ABSTRACT
Driver behaviour is the basis for the safe and efficient flow of traffic on motorways around the world. Unfortunately, driver behaviour may also be the basis for accidents, traffic snarls and injuries, some of them fatal. Although an occasional individual may attempt suicide by auto, most drivers want to maintain their health and body parts in good condition. However, it would be difficult to drive on a frequented roadway for thirty minutes without observing behaviour that is at least marginally unsafe. There are many reasons for such behaviour, not least of which is the desire of some drivers to expedite their own travels at whatever cost to others on the road. Some of these behaviours result from traffic situations, such as signals that hold for long periods of time. Although a study of the psychological factors that govern the driving patterns of some individuals would be fascinating (as well as incredibly difficult), the purpose of the present research is much more prosaic. A number of unsafe acts arise simply out of failure to recognize them as being unsafe. The study reported here involved determining what the public (in the USA) knows about some unsafe types of behaviour.
