Where does traffic discipline come from?

There is a sign at our street corner that says “One Way”. It is constantly violated. (Red lights are also ignored after hours if there are no police nearby.) I ask myself why, and what spawns discipline in the west for things like this? If you are driving on a quiet road in the US late at night, you are not likely to be “caught” by police if you ignore a “one way,” but I still never saw drivers in the US rampantly violating the signs. It is as though we have all bought into a “pact” of (more or less) obeying the signs and the rules, for the greater good. Or is it because the consequences are clear and worse if you DO get caught in the US, while here it is a “known” that you can buy your way out of it?