Did the Pedestrian Die?

"Did the Pedestrian Die?" is a book, addressing the question of whether people would be willing to lie in order to protect friends who were driving vehicles involved in fatal hit-and-run accidents. Dutch author Fons Trompenaars found astounding cultural distinctions:

United States "Drivers lied about the accident while in the presence of their friends, however, when isolated they were generally willing to 'drop hints' about the actions of their friends."

Russia "After some coaxing, the passengers were willing to admit that their friends had committed the crime, and even admit to crimes which their friend the driver had not even committed (e.g. prostitution, drug smuggling, arms dealing)."

Brazil "The driver and the passenger were both inclined to create highly fictitious and unbelievable stories about how the driver was not at fault. Generally, they posed that the pedestrian seemed to be attempting to commit suicide and had, therefore, jumped in front of the car."

France "After being plied with cigarettes, we were able to convince the French passenger to confess to the crime rather quickly."

Kenya "Kenyan drivers were apt to dismiss that they had even committed the crime even when the evidence was shown that they were clearly responsible for the killing of the pedestrian."

Saudi Arabia "In most cases, the passenger of the car was female and claimed that she would have been unable to witness the incident due to the religious covering ("hijab") which she had been wearing at the time."

Italy "The Italian passengers generally responded to police interrogation, with "hot-blooded" responses, often stating that the dead pedestrian had insulted the driver and that it was his natural recourse to run the pedestrian over."

References

* ISBN 1841124362