Lecture 24- Traffic Psychology Flashcards
What is traffic psychology? Why is it important?
It’s understanding how we can improve transport behaviour based on psychology/ studying behaviour
It’s very important because crashes are a leading cause of death. From the perspective of traffic psychology all these deaths were preventable.
What’s the difference between engineering and traffic psychology + can you just focus on one (what do studies show)?
Good engineering is necessarily but not sufficient we also need to look at the psychology/ behaviour of those who are using the engineering
As time has gone on and engineering got better we still crash and we pretty much crash for the same reasons as before. This cause engineering assumes humans are perfect it tells us how we should behave but doesn’t necessarily reflect how we actually will.
Are human factors and traffic psychology the same?
Human factors focuses on more the engineering side (the tech)
While traffic psychology focuses on the individual and their behaviour in driving situations.
Both fields compliment each other well.
What did the 2020 lock downs show?
There was a huge dip in the number of people on the roads and subsequently the death toll. However, it didn’t completely eliminate driving related deaths + injuries and we have to remember that it came at a cost. The mobility that driving gives us is valuable and something we take for granted
What fields of psychology does traffic psychology draw on?
Many
- Can come at it from more of a social psychology perspective
- Or from more of a cognitive/ neuroscience perspective i.e. perceptual interventions
What are raised or 3D crossings an example of? What are the pros of this kind of thing, what might be the con?
Crossing stand out more mean more likely to slow down…. but could also distract or depending on the design of the crossing cause confusion about the appropriate protocol (create difference can draw the idea but there is also a reason why uniform is good to get people following rules).
What are two examples of successful perceptual interventions on our road? What is the basic ideology behind them?
Having lines come in from the sides makes the lane appear smaller and therefore people are more likely to be careful/ slow down
Lane markings guiding individuals to correct passing lanes and normal lane. Would have to cross a line to actually pass so lane remains effect with fewer people going into it as opposed to having equal ‘choice’.
Ideology: In perfect world roads would tell us what to do and would naturally know where to drive, wouldn’t need a whole bunch of signs/ instructions
Is driver education and training the same thing?
No
- Driver education= acquiring knowledge about driving (broader, theoretical, over longer period)
- Driver training= practice procedural skills. Training can occur before or after get license. Before is more basic, after is focused on enhancing the skills you already have (often in the form of defensive driving). Often post training is more cognitive like how do we improve our awareness or consciousness on the road?
Is post license driving training optional?
Depends, in theory yes but then some jobs also require it.
Incentives can also be provided like lessening the amount of time you need to be on restricted.
What is a major equity concern in terms of defensive driving courses?
They cost a lot of money. This increases the gap between rich and poor especially if it’s something required for employment.
In the DeKalb study in what conditions/ interventions did participants out perform each other i.e. which driver training method was most effective? What did the review of these findings suggest?
- Control group with random allocation was worse (no training)
- Pre-driving licensing (PDL) enforcing 20 hours in total and 1 hour on road was next
- Then the safe performance curriculum (SPC) with 70 hours in total and 3 hours and 20 mins on the road
Review of this found they didn’t take into account the confounding factors. The SPC and PDL groups were more likely to obtain their license earlier but there is some suggestion that the SPC group wasn’t that safe when actually driving (should we through out training? Who knows?)
What were the confounds and limitations of the DeKalb study?
Limitations:
- Program content
- Insufficient piloting
Confounds=
- Accelerated licensure
- Increased exposure
What is skid training? Is it effective?
- Skid training= Vehicle handling training in snow, ice and rain to avoid a crash
- Key take away is that the program design matters!
- Those who did skid training were sometimes over confident that they could handle bad road conditions even when they safely couldn’t and in this case skid training may even be damaging or dangerous
What do the slides mean when they say motivation matters with regards to cutting the license time down? What study shows this?
- The NZ drivers study shows that of the 49% who did a defensive driving course 85% did it in order to get their full license sooner, 4% did it to improve knowledge and just 2% did it to make themselves safer drivers
- When there drivers were followed up to keep their driving ability safety on the road the overall crash rates for those that did the training and those that didn’t do the training were the same (defensive driving doesn’t appear to have much of an effect). However, within the group of those that did driving training those that did it training but not for the time discount were the safest
What are two potential explanations for the finding that those that did the driver training but not for a time discount were the safest drivers and what does this say about the effectiveness of driver training?
- It could be personal differences i.e. those that took the driver training but not the time discount are just more conscientious people that care more about safety
- Or alternatively it might be doing the training is good but having less time if you take the time discount wipes out it’s benefit (i.e. you need time to practice your skills).
