PSY 409a, December 2, 2006

Driving Lessons: Risky Vehicles, Risky Agents

By Melissa Mills

Instructions for this activity are found at: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/g25-oral1.htm

Instructor: Dr. Leon James

Peter Rothe, Editor (2002). Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make Traffic Safer. (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press). Reviewing pages 105-120

I. Autocentric Transport Systems

A. Dominate human mobility in developed world and expanding in the developing world.

B. Characterized b y a high dependence on the automobile for daily transport and alternative modes of mobility are neglected.

C. US most autocentric transport system in the world.

II. Auto Infrastructure- Autocentric transportation systems

A. A built environment of roadways, parking and support facilities.

B. Commands a big amount of land that is not shared by other transport modalities.

C. Auto traffic dominates all transport space

D. Autocentric transport system definition includes system whose infrastructures dominate social space.

E. Vehicles require a vast network of roads as well as storage, fuel, and repair facilities

F.. Organizations are designed as a result of

1. Police departments

2. Departments of highway and transport

3. Department of motor vehicles.

III.Fatalities and Injuries

A. Estimated 999,000 traffic deaths in the world in 1990.

B. Represents 2% of all deaths and was the ninth leading cause of death.

C. Vulnerable demographic groups

1. Males 15-44 leading cause of death

D. By 2002, the worldwide death toll from traffic accidents is expected to rise to about 2.3 million.

E. A good proportion of motor vehicle fatalities are not occupants of the automobile

1. Pedestrians and bicyclists account for 19.3% of all traffic fatalities.

IV. Hard Vehicles

A. large and heavy vehicles capable of moving at high speed.

1. SUV’s

2. greater protection for their occupants

3. greater impact on other cars

V. Two Properties of the Monopoly

A. Hard means of mobility “risky vehicles”

1. They dominate traffic space

B. Soft means of mobility are vulnerable and disadvantaged in their use of public space

C. The new ‘harder’ hyper-automobility

1. Larger and heavier vehicles dominate traffic space

2. Saturate public places

VI. Auto Safety has improved but the decreases in fatality rates have to be placed within a larger context. The absolute number of deaths remains high

A. Increased safety has been counter balanced by increased auto usage

B. Increased safety causes increased risk-taking

VII. Risky Vehicles

A. Harder vehicles, despite being safer to drive, have a greater impact on other smaller vehicles

1. While auto-safety regulations and more crashworthy cars have helped to decrease fatality rates for drivers, they may have had some negative effects on non vehicle occupants

2. Risk compensation theorists argue that increased crashworthiness may produce a sense of greater security which leads drivers to engage in riskier behavior

VIII.Three components (Agents)

A. The spatio-temporal relationships among vehicles or platforms

B. Drivers and other vehicle occupants

C. Non-occupants

D. When a car collides with an SUV (soft vehicle and a hard vehicle) the car is 13 times more likely to be killed than the SUV

E. Autocentric transport systems favor hard means of mobility

1. Cars embody cultural meanings of speed, power, and invulnerability. These meanings are considerations in auto design.

IX.Risky Agents

A. The application of technology to the routines of daily life involves intensive and extensive use of complex and potentially dangerous inventions

1. Driving at high speeds

2. Maneuvering through traffic

3. Managing movement as a pedestrian through transport space

B. No one is always perfect

1. A significant latent reason for traffic accidents is the autocentric transport system itself

A. A system that demands an unrealistically high and constant level of human functioning

B. This demand leaves less psychological space and time for other states of mind like

I, Playfulness

Ii. Daydreaming

2. There are always a certain number of people driving who should not be

C. Altered consciousness

1. Drugs

A. Contribute to impairments and risky behavior

2. Alcohol

A. Chemically caused psychomotor incompetence

3. Driver Fatigue

My Homepage:

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409af2006/mills/mills-home.htm

Class web page:

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/classhome-g25.htm