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Music in the Car Can Cause Teen Drivers to Tune Out
Using a cell phone while driving is a recipe for disaster, but study results suggest that the music teens listen to may also have a hazardous influence on their driving.
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Finding the Way to a Better Sense of Direction
Some people just seem to have an innate sense of direction; they never need to ask how to get somewhere or forget where they parked. Then there’s those of us who would be utterly lost in our own neighborhood without the help of GPS and turn-by-turn directions. A team of psychological scientists from Tufts University and the U.S. Army may have found one way to improve a shaky sense of direction: applying an electric current to the brain. The research team, led by Tad T.
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Teen Brains Shift Gears on Risk with Mom Watching
From dangerous driving to drug use, numerous studies have shown that teens are far more likely to engage in a slew of risky behaviors when they’re with peers than when they’re alone. For example, studies conducted by Laurence Steinberg of Temple University demonstrated that teens—who are already among the most risk-prone drivers to begin with—are even more likely to take risks behind the wheel when peers are present. However, new research from a team of psychological scientists from the University of Illinois demonstrates that parents, as well as peers, can also significantly influence a teen driver’s behavior.
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Real-Time Data May Be the Best Backseat Driver
New technology is allowing auto insurers to offer insurance models that can use an individual’s real-time driving behavior rather than actuarial tables to help determine their insurance costs. Several major insurance companies now offer Pay-As-You-Drive insurance (PAYD), where insurance fees are directly linked to an individual driver’s real world behavior. So, even if a driver is in a traditionally high-risk group, say teenage drivers, they can lower their insurance fees by demonstrating good behavior behind the wheel.
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Negative Emotional Cues Send Drivers to Distraction
Driver distraction is one of the leading causes of motor vehicle accidents. In 2013 alone, 3,154 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Obvious distractions, like talking on a cell phone, can contribute to accidents by physically diverting a driver’s attention away from the road. But scientists are finding that more subtle emotional cues in our environment can also have a potentially dangerous influence on attention and, ultimately, our driving behavior.
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Old (Commuting) Habits Die Hard
Convincing people to switch from driving their car to taking the bus to work isn’t easy. But when the environmental charity group WWF announced that it would be moving its United Kingdom headquarters to another town, psychological scientists Ian Walker, Gregory O. Thomas, and Bas Verplanken of the University of Bath saw a golden opportunity for studying the influence of habit on commuting behavior. Commuting the same way day after day, people don’t typically weigh the particular pros and cons of different modes of transit. Rather, people tend to carefully weigh their options when they first start using a particular route.
