This is more the truth IMO. They aren't consciously being jerks because they don't have time to have those kinds of thoughts. Which means that throwing criminal charges around months later won't help anything. The only way to change such behavior would be for people to practice serious everything's-on-fire drop-everything-and-run-NOW evacuations regularly. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
Okay, maybe having a short preflight safety briefing that people would actually pay attention to and that told people that would help. Or maybe just scare the crap out of everyone.
Really? What about people paking in handicapped space? Is this because they don't have time to think clearly, or is it because they only carr about themselves? Why would people be different when exiting a plane, as when shopping?
Uhh that has absolutely nothing to do with this situation. What's the point in bringing it up?
My point is that people in unfamiliar situations, particularly stressful and panicked ones, tend to stop thinking and revert to familiar behaviors. For most people, that's gathering their stuff before leaving. Their behavior will never change based on legal penalties applied months later. To get them to behave differently, they have to practice the different behavior beforehand.
Parking is a normal, common activity with no reasonable expectation of panic or stress. People have plenty of time to think about what they're doing. That's why legal penalties are an effective deterrent. I have no idea what would lead you to believe that the situations are comparable.
Okay, maybe having a short preflight safety briefing that people would actually pay attention to and that told people that would help. Or maybe just scare the crap out of everyone.