PSYCHOLOGY 409A, February 13, 2006

Outline 3:

The Effects of Intimate Social Lives on Driving

By Lincoln James Whyte 

Nash, Jefrfrey & Brinker, Gary. Family and Friends: How Intamate Social Life Contributes to Risky Driving.  In Rothe, J. Peter (ed.), Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make Traffic Safer (pp.65-75). Edmonton: University of Alberta Press.

Instructions for this activity are found at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/g24-oral1.htm
Instructor: Dr. Leon James

Topic 1:  Intimate Social Lives and its Effects on Driving

The social interactions that take place during accidents are often overlooked and it is these social interactions that may be the cause of many accidents

Intimate social life- Social selves are made up of the attributes we give to ourselves and those that we believe others give to us. How we project ourselves to maintain those attributes around our friends and family make up our intimate social lives. The behaviors of an individual are often influenced by the setting we are in and who is around us. The changes in behavior that our social intimate lives create are usually harmless and can even help us, but when changes occur to our driving it can lead to disaster.

Examples of driving behaviors that change when with friends rather than when alone:

- listening to music louder

- driving faster than normal

- not wearing a seatbelt

- drinking and driving

- not signaling to make a turn or change lanes

In many cases the changes occur in an attempt to impress others or to try to fit in.

Mixed or confounding social forms

- describes the mix of a formal form, such as driving, with an intimate form, such as socializing with friends, which leads to risky driving behaviors

- the ease associated with driving modern cars (power steering, automatic transmission, cruise control, etc) puts the driver in a position where he/ she can be more easily distracted by modern technologies found in cars (advanced stereos, TV’s, navigation systems etc.) or by their social interactions with their passengers

- the juggling between the two forms leads to lapses in attention

- with experience the juggling can become easier

- One reason why it is believed that young drivers have more accidents caused by the mixed and confounding forms is that they tend to spend more time in their cars as a means of hanging out with friends and socializing (i.e. cruising)

Topic 2: Springfield, Missouri Telephone Survey

The results cannot tell us exactly what happens when formal and intimate forms are mixed while driving but it gives insight as to what types of thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors occur with certain types of drivers.

Results from this and other studies show that younger drivers tend to be more preoccupied with their social lives than the formal activity of driving. These results were found by the higher number of younger respondents reporting of committing aggressive acts while driving, and more lenient attitudes towards traffic laws.

Table 5.1 Relationships between general sociability questions and predictor variables (p.72)

Youth

- less likely to  require passengers to wear seatbelts (more so with lower income youth, and more for men than women)

- more likely to use cell phones while driving (more so with more affluent youth)

- drive “all over town” as opposed to specific routes

- oppose a ban on “cruising”

- oppose use of roadblocks to catch drunk drivers (more so with men than women)

It is not implied that age is the cause of crashes but that they are more likely to engage in multiple social interactions that distract them from driving safely.

Table 5.2 Relationships between aggressive driver questions and predictor variables (p.73)

- Youth were much more likely to exhibit the aggressive driving behaviors

- Insignificant correlation between gender, income and education

Table 5.3 Relationships between aggressive driver behavior and predictor variables by gender (p. 74)

- Aggression in females seems to decrease more with age than with males

Much more work is needed to be done to fully understand the relationship that mixed and confounding forms have on a drivers risky operation of a motor vehicle.

Related Links:

1) Fatal accidents higher for teens with passengers in the car.

http://mentalhealth.about.com/library/archives/0300/blteendr300.htm?once=true&

I chose this link because it talks about the increased number of accidents for teen drivers when they have passengers in the car. This article states that the increase in accidents does not occur when adults have passengers in the car. One of the possible reasons for the increase could be due to peer pressure. There is also higher accident rates when male passengers are present than with female passengers. A proposed solution to this problem is a graduated license program which limits the number of passengers allowed in a new driver’s vehicle.

2) Tips for preventing distracted driving accidents.

http://www.luhs.org/depts/injprev/Transprt/tran1-03.htm

This link provides a list of tips to help prevent you from getting into an automobile accident because of being distracted. One of the main focuses of the link is on the distraction caused by cell phone use while driving which is a cause of an increasing number of accidents.

3) Risky driving by youths and gender differences.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2248/is_156_39/ai_n9487159

In this link they talk about different risky behaviors that young drivers take part in and they also have a section about the gender differences in aggressive driving which is a further source of information that young males are more likely to engage in risky driving behaviors. One thing that I would also like to note is that it is not young drivers per se that are more likely to get into accident s but new drivers in general.

My Home Page: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409as2006/whyte/home.htm

G24 Class Home Page: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/classhome-g24.htm