psychology of driving, traffic, sustainable transport

JuliusCaesar

I've posted this elsewhere, but might be interesting for those whose interest is in the broader field of psychology: transport psychology for information on driver behaviour.

JuliusCaesar

What road users think of each other.

krd

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

What road users think of each other.

What Dr. Christmas (wonderful name) and Helman seem to be saying, is car drivers see themselves as the upper-class in comparison to cyclists (the lower class)

Some drivers believe because of their social status, they literally own the road. And cyclists have no right to be on it. Unless, they wear blonde wigs.

Moral Models. Snobbery leads to more dangerous roads.

If it's a psychological angle, then it's saying these people are not only insane behind the wheel - they're insane all the time.

The malaise runs much deeper.

Right-wing personality disorder.

I'm no brain surgeon but with a little experimentation I think I could cure it. At least render it's sufferers less harmful to the general public.

JuliusCaesar

krd wrote: »

What Dr. Christmas (wonderful name) and Helman seem to be saying, is car drivers see themselves as the upper-class in comparison to cyclists (the lower class)

Some drivers believe because of their social status, they literally own the road. And cyclists have no right to be on it. Unless, they wear blonde wigs.

Moral Models. Snobbery leads to more dangerous roads.

If it's a psychological angle, then it's saying these people are not only insane behind the wheel - they're insane all the time.

The malaise runs much deeper.

Right-wing personality disorder.

I'm no brain surgeon but with a little experimentation I think I could cure it. At least render it's sufferers less harmful to the general public.

?

NO idea what your point is - can you elucidate?

krd

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

?

NO idea what your point is - can you elucidate?

Elucidate, indeed I can.

I read the paper - I hope we read the same paper. Sometimes it can be like going to the cinema with someone, and then talking with them afterwards, and it's like you were at two completely different films - puzzled head shaking and eye squinting. Like they were playing Farmville on Facebook, and Twittering their friends with their i-phone, while you were watching the film.

The paper nearly reads as a Marxist analysis of road use and safety, as political and social struggle. The paper even quotes a London cyclist as saying "it's a war out there". Is that just a figure of speech - or is there a real war out there.

To avoid being explicitly political, authors use the term "moral models" to describe the internal mental processes driving the bad behaviour of drivers. The "moral model" of the badly behaved motorist, is driven by a sense of status and privilege. They're angry with buses and cyclists as they believe these lower class people have no right to be on their road. They have a malignant sense of self worth, that makes them behave malignantly.

The authors' prescription for safer roads, is the moral models have to change - but that goal is pretty wide reaching.

They're looking for some classless Utopia. Where there are no antagonisms.

There are material reasons why class counts. You may be frozen out of economic opportunities for not being the right "fit" (in other words class). Higher status individuals believe they have an automatic right and privilege to abuse and exploit lower status individuals - they even feel compelled, as they believe they are helping to protect their ingroup from the lower class outgroup .

So, people go to extreme lengths to display their membership of the higher status group. The most expensive car they can afford, the house bought more for the price tag than any other reason, the clothes, the pompousness (in walking, talking, facial gestures, the works).

Now, the interesting thing about Ireland. We're dominated by the same malignant and noxious ideas of social class as anywhere else. To be seen cycling a bike to work or wherever, is seen to be a "failure" - someone only worthy of contempt. The JCDecaux scheme has worked, because those bikes are seen as having a status cachet - they're like i-phones (and in fact you'll see many people who cycle these bikes prominently displaying some Apple product) You also need a credit card to ride them. So they are displays of status. They say about the rider "I am successful. And I care about the environment. And I'm not a disgusting verminous poor person."


During the boom years millions of miles of cycle paths were built throughout the country in the most absurd places. Built by big pompous bow legged manly men in hi-viz jackets, who not only would not be caught dead on a bicycle, but wouldn't even be seen driving a "woman's" car. I'm sorry, I do not like these people. I have never met a single one in my entire life who wasn't a stuck up arsehole - and I believe my assessment of their character is pretty fair. The cycle paths were built to make these guys rich. So they could afford big 4x4s. Because they're the upper-class. They're looked after with boondongles. Nothing to do with "sustainability" or the environment.

An interesting paper Dr. Christmas cites in the references.

Mazzella, R. & Feingold, A. (1994). The Effects of Physical Attractiveness, Race, Socioeconomic Status, and Gender of Defendants and Victims on Judgments of Mock Jurors: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 24(15):
1315–1338.


Are you now enlightened?