What is 'car brain' and why does it block safer roads?

Car brain' is how Dr Ian Walker describes the cultural blind spot that makes people apply double standards when they think about driving. In his latest study, he demonstrates how motornomativity is real, measurable and pervasive.

We've been listening to a fascinating podcast about our unconscious bias in favour of cars, and how those assumptions shape our streets and hold back the changes needed to create safer roads.

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You might already be familiar with the work of Ian Walker professor of environmental psychology at Swansea University. His research focuses on unconscious causes of everyday behaviour like habits, the environment around us and unconscious stereotypes. He has gained widespread recognition for his work including studies on drivers overtaking cyclists, and a study about how drivers react to cyclists wearing high-vis.

Our collective unconscious bias towards cars was highlighted in a simplistic way by a Norwegian road safety campaign some years ago. The film shows a man using his supermarket trolley in an antisocial way and at one point blasting fellow shoppers with an air horn so he can barge his way to the tills.

Dr Walker was kind enough to be interviewed by us for our documentary about road harm reduction. In it speaks about the cognitive dissonance surrounding attitudes to dangerous drivers.

https://vimeo.com/361286029

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