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Seeing Red on the Road: Can Car Color Impact Driver Behavior?
It’s a common belief that driving a red car leads to more speeding tickets and higher car insurance rates. However, research from a 2007 study by Monash University in Australia found that red cars are actually slightly less likely to be involved in accidents compared to other colors (black cars were actually most accident prone). The insurance industry also denies that car color comes into play when setting car insurance rates, though they do look at the vehicle make and model. New research from an international team of psychological scientists puts the brakes on another common stereotype about red cars: they elicit more aggressive driving.
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After Drinking, Risky Odds Become More Appealing
St. Patrick’s Day is often one of the deadliest days of the year on U.S. roads. Accompanying the local parades and green hats, a dramatic spike in alcohol-related driving fatalities is often seen during the holiday, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Alcohol not only affects motor skills and reaction times, but it also impacts people’s judgment. One reason that driving drunk is so dangerous: Alcohol increases people’s predilection for risky behavior. A recent study, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, found evidence that as blood alcohol levels spike, people become more likely to indulge in decisions with risky outcomes.
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Does Video Game Driving Translate to Real-World Skills?
Evidence is mounting that playing video games may be one way for people to sharpen a number of cognitive skills. One recent study found that older adults could significantly improve their ability to multi-task after playing a specially designed driving video game called NeuroRacer. Another study from researchers at the University of Rochester found that playing action-packed video games improved people’s ability to make quick decisions and ignore distractions. But can hours spent hunched over a controller translate to real skills on the road?
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Want to Grab Drivers’ Attention? Use Road Signs Showing More Action
On average, car crashes kill an American pedestrian every 2 hours and injure one every 7 minutes, according to statistics from the CDC. A new study suggests changing road signs to depict more motion—a pedestrian running instead of walking—may be one simple way to help prevent potentially dangerous accidents. Across five studies, University of Michigan psychological scientist Luca Cian—along with co-authors Aradhna Krishna and Ryan Elder—found that signs that depicted motion resulted in faster reaction times and increased vigilance among would-be drivers, which could ultimately lead to faster stopping times.
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Simple Maze Test Could Help Identify Drivers’ Accident Risk
A simple 3-minute test may accurately identify older drivers who are at heightened risk of serious accidents because of cognitive decline.
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Driving in Rain, Sleet, or Snow? Cognitive Biases Worsen Winter Driving
This winter much of the United States has been battered by snowstorms and record freezing temperatures. But snowflakes and black ice aren’t the only things making winter roads dangerous -- it’s likely that many drivers succumb to common cognitive biases that lead them to overestimate their skill at handling hazardous road conditions. Psychological scientists have long known that people generally tend to view their skills in optimistic terms—regardless of how their abilities actually hold up in reality.
