Psychology 409a- November
16, 2006
Risky Vehicles,
Risky Agents
By: Jessica Trujillo
Instructions
for this activity are found at:
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. (
Concept #1- Auto Centric Transport
Systems
1)
Our nation as
well as
2)
Problems:
a.
This leaves
little room for other forms of transportation such as bicycles and pedestrians
b.
Bigger and
larger vehicles are becoming increasingly popular
c.
All this road
traffic is the ninth leading cause of death
and injury– there are an estimated 1 million deaths and 40 million
injuries worldwide resulting from motor vehicle accidents
d.
More people
died from traffic accidents then from any of the following;
i.
HIV
ii.
Malaria
iii.
Breast and
Prostate cancer
iv.
Cirrhosis of
the liver
v.
Violence
vi.
War
vii.
Self inflicted
injuries
3)
This concept
is important because as Dr. Leon James states these statistics in the lecture
notes, it is imperative to actually consider the numbers and how important road
safety should be to the public officials, us personally, and the public in
general.
Concept #2- Risky Vehicles
1)
SUVs tend to
overpower smaller vehicles and increase damage and injury however; they
generally afford greater security to its occupants
2)
Risk compensation
theorist have argued that increased crash worthiness may produce a sense of
greater security which in turn can lead drivers to engage in riskier and more
dangerous behavior (provides a false sense of security)
3)
Speed also
plays a huge part because the faster one travels the harder it will hit. It also depends on the crush space the
vehicle has (which is the amount of space that the vehicle affords before it
hits the occupant
4)
This can be
solved with the auto makers creating more vehicles that have a lighter weight.
5)
I choose this
topic because I see that it is so prevalent on the road and when I drive with
people who have larger vehicles there is an obvious sense that “I am bigger and
badder then everyone else”
Links:
1) http://www.suv.org/safety.html-
suv safety concerns
2) http://www.roadsafety.qld.gov.au/qt/LTASinfo.nsf/index/rs_educ_resources_sde_attitudeiseverything - attitude is everything
3) http://www.autocentric.com/
– cars only
Class Homepage: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/classhome-g25.htm
My Homepage: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409af2006/trujillo/trujillo-home.htm