It must not go without acknowledgement and review the gridlock that occurred across much of the Corporate Area last Friday afternoon into the evening.

For those spared knowledge of the horrid experience, during much of that time hundreds of motor vehicles were lined up across city Kingston in a bottleneck that stretched through the space for hours.

In modern-day fashion, many people took to social media, posting that they had been in one spot for significantly extended periods.

Of note, the Corporate Area did experience a heavy shower early afternoon, which is often followed by traffic jams. And it being a Friday was part of the ingredients for the straits. Had it been month-end, it could well have been the perfect storm. Or was it?

No doubt, this occurrence must give rise to the needed conversation about the inadequacy of the present road network to handle the number of independently mobile residents aided by the ease of access to motor vehicles from the influx of car sales businesses that have risen up in recent years.

But what we are seeing is social advancement running ahead of the requisite infrastructure that must undergird it for it to be sustainable.

Depending on the school of thought, whether economics or sociology, academics have termed it lopsided or uneven development. For the layman, it is plain frustration, wasted man-hours, and time lost never to be regained.

Notwithstanding these claims, what was an overarching contributor to the problems of Friday’s road experience was the profusion of indiscipline and disregard for the rules of the road displayed by many motorists. This exacerbated a physical problem from misadventure to disaster.

The multiplicity of instances in which two lanes appeared where only one is established or intersections being so blocked that traffic lights cycled two or three times with absolutely no movement were too many to ignore.

The Jamaica Observer-shared drone shot of the city told quite a story, but it belied the vexatious experience of individuals sitting in the snarl-up trying with all their might to keep their wits about them and their bodily functions in check as they sat jailed in their vehicles.

It would be good if a study could be undertaken to determined to what degree unruliness made the situation worse, so as to inform the wayward as to the folly of their decisions. Truly, a quantification of this would bring into stark focus that just behaviour benefits no one.

There was no avoiding some of the traffic challenges on our roads, but the circumstances as they played out on Friday could have been made less irritating and consequential if there was widespread exhibiting of order and observance of the basic rules that govern commute.

We often jest about the errant motorist here and there, but the confluence of those unwilling to subject themselves and the vehicles under their control to the regulations and basic courtesies needs serious attention.

Kingston may still pale in comparison to serious traffic congestion in major cities of the world, but the disciplined precision often displayed in these places reveal an adherence to law and order absent from the Jamaican experience.

So calls for improvements in the road network must come as the progress continues, but what must be given significant attention is the unwillingness of our citizenry to observe the established rules of the road, demonstrate courtesy and decency as they travel the streets, and wait for the physical infrastructure to catch up with the ambition of the population for the gains of a modern life.