I'm Dan Heath and this is Choiceology.

Has there ever been any close calls because somebody wasn't paying attention?

Yeah actually a co-worker just gotten a collision the other day from here.

With another bike because they were both trying to get on, but sharing with pedestrians no fun either.

We're on the street in a typical North American city at a spot where cars and bikes and pedestrians converge and things don't always go smoothly.

The reason we're here to try a little experiment in traffic management.

But we're not talking about signs or whistles of police handing out tickets. This experiment will

barely be noticeable. We aim to show that small changes can make big and

positive differences on bike paths yes but also in things like street crime,

an organ donation.

It might be counterintuitive, but all of these things

are connected by subtle, sometimes invisible structures, structures that

surrounds you and have a surprising influence over how you move through the world.

By the end of the episode, you'll start to notice them everywhere.

This is Choiceology, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. It's a show that reveals hidden

psychological forces, forces that affect the way you make decisions about everything from the

root you take to work in the morning to how fast you drive to how you spend your money.

It's about understanding human behavior, avoiding expensive mistakes,

and making the best choices for your future. Before we get the results from our little test and traffic management, let's travel to a different city for an experiment that rose from the ashes of social unrest.

It's 2011, August. Many parts of London are on fire. The city is experiencing the worst riots and decades.

So across the capital in Hackney, in Woolwich, in North London in South London,

across the capital we saw horrendous scenes of properties being burnt down, looted, and this was a sort of free-for-all.

...