The fast and the furious-An experimental investigation of the pace of life and risky speed choice in traffic

PLoS One. 2020 Jul 27;15(7):e0236589. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236589. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Despite discernible improvements in the last decades, speeding is still a pertinent problem for road safety, fuel efficiency, and greenhouse gas mitigation. In order to understand individual speeding decisions, we need a better understanding of who speeds. In our paper, we test whether individuals' general pace of life is associated with speeding decisions. We use a novel speed-choice experiment that confronts participants with a scenario in which they repeatedly decide between driving fast or slow. This decision is associated with different accident risks. Before the experiment, each participant's pace of life was measured. Our results show that individuals with a slower pace of life are more likely to choose slow in the experiment and are also more likely to switch to slow, even when they had success by driving fast in the preliminary round. Therefore, individuals' pace of life may contribute to our understanding of speeding.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Accidents, Traffic / prevention & control
  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Automobile Driving / psychology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Life Style*
  • Male
  • Risk-Taking
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

Provided by Faculty of Society and Economics, Rhine-Waal University, Kleve, Germany, and JPI MYBL (Award No. 16SV7954 by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany).