Dear Tipsters,
Well, I realize that "crashing" may be a measure of driver skill, but
there are others. For example, what about behaviour at STOP signs?
Yours truly has conducted some research on this (albeit some years
ago). Here is the result of interest, where Other and No Other means
whether or not other traffic was approaching, and CS, S and Nc =
complete stop, slow, no stop:
Percentages
Other No Other
CS S NS CS S NS
Men
Less than 30 70 21 9 20 60 20
30 to 50 62 33 5 30 56 14
More than 50 43 50 7 43 43 14
Women
Less than 30 66 26 8 23 54 23
30 to 50 79 29 0 19 56 25
More than 50 80 15 5 38 56 6
Comments:
When there is no other traffic, the majority response is to slow down.
When there is other traffic, the majority response is to stop.
Except for men over 50......
Stuart McKelvie
McKelvie, S. J. (1986). An opinion survey and longitudinal study of
driver behaviour at stop signs. Canadian Journal of Behavioural
Science, 18, 75-85.
Date sent: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 10:33:04 -0500
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Crash test
To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences"
<[email protected]>
Priority: normal
Send reply to: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences"
<[email protected]>
> I asked:
>
> Drivers of age 65 or older:
>
> a) drive as safely or more safely than any other age group
> b) have a 10% higher accident rate than any other age group
> c) have a 25% higher accident rate than any other age group
> d) have a 50% higher accident rate than any other age group
> e) are exceeded in accident rate only by the youngest (under age 21)
> drivers
>
> You sent me 18 replies. Unfortunately, only a mere 4 or 22% of the responses
> had
> the correct answer, which was (a). I therefore regret to inform most of you
> that you
> are crash test dummies, which, as Dave Barry is fond of saying, would be a
> great
> name for a rock band. For those with the correct answer, you should be proud!
>
> I must also protest the unfortunate tone of some of your remarks. I've been
> told that
> the answer "would depend" (Chris Green), that the test was "no fair" (Lenore
> Frigo),
> that I was "mean" (Tim Shearon), that there was "a catch" (David Campbell),
> that I
> needed to "define [my] terms" and had "something up my sleeve" (David
> Epstein),
> and that "it might be a trick question" (Miguel Roig). Honestly, do your
> students give
> you such grief? I'm shocked, I tell you, shocked. And I must remind you that
> there
> are no trick questions, only trick answers.
>
> Further to the data, a disturbing 33% of you were unclear on the requirements
> of
> answering a multiple-choice question and provided either no response or more
> than
> one. Do I have to remind you that this is a forced-choice procedure, and if
> you don't
> choose one and only one response, you get zero? And Annette, didn't I say "no
> googling?" How are you going to get anywhere in education if you won't follow
> simple instructions? Fortunately, your googling led you into error, which
> serves you
> right.
>
> The results summary:
>
> Based on all responses (n = 18)
>
> a) = 22%
> b) = 0%
> c) = 0%
> d) = 6%
> e) = 39%
> other = 33%
>
> Omitting "other' responses (n = 12), which richly deserve their zero:
>
> a) = 33%
> b) = 0%
> c) = 0%
> d) = 8%
> e) = 58%
>
> My justification. We've all seen the news reports of elderly people plowing
> into
> pedestrians (there was a bad case in Los Angeles last year, and another in
> Montreal), and these are inevitably followed by calls for getting old folks
> off the
> road. So I was surprised to discover t'aint necessarily so. My source is the
> authoritative British Medical Journal ("Are the media running elderly drivers
> off the
> road?", 2005, 330: 368 (February 12).
>
> Unfortunately, I see that I've just been caught by the new and regrettable
> policy of
> BMJ to restrict access after one week, so I can't sent you there as I was
> intending
> to. I guess I'll just have to copy it out for you by hand. Bother! And please
> remember
> that I know nothing about this matter beyond what it says in the article.
> Don't shoot
> the messenger.
>
> Stephen
> -----------------------
>
> Are the media running elderly drivers off the road?
