[brooksby]

‘Motonormativity’: Britons more accepting of driving-related risk
Allowance made for dangers that would not be accepted in other parts of life, finds study with potentially major policy implications

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/17/motonormativity-britons-more-accepting-driving-related-risk

Topic

[Rezis]

I dread the day everyone is

I dread the day everyone is setting off at roundabouts in cars that do 0-60 in 2 seconds…

[JustTryingToGetFromAtoB]

I might be on my own on this
I might be on my own on this one, but I generally think car alarms are pointless and anti-social. Even if it’s your own alarm going off I don’t think anyone’s first thought is that their car is being nicked, but that the alarm is on the blink.

Also, and this will be a very unpopular opinion, I think cars being nicked is generally less important than a lot of other belongings despite the expense. They are insured, you can get another one. Hell yes it’s inconvenient but it generally isn’t the end of the world.

[hawkinspeter]

Awavey wrote:

Awavey wrote:

Well I thought Walkers previous studies were hopelessly flawed, so I’ve no faith this one is any better. For a start I’d argue the questions if they are as the gruaniad have documented, are leading questions, and how a person answers depends wholly on their interpretation not necessarily their view that its safer to breath exhaust fumes than cigarette smoke. I also dont think anyone one interprets belongings left on a street in the same way as a locked car with a burglar alarm left on a street.

I don’t understand why you think they are leading questions.

The questions themselves are less important than the very clear distinction between motor-related issues and non-motor-related issues. However, I would agree that the car/property on the street is probably the poorest example as cars are generally worth a lot more than other items of property, although it does raise the question of why it is normalised to leave private cars on public roads.

I’d consider the smoking/pollution question to be directly comparable and clearly shows how thinking about traffic/cars is skewed.

[giff77]

Even with the minor tinkering

Even with the minor tinkering many motorists and their lobbyists wring their hands in dismay with claims of a “war on the motorist”, “infringement of freedom”, “cash raising” ad nauseum. It never crosses their mind that current restrictions are being enforced or new ones introduced due to their irresponsible behaviour behind the wheel. 

[Awavey]

Well I thought Walkers
Well I thought Walkers previous studies were hopelessly flawed, so I’ve no faith this one is any better.

For a start I’d argue the questions if they are as the gruaniad have documented, are leading questions, and how a person answers depends wholly on their interpretation not necessarily their view that its safer to breath exhaust fumes than cigarette smoke. I also dont think anyone one interprets belongings left on a street in the same way as a locked car with a burglar alarm left on a street.

[SlowOldSteve]

Many years ago when I was

Many years ago when I was working , I did an accident investigation course and it was pointed out how the public find a plane crash unacceptable yet several plane crashes worth of people die on the road every year and this is accepted as “normal”. 40 plus years on nothing has really changed,  a bit of minor tinkering but nothing significant.  Excess or inappropriate speed is a factor in most accidents yet we continue to make vehicles faster. Most electric cars have staggering acceleration. Strange world! Safe pedaling all.

[JustTryingToGetFromAtoB]

peted76 wrote:

peted76 wrote:

What an interesting article, ‘normativity’ – every day is a school day.

Martin73, in what could be described as his magnum opus, sticking up for car drivers again and finding his own way to troll an article which isn’t even on this site.. As well as totally misinterpreting/misdirecting the analogy used in a weak attempt to dupe us into talking about car ownership, which was comparing ‘smoking’ to ‘car fumes’ and use, not car ownership and the rights thereof.

Just a PBU doing what a PBU does

[JustTryingToGetFromAtoB]

As I commented on the other
As I commented on the other thread, there is nothing surprising in here. Uk society is widely accepting of commonplace and widespread illegality when it comes to motor vehicles despite it killing and maiming tens of thousands each year and despite some of the most vocal “motor rights” voices being the same that are screechy about the way others should behave in other areas.

I’ve come to the conclusion that if someone regularly uses words like ‘entitled’ to describe others then it stands a good chance that the same person would gladly tear up children’s rights for their personal convenience including children’s rights to safety.

[hawkinspeter]

The study is available here:

The study is available here: https://psyarxiv.com/egnmj

I think the PDF can be grabbed from here: https://psyarxiv.com/egnmj/download

It’s worth reading the study (it’s not too long) and I’d say that the conclusion is very important:

Our ability to address the multiple harms arising from over-use of private cars will be determined by our ability to judge these objectively. In this study, a large representative sample of the UK public judged questions entirely differently depending on whether they were framed as driving issues or non-driving issues, even though the underlying principles were identical in both cases. This provides evidence of how driving automatically receives systematically biased treatment across society so as to favour the needs of a majority – an effect we term motonormality. We argue that our results arose because individuals have their views about motoring shaped over their whole lifespan by a multi-level series of external influences ranging from observing their parents’ driving while growing up to mass-media discourses about how it is not only normal but even desirable to drive short distances in antisocial styles. Finally, we suggest that this motonormative thought style is as endemic amongst government and the medical profession as in the general population. This means core public health and sustainability issues are being systematically neglected by policymakers. People within such roles need to recognise their own unconscious biases, to work towards providing objective judgements of the consequences of travel and to build these into their day-to-day work.

[peted76]

What an interesting article, 

What an interesting article, ‘normativity’ – every day is a school day.

Martin73, in what could be described as his magnum opus, sticking up for car drivers again and finding his own way to troll an article which isn’t even on this site.. As well as totally misinterpreting/misdirecting the analogy used in a weak attempt to dupe us into talking about car ownership, which was comparing ‘smoking’ to ‘car fumes’ and use, not car ownership and the rights thereof.

[Author]

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