Outline of My First Oral Presentation
Risky Vehicles, Risky Agents
This is a presentation of Driving Lessons; Exploring Systems that Make Traffic Safer, by J. Peter Rothe, Pages 105-119
by Peter E.S. Freund & George T. Martin
By Vanessa Rodriguez
I. Autocentric Transport Systems
A. Autocentric transport systems= transport scheme consisting of high reliance and domination on the auto for daily transport while neglecting alternative means of mobility. They also dominate systems whose infrastructures control social space.
1. Auto traffic tends to dominate all transport space, and other means of mobility (walking, bicycling) are subordinated to its demands.
B. Social cognition: In-group (us) vs. out-group bias (them)
1. Out-group homogeneity (illusion)= tendency to perceive members of an out-group (other means of mobility) as more homogeneous than in-group (automobility).
-putting and keeping down the underdog assists downward comparison
C. Education: Need to change attitude on autocentric transport systems. (on all levels- affective, cognitive, and behavioral)
-Educate children as well college students concerning if one keeps depending on autocentric transport systems…
1. Air pollution
2. Car accidents
3. Lack of exercise
- perhaps we should carpool more and not make so many individual trips.
II. Risky Vehicles: The Ecology of Vulnerability
A. “Hard” means of mobility: large and heavy vehicles capable of moving at high speed.
1. US and Canada harder forms of automobility (such as sport-utility vehicles [SUV]) are becoming increasingly dominant.
2. Speed= premier cultural icon of modern societies and is a valorized feature of autos.
B. “Soft” means of mobility: vulnerable, disadvantaged in their use of public space.
1. Human bodies (pedestrian, bicyclist), lighter vehicles
C. Psycho-aesthetic: desire and appeal for size and power coincide with the fact that such vehicles are more profitable and accepted
1. “Need for personal space”= one’s private space within a public arena
2. Conformity= informational social influence and normative social influence
D. Need clearance to own SUV…radar on highway to stay within the same speed 5-15 mph difference depending on lane…separate highway for bicyclists and pedestrians.
III. Risky Agents: The Politics of Consciousness
A. “Constricting test of concentration”= constant and narrow state of consciousness that driving and moving in space require.
1. License as symbolic
2. Sobriety
3. “Normal distraction”
4. Emotional stability
5. Socio-economic
6. Human error
B. Automatic Processing= performing a task or processing information in a seemingly effortless, automatic, and nonconscious manner.
D. Educate children on importance of constant sobriety and improved psychomotor fitness… classes on how to drive impaired
http://www.transalt.org/ http://www.irows.ucr.edu/cd/courses/10/reader/latprime/latprim.htmhttp://www.carfree.com/book/
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2004/rodriguez/home.htm
Statistics you should know!!
1. The world toll from motor vehicle accidents in 1990 was estimated at about 1 million deaths and 40 million injuries. This represents two percent of all deaths and was the ninth leading cause of death.
2. More people died from traffic accidents than from any one of the following causes of death: sexually transmitted diseases; HIV; malaria; breast and prostate cancers; cirrhosis of the liver; violence; war; or self-inflicted injuries.
3. Road accidents are the leading cause of death for males aged 15-44.
4. In US between 1977-1995, the number of vehicles in household increased by a modest 12 percent, while the daily vehicles trips per household increased by 61 percent and the daily vehicle miles increased by 65 percent.
5. In the US motor vehicle accidents are the largest single trauma induced cause of paraplegia and quadriplegia, as well as being a major cause of epilepsy and head injury.
6. In 1992, 47.2 percent of all accidental deaths resulted from motor-vehicle crashes.
7. Pedestrians and cyclists accounted for 19.3 percent of all traffic fatalities in US.
8. US National Safety Council estimates that the risk of fatality roughly doubles for each 10 miles per hour of added speed over 50mph.
9. About one-half of the deaths on US roads are partly or totally the result of some driver losing emotion control.
10. Violent aggressive driving seems to be increasing- by 7 percent a year- while such causes of death as drunken driving are decreasing.
The Year 2020
1. World Health Organization estimated that heart disease, depression and auto accidents will overtake infectious diseases as the leading cause of death and disability.
2. Death from traffic accidents will increase as poorer nations become more autocentric in their transport systems at the same time that the proportion of young adults in their population (those at most risk) grows larger.
3. World wide death toll form traffic accidents is expected to rise from 1 million to about 2.3 million.
Statistics you should know!!
1. The world toll from motor vehicle accidents in 1990 was estimated at about 1 million deaths and 40 million injuries. This represents two percent of all deaths and was the ninth leading cause of death.
2. More people died from traffic accidents than from any one of the following causes of death: sexually transmitted diseases; HIV; malaria; breast and prostate cancers; cirrhosis of the liver; violence; war; or self-inflicted injuries.
3. Road accidents are the leading cause of death for males aged 15-44.
4. In US between 1977-1995, the number of vehicles in household increased by a modest 12 percent, while the daily vehicles trips per household increased by 61 percent and the daily vehicle miles increased by 65 percent.
5. In the US motor vehicle accidents are the largest single trauma induced cause of paraplegia and quadriplegia, as well as being a major cause of epilepsy and head injury.
6. In 1992, 47.2 percent of all accidental deaths resulted from motor-vehicle crashes.
7. Pedestrians and cyclists accounted for 19.3 percent of all traffic fatalities in US.
8. US National Safety Council estimates that the risk of fatality roughly doubles for each 10 miles per hour of added speed over 50mph.
9. About one-half of the deaths on US roads are partly or totally the result of some driver losing emotion control.
10. Violent aggressive driving seems to be increasing- by 7 percent a year- while such causes of death as drunken driving are decreasing.
The Year 2020
1. World Health Organization estimated that heart disease, depression and auto accidents will overtake infectious diseases as the leading cause of death and disability.
2. Death from traffic accidents will increase as poorer nations become more autocentric in their transport systems at the same time that the proportion of young adults in their population (those at most risk) grows larger.
3. World wide death toll form traffic accidents is expected to rise from 1 million to about 2.3 million.