.

Of course, the reason this works is because the local rangers rarely fine anyone for parking in the no parking zones. In fact, I’ve never even seen a local ranger so it’s possible that fines are never given out.

This all sounds very harmless… and yes, it’s not the crime of the century.

But what I have not yet mentioned is that when people (often with very large cars) park in the no parking zones, they obscure the road. So if somebody (or often, a local child) is trying to leave the park, they have a limited view of oncoming traffic.

That’s presumably why these no parking zones were put there in the first place.

How can these people be so selfish?

One perception is that these people are being selfish. They’re prioritising their own convenient and free (illegal) parking over the potential dangers to other people in the local area.

That’s certainly possible.

But more likely is that the people who park there are not sitting down and reflecting closely on the situation.

They’re probably not even thinking about it at all.

They might even be thinking “what’s the harm?”.

It says no parking, but there is plenty of room and nobody ever checks anyway.

And those last two sentences are the key to the challenge here.

“What’s the harm”?

I’d say many people don’t sit down and reflect deeply on what they’re doing with their parking.

But if they did in this scenario, they might say “what’s the big deal”?

There are two possibilities here:

1. They don’t realise what the potential harm is – they may not know it’s hard to see the street with the cars in the way; or
2. They are aware of the potential issue, but they’ve decided for themselves that it’s not really a valid or significant concern.

Now we can start to see the path to a successful resolution.

We either help them understand the issue by raising their awareness of the problem and potential consequences.

Or, we turn the issue into a more significant concern by enforcing the rules.

Enforcing the rules

This is similar to the old corporate adage “What’s measured gets managed”, which basically means if you start measuring something, people start to pay more attention to it.

This saying is often credited to Peter Drucker, but apparently he never said it and there are some valid criticisms of the whole idea.

Applying this to our parking scenario, we’d get the local rangers to enforce the parking rules.

People would receive fines, which would possibly persuade them to change their behaviour (losing money is a powerful motivator).

This is one option, which can work even if the illegal parkers don’t really believe that obscuring the road is a big concern.

And when it comes to workplaces, rules need to be created so that they can be enforced. Otherwise there is no legitimate and credible way to justify the consequences you are meting out.

Raising awareness of the problem

Some people are blissfully unaware of the impact they have on others.

Perhaps they have more pressing concerns, or simply don’t think much beyond their own immediate circumstances.

This doesn’t necessarily mean they are malicious… but it may mean they are ignorant to the issues.

In the parking scenario, this simply means bringing their attention to the reasons why the no parking zones were added in the first place.

The possible backlash

Recently, a local resident has been undertaking an awareness-raising campaign of their own.

They’ve been putting printed flyers on the offending cars, letting them know the issues that come from parking in the no-parking zones.

The flyer doesn’t just say “don’t park here”. It points out specifically that obstructing the view of the road can cause issues for children leaving the park, and that rangers fine people in the area (allegedly).

The creator of these flyers has cleverly tried to raise awareness by linking the issue to two things that the illegal parkers might care about -> a child’s safety and money.

The reaction that we expect is for people to sheepishly move their cars to a more appropriate spot.

But sometimes, there is a backlash.

The other day, I saw a couple return to their illegally parked car and read one of these flyers. They immediately looked around, angrily trying to find out who dared to put such a flyer on their car.

It turns out that some people don’t take kindly to being framed as, basically, an inconsiderate human-being that doesn’t care about the plight of children.

Personal accountability

A logical, reasonable person may say, when faced with this situation:

“OK, I shouldn’t have parked there. I wasn’t really thinking about it – I’ll park so I don’t block the view of the road next time.”

They’ll also most likely not take it as a personal attack. They may feel a little ashamed (I think I would), but I would also cut myself some slack. (Actually, I probably would never have parked illegally in the first place, because I’m quite a traditional nerdy rule follower)

But some other people might have a visceral reaction.

Why is this so?

It could be for several reasons. One is that the person posting the flyer is not qualified to be policing the rules.

Or that by putting the flyer on the car, they’ve touched their personal property.

Or that by spelling out the issue, they feel as if they’ve been framed as the illegal parker who is inconsiderate and doesn’t care about the welfare of local children.

But ultimately, the problem is a lack of personal accountability.

Yes, all of the reasons above may be valid in some way, but that doesn’t remove the fact that the parker has parked illegally. And therefore… the parker is at fault and needs to own up to it.

Cracks within the identity

I think the main reason people blow up when faced with a flyer on a car such as this is that beneath it all, they’re facing a crisis of identity.

That is, they are confronted with the question: “Am I the type of person who is so inconsiderate that I’d favour convenient and illegal parking over the welfare of children?”

No, I don’t think that’s actually what is going through their minds at the time.

I believe much of the emotional reaction is simple frustration. People are subject to many sources of stress, and areas of their life and work where they feel they have little control or agency.

So when someone tries to take away our small conveniences where we’re able to gain a small victory, these emotions can all boil over.

But deep down, after the initial flush of how-dare-you-ness and who-are-you-to-say-this-to-me-ness subsides, we face a simple choice.

To own up to the issue and take personal accountability.

Or to go on blaming others for our predicament.

Maybe the uncomfortable truth is that most of us don’t like being reminded that our conveniences sometimes come at someone else’s expense.

It’s more than just two types of people

We could say that there are people who take personal accountability, and those who don’t.

But I think it’s far more likely that this is situational and depends on life circumstances.

I find that people who know themselves well, are relatively stable and able to handle life’s pressures are more likely to take personal accountability.

Those who feel like they are being tossed around by life like a dinghy in a storm are more likely to blame others and vent their frustration outwardly.

To help others take personal accountability, we have a few options.

We can raise awareness of an issue, for those who are ignorant of it.

We can enforce material consequences for those who are aware, but simply don’t care.

And we can help people to care more about the issue by increasing their feeling of connection to the people who might be impacted.