Problem Statements

Research

Potential Insights 

Our bodies are designed around a simple fight-or-flight mechanism; ideally we use one or the other to dissipate stress when it occurs. Sitting in a car is incompatible with stress build up. There is no physical outlet. We can't fight and we can't run, so tension simply builds with no obvious outlet. When an outlet does present itself, for example when we perceive another driver to be taking advantage or not paying due attention, there's a danger of reacting aggressively (so-called road rage).

In studies of driver behavior and driver stress certain things emerge as typical causes of tension. They include:

1. Being stuck in traffic or start-stop driving associated with congestion.
2. Being caught in traffic flow where all the driver can do is join in.
3. Perceived over-regulation involving traffic signs, road works and speed restrictions on roads that appear open and largely free of traffic.
4. Impatient or aggressive driving by other road users.
5. Unpredictable events resulting in increased danger.
6. Perceiving that the concentration of other drivers is being affected by equipment in their car.
7. Lack of signaling.
8. Jumping lights.
9. Being the victim of abuse by other road users.
10. Being pressured to drive faster by vehicles following.
11. Drivers forgetting to put on lights, or lights incorrectly set.
12. Being forced to brake hard for various reasons.
13. Detours.
14. Inconsiderate parking.    

SUPER INTERESTING POINT

This experimental study shows that, in repeated travel mode choice, available information is not properly processed, cognitive efforts are generally low and rational calculation play a limited role.

The games obviously aren't a perfect representation of everyday travel decisions, but they do offer an important lesson for policymakers. For all the technical and spatial hurdles of implementing an efficient urban transit system, there are significant psychological ones too. Sure, some people will make a rational travel choice, and prefer the efficiency and cost of the bus or the metro. But many others will require an incentive to switch that goes above and beyond what the numbers predict they should need.