It won't happen to me

Photo: Contributed - hemeroskopion

Have you ever met anyone who admits to being less than a good driver? 

Probably not.

You know, in your own mind, that you are an excellent driver, just as you know everybody else isn't. This is called optimism bias, and it is something that affects us all. We are optimistic about our personal capabilities, and, in particular, our driving skills.

We’ve all had plenty of driving experience. “Well, that traffic ticket was just the cop, making a quota!”

We've never been involved in a crash. “The fender-bender? Totally minor, doesn’t count, and won't happen again anyway!”

And all those bad situations involving other drivers? “Well sure, they don’t know how to drive, they’re the ones who should pay attention and learn to drive safely!” 

This inflated sense of confidence in our driving ability makes us feel sure that we can cut corners just a little by exceeding the speed limit (crash risk increases 10X at 25 km/hour over), sending a couple of text messages (crash risk increases 20X), or having a couple of drinks before we leave (crash risk at least double). 

After all, we’re excellent drivers, the problem isn’t us. And that optimism bias will allow us to continue discounting the risk until something happens that shows us otherwise.

The most common response from drivers I’ve stopped for a traffic violation was an excuse to justify why they had done what they were stopped for. Fact is, they had weighed the risk, and decided that their needs were more important than obeying the traffic rules. Experience dictated that since it had not caused problems in the past, it was acceptable to do it again that day. However, their assessment of risk minimized the possibility of being involved in a collision, and did not factor in the chance of my presence.

ICBC has told us that driver education for new drivers doesn’t improve their crash risk outcomes. Over-confidence is not a good thing when you are learning new skills, and it appears that the knowledge gained can sometimes lead to people thinking they are more skillful drivers than they really are. The driving skills training alone did not contribute to a reduction in crash risk. 

Stressing accountability for errors, on the other hand, would be more beneficial. As well, making a change in risk perception and driver attitude could help overcome this optimism bias we have. However, it is not a simple feat. 

Impaired driving is a good example of this. During my lifetime, the attitude of making it a contest to get home after drinking has changed to either limiting your consumption or arranging for a designated driver. 

However, I know that it is not difficult to find an impaired driver on our highways now.

I used to park my marked police car in a bar parking lot about an hour before closing time. I would watch someone exit the door, look at me, and go back into the bar. A little while later, that person would peek out the door again, see me still there, and go back inside. 

This might repeat through the evening until bar staff moved everyone outside and locked the doors. Then we’d have a group of impaired drivers standing around watching me, waiting for someone brave or foolish enough to get into their vehicle and lead me away so the rest could make their escape.

We still have a long way to go.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.