PSYCHOLOGY 409A April 8, 2006

Outline 8:

THE INFLUENCEOF CAR TYPE ON DRIVERS’ RISK TAKING

By Lincoln James Whyte

Reference 11: www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_rdsafety/documents/page/dft_rdsafety_504575-03.hcsp

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

Concept 1: How the car we drive effects our driving

There are many factors that are correlated with how we drive, even the type of car we drive:

• Drivers with studded tires drive faster in icy conditions
• Taxi drivers with anti-lock break systems follow cars ahead closer
• Drive at higher speeds when internal noise reduced
• Drivers pull out in front of  other cars with smaller gaps when in a faster accelerating car
• Drivers of heavier cars may drive faster and at closer distances to vehicles in front of them
• Higher performance vehicles are driven faster

Because these factors may be correlated with riskiness of driving and likelihood of an accident do not imply that they are the cause. That is why a study has been done by Horswill and Coster in the UK to test what is behind making people speed, the person or the vehicle. Below in concept 2 are the results and brief overview of the study.

Concept 2: Reason why higher performance vehicles are driven faster

There are 2 possible reasons why higher performance vehicles are driven faster

1) People who want to drive fast by fast cars

-In the study done (described in the reference), subjects were given a theoretical situation in which they would be driving a certain car, and to choose how fast they would drive it. Subjects intended to drive the higher performance vehicle faster than the lower performance vehicle showing that driver personality (speeding intentions) was not the sole reason for driving fast ie. People who want to drive faster buy faster cars

2) Fast cars encourage faster driving

- To test this, researchers set up a theoretical situation in which subjects would be buying one of six cars of equal value and were given specifications of the vehicles. Also the type of car the subject currently drove was looked at. They found that the performance of the car they already owned had an influence on their speed, based on tickets and a speeding questionnaire. Also those who seem to be more risk taking bought higher performance cars (despite lower safety and reliability) in the theoretical situation.

Thus they concluded that the source of speeding is both in our personality and in the type of car we drive. One problem though is that in real life faster cars usually have better handling, and more safety features and drives more smoothly. They conducted a follow up study to test these and other things and found that lower internal car noise (believed to increase speed unintentionally), higher performance and more safety features led to higher risk taking.

They also note that increased safety features may encourage some to drive more dangerously and that considerations need to be made with human behavior feedback when designing vehicle characteristics.

Related Links:

1) Car Stereotypes

http://emsix.blogspot.com/2005/04/car-stereotypes.html

It is common knowledge that many cars are aimed at a specific target driver. Risk taking and speed/ performance of a vehicle are often the main marketing pitch in trying to sell to young male drivers. This would lead one to assume that the personality of a driver, such ask risk seeking, would lead them to buy a faster car.

2) Drivers of luxury cars 'speed more often'

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=181&art_id=vn20060321002401506C531663

This link is from South Africa and shows that BMW drivers are caught speeding the most. This is the type of statistic that makes people ask whether people who like to speed buy faster cars, or the cars that are capable of faster speeds encourage people to test the vehicle to its capabilities.  

3) The truth about driver stereotypes

http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/iw/stereotype.htm

This article talks about what most people assume. The type of car you drive is a reflection of your personality and your budget of course. The police officer in this article was quoted saying they do not target any particular type of car, but if it was true that faster cars encourage speeding, then targeting these higher performance cars wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

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