The Invisible Hand of the Traffic

A couple of days ago, I witnessed an interesting phenomenon.

It was 9 o'clock on a weekday at the Madhya Kailash junction and the traffic, as you can imagine, was terrible. I was on my cycle and getting wet in the rain. In the middle of the road lay a helmet which someone must have dropped (the owner didn't seem to be anywhere near by). Traffic from Gandhinagar was slow because one whole lane had to slow down, and inch around the helmet. I could have gotten down and moved the helmet to the side of the road, but because the timer on the signal was not functioning I couldn't tell when the signal would change and if it changed when I was moving the helmet, I'd have to wait an extra 120 or so seconds (because it's impossible to cross on a cycle except just after the signal, everyone splashes you with water).

If I'd moved the helmet, I would've saved a considerable amount of man-minutes, but I would have likely lost 2 minutes. I chose my 2 minutes. Apparently, everyone else did too, because one signal later (when I looked from far away) the helmet seemed to be still there.

For everyone involved, it would've taken them mere seconds to stop their vehicle by Kasturbai Nagar Railway Station, get out, move the helmet and go back to their vehicle. But it would've taken even less time to just avoid it. Each person took the best option for themselves knowing what everyone else would do and no one would gain anything by moving the helmet. Nash equilibrium!