EXTRA CREDIT:

Question 8: Search the Web and the University of Hawaii Library Electronic Resources of full text journals to find out what is known about risk and driving. Do drivers have a preferred or usual level of risk? Why do drivers take more risks when better safety features are added to the automobile? What is known about personality factors and taking risks while driving? How is the topic of risk integrated in accident analysis, legislation, and driver education?

In the Risk Homeostasis Theory of Wilde, it is believed that people have a target level of risk that conducts their behavior. The purpose of this was to find out whether there is a systematic individual differences in this level of risk and the corresponding driver behaviors. Based on the score on the Sensation Seeking Scale of Zuckerman, people do not differ from each other with respect to their target level of risk, but that in order to achieve this target level of risk people show systematic differences in behavior.

Another experiment was conducted about risk and driving. Drivers were measured for a range of driving activities such as speed choice, following distance, gap acceptance, and overtaking. Half of the applicants were told to visualize they were driving the vehicle, and the other half were told to envision they were passengers. Participants who were told to imagine they were driving chose faster pace than did those who were told to imagine they were passengers. Differences for the other risk-taking measures were not significant. For speed choice, it was said that an illusion of being in charge was in action, such that those who were in control, which were the drivers were comfortable with a higher level of risk than those who were not in control, which were the passengers.

There is an indication that drivers do take more risks when vehicles have better and safer characteristics. A good example of this would be ABS or the anti-lock braking system. Drivers with ABS brakes have been found to drive significantly closer to the car in front. A whole lot more are mentioned but from my perspective, drivers take these safety features for granted because they know that these characteristics are made for saving lives when it comes to mishaps. They know to buy these expensive cars for their features but what they don’t realize is that accidents are inevitable. They don’t realize that these may or may not work at some certain level of misfortune. There is always that possibility that you wouldn’t make it and drivers should always be aware of that.

It is quite known that your personality correlates with the risks in driving behavior. If a person grew up in an aggressive family, that person would also grow up in an aggressive manner, and with that said, that person’s driving habits would also be aggressive. When you see your parents drive with aggression, you as a kid would absorb this reflexively, and as you grow older, you would unconsciously drive as how your parents used to drive.

Teenagers are mainly the ones taking risks while driving. Initially, peer pressure is present in driving and almost all teenagers are familiar with this. Having to drive faster than everyone else, not stopping at stop signs, driving as fast as what the car is capable of doing, and just having to show off what the car can do are just a few that a teenager experiences while driving. A teen has to manage all of these in order to fit in with the “in crowd” so that he or she will be accepted. Teenagers take this risk even if they know it can endanger their own and others’ lives.

Being at risk is integrated in accident analysis, legislation, and driver education. First of all, legislation are laws that officials put together for the public in order to lessen accidents in highways. Some of the rules formulated are traffic lights, stop signs, yields, etc. Following these would make driving in highways go smoothly and less fatal. With driver education, people who are just starting to drive would be educated about driving. Precautions would be observed and this would alleviate risks while driving. Learning safety habits before driving is essential and everyone should and must go through driver’s education before steering behind the wheel. Lastly, accident analysis focuses on analyzing how accidents take place. Assuming what and how everything happened and the risks involved is exactly like the scenario analysis. Seeing what has taken place and the interaction can give you enough details to reconstruct what has happened. The risks that you would encounter while reconstructing the incident would make you realize the consequences of what could’ve, should’ve, would’ve happened.