A police robot moving an illegally parked car to a legal spot? It's a ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐๐ป ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ช๐ถ๐น๐ฑ case study!๐
In most cities, if you park your car illegally, you can expect to receive a fine. More serious infringements can result in the vehicle being towed.
A video on social media โ that I can't verify, but let's pretend it's real โ purports to show the police in China adopting a different approach. A BMW that is 'illegally parked' is moved to a legal parking spot using a valet robot.
๐ฉ๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด?
On the face of it, it's a good use of police time. Rather than waiting for a tow truck, officers can move the car to somewhere it won't be in the way.
But that's not the entire problem solved. Because you also want to deter people from parking illegally in the first place. If the punishment for illegally parking is that the police valet park your car, then it could actually encourage it. Unlike towing cars, where the owner has the hassle of going to collect it, this makes life easier for them.
To incentivise compliance, they're going to need to do something else. As UX guru & author of the highly recommended book '๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ', John Sills mused on seeing the video, "๐๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ต, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ถ๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ?"
๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฒ
The challenge with fines is where to set them.
In my book '๐๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฅ๐๐น๐ฒ๐' (read the first few chapters for free at www.humanizingrules.com), I highlight situations when '๐ข ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ'. That's when the convenience of being able to do what you want outweighs the cost of a fine if you break a rule.
There's a famous study in a daycare centre where fines designed to deter parents from turning up late to collect their kids encouraged it by effectively offering cheap childcare. What was supposed to be a fine became a fee.
Of course, the point where that fee becomes too expensive will not be the same for everyone. Which is why some countries set fines for motoring offences by reference to the person's income.
๐ข๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ต๐ป๐ถ๐พ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐ถ๐น๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ
What's important to note is that Compliance isn't just a case of writing rules. If we want to be effective, we need to think about how the people whose behaviour we're trying to influence will respond.
Not, as I share in my book, how we would ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ them to respond, but rather how they are ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ to respond.
Before we deploy robots, we need to understand humans.
In a future CITW post, I'll share how another behavioural dynamic is deployed to encourage motorists to comply with rules.
Source: Pareekhjain via Rainmaker1973 on Twitter.
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