Process
Status Items Highlights Done See section below Claims None Questions None Output None
Highlights
Time 0:08:12
Traffic Mimes in Bogota
- In Bogota, mimes are employed to discourage traffic violations.
- They react to aggressive honking or jaywalking by exaggerating the behavior.
- Mimes also applaud and do cartwheels for people following traffic laws.
- In the 90s, Bogota had 1,500 traffic-related deaths annually.
- The new mayor, Antanas Makis, replaced 1,800 traffic cops with 20 mimes as part of his plan. Transcript: Jess Boddy This breath of fresh air is a fellow in white face paint and black eyeliner and a striped shirt. Yes, a mime. So, here in the city, if you honk a bit too aggressively, this mime is going to hold up their little gloves at you in horror. Or, you know, let’s say you’re doing a little jaywalking. This mime will do like an exaggerated version of what you’re doing to mock you, which I love. But also if you do things right, like, you know, nice little family waits for the walk signal and they go like the mimes will do like a little cartwheel or like applause or some other non-verbal Praise um and you know why why not yeah true uh but there is a reason for this so let’s go back to the beginning back in like 1994 1995 this is pre-mime. Bogota had 1,500 traffic-related deaths annually, which is a lot. And they had just elected a new mayor named Antanas Makis, who fired 1,800 traffic cops in exchange for 20 mimes. Hell yeah, honestly. Yes i agree i agree uh
Time 0:08:38
1min Snip Transcript: Jess Boddy But also if you do things right, like, you know, nice little family waits for the walk signal and they go like the mimes will do like a little cartwheel or like applause or some other non-verbal Praise um and you know why why not yeah true uh but there is a reason for this so let’s go back to the beginning back in like 1994 1995 this is pre-mime. Bogota had 1,500 traffic-related deaths annually, which is a lot. And they had just elected a new mayor named Antanas Makis, who fired 1,800 traffic cops in exchange for 20 mimes. Hell yeah, honestly. Yes i agree i agree uh and this dude okay so he this this new mayor he isn’t just like some guy who likes mimes uh which maybe he’s also that but he had this whole plan so he was a former professor Of math and psychology so he wanted to like use that knowledge to completely transform hit the city and its traffic problem with mimes and really so he was kind of just bummed that like When the government had tried to meet traffic like violent traffic incidents with force like when they tried to solve stuff with violence and force um that didn’t work which like you Know imagine that but he was like you know I’m really sad
Time 0:09:12
Traffic Mimes in Bogota
- In the 90s, Bogota faced severe traffic-related deaths.
- Mayor Antanas Makis, a former math and psychology professor, replaced 1,800 traffic cops with 20 mimes to transform the city’s traffic culture.
- Initially, mimes held up ‘correcto’ and ‘incorrecto’ signs to indicate traffic violations.
- By 1998, traffic violence decreased by 50%.
- The number of mimes increased to over 400, becoming famous in the city. Transcript: Jess Boddy And they had just elected a new mayor named Antanas Makis, who fired 1,800 traffic cops in exchange for 20 mimes. Hell yeah, honestly. Yes i agree i agree uh and this dude okay so he this this new mayor he isn’t just like some guy who likes mimes uh which maybe he’s also that but he had this whole plan so he was a former professor Of math and psychology so he wanted to like use that knowledge to completely transform hit the city and its traffic problem with mimes and really so he was kind of just bummed that like When the government had tried to meet traffic like violent traffic incidents with force like when they tried to solve stuff with violence and force um that didn’t work which like you Know imagine that but he was like you know I’m really sad about this let’s find a different way and he said mimes so in the beginning his mimes had to follow like very strict rules so they Held up the only thing they really did was hold up signs that said correcto and incorrecto and they would just hold them up. When a mime tells you incorrecto devastating. I mean, I would be devastated. Yeah. And though simple, or perhaps maybe like because it was simple, it started to work. So by 1998, traffic violence decreased by 50%. Wow. Which is crazy to think about. So they added more mimes. Their ranks climbed to over 400 around the city.
Time 0:11:30
Mimes and Community Engagement
- A behavioral science study suggests the success of mimes in Bogota stems from their ability to force people to rethink everyday interactions.
- By engaging with the mimes, people take a more active role in their communities.
- This active participation encourages them to care more about their community, making them less passive.
- Jess Boddy suggests this approach could benefit many Americans. Transcript: Jess Boddy Which I love. And like, why does this work? So there was a recent behavioral science study looking at this. Researchers think that when people are willing to engage with the mimes and like play along that they’re forced to rethink these everyday interactions with their larger community Like they’re taking a more active part in their communities they care more about them that kind of thing and basically makes folks less passive and encourage them to