>
> Drivers over the age of 65 are the safest drivers of any age group. Even the
> commonly cited statistic of a higher risk of crash per kilometre among this
> group has
> been shown to be an artefact: low mileage is intrinsically risky, and studies
> show
> that when this is controlled for the older drivers perform as well as, if not
> better than,
> younger drivers (Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and
> Behaviour
> 2002; 5: 271-4). Despite this evidence many European governments have enacted
> restrictive legislation directed at them.
>
> The negative perception extends to the American Medical Association's 2003
> guideline _Assessing Fitness to Drive in Older People_. Although the
> guideline is
> clinically useful, its preface still emphasizes the "risk" posed by older
> drivers.
>
> Much of the literature on older people's medical fitness to drive
> concentrates on risk
> rather than mobility. Might a negative image of elderly drivers in the media
> be an
> important factor in shaping public and medical opinion on the issue?
>
> To help answer this question we searched the electronic archives of 15 UK and
> Irish national and regional newspapers from January 1999 to May 2004 for
> references to older drivers. We assessed whether the articles were negative
> or
> positive to older drivers or balanced. We identified 51 relevant articles, of
> which we
> independently judged 17 to be negative, four positive, and 30 even handed.
> When
> we excluded brief reports on fatal crashes, we found the results for opinion
> or
> editorial articles to be 15 negative, four positive, and seven balanced.
> Headlines
> included "Keep the over-50s off our M-ways," "Old dear trashes 7 cars," "MP
> calls
> for old to get special licences,", "Silly old buggy," and "Fanatic speed cop
> targets
> old folk".
>
> Newspaper reporting of issues relating to older drivers in the United Kingdom
> and
> Ireland is largely negative in content and is at variance with the evidence.
> The
> potential consequences of such representation are to distort the political
> and
> societal context within which doctors practice medicine and promote healthy
> ageing.
> The media reflect and shape public opinion. In particular, the media can
> influence
> the public's perception of health related issues. One example is the
> inordinately
> high level of success with cardiopulmonary resuscitation in television series
> such as
> ER (_New England Journal of Medicine_ 1966: 344 1578-82).
>
> This leaves professionals with two tasks. Firstly they need to be mindful of
> such
> prejudices when dealing with individual patients. When they are discussing
> resuscitation with their patients they should consider the unrealistic
> survival rate of
> cardiopulmonary resuscitation portrayed on television. So too, when
> discussing
> driving ability with older patients--and in particular with their
> relatives--doctors need
> to take into account the negative perception of older drivers among the
> general
> public and to strive to ensure that the mobility of older people is not
> prematurely
> and unnecessarily curtailed.
>
> The second task is for our professional bodies--doctors, geriatricians,
> transport
> planners--to work with journalists and opinion formers to educate them and
> make
> them aware that the major concern with transport and health for older people
> is
> usually access to transport rather than the imagined threat that older
> drivers
> represent to other road users. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and
> Development has recommended just such an approach (Ageing and Transport:
> Mobility Needs and Safety Issues, 2001), emphasizing the need for information
> campaigns that prioritize mobility over risk. New medical curriculums are
> already
> well oriented to social and behavioural sciences; a brief taste of media
> studies may
> help doctors understand and combat negative perceptions among the public that
> shape their work environment.
>
> Alan Martin, registrar, Lucy Balding, house officer, Desmond O'Neill,
> associate
> professor
>
> department of medical gerontology, Adelaide and Meath Hospital, Dublin 24,
> Ireland
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> ----------------------------
>
> Whew! There are also three _Rapid Responses_ but I can't access them.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
> Department of Psychology fax:(819) 822-9661
> Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7
> Canada
>
> Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
> TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at
> http://faculty.frostburg.edu/psyc/southerly/tips/index.htm
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
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Stuart J. McKelvie, Ph.D., Phone: (819)822-9600
Chairperson, Extension 2402
Department of Psychology,
Bishop's University, Fax: (819)822-9661
3 Route 108 East,
Borough of Lennoxville, E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sherbrooke,
Quebec J1M 1Z7, Canada.
Bishop's University Psychology Department Web Page:
http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
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