Why do we watch car accidents?
The answer is simple and complete; because you care about your fellow human being.
Why does the matriarch of the wolf pack hesitate before killing a dog that has opposed the pack?
Why do snakes hesitate seconds longer to kill a fellow snake than any other animal?
This is because species naturally care about your fellow species. You want to know if or how you can help in a car accident. You care about them. Furthermore, you may also want to learn from it yourself to see if you can avoid the mistakes that they did or avoid the scenario that they were in.
Naturally there are many facets to car accidents. Here are some to consider:
Just-World Phenomenon:
This should be covered first. There are many people who fear airplanes and roller-coasters and there has been a plethora of studies to investigate why.
"I am not in control"
The feeling of not being in control seems to imply to people that the incident is left to chance. The idea of rollercoasters and airplanes is that you have to rely on others and their vigor to maintain the vehicles. You have no direct control and if you did, you could rationalize "it will be ok because I am a good driver, etc."
"I do not get in car accidents because I am a good driver"
As we will soon see, this means nothing. Often car accidents happen because of extraneous variables that you cannot control and, the fact is, you are still human and prone to make mistakes. In addition, cars operate in a mass of other people and include a plethora more variables to consider when regarding a potential car accident; unlike a roller coaster. A rollercoaster does the same routine, on its own track, over and over again.
It is monotonous and hardly changes which is the complete opposite of driving to work.
"Bad things happen to bad people. Good things happen to good people. People get what they deserve."
This is what many people wish were the foundations of life. (Namely religion). The fact is that bad things and good things happen to all people. No one gets what they "deserve" people simply get things.
Running Away:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHampf1bbmE
The humans most intrinsic response is denial. When someone causes an accident, they want to pretend like it did not happen. Denial makes the ego feel better. They may even justify, "I cannot even do anything anyway". However, they will live with the guilt for their entire life, bottled inside and infecting their mind to know that they did not stop to see if they killed anyone.
Also, it is a crack at the just-world phenomenon in the sense that the person is likely to justify, "They should not have done that. I was doing the right thing, they were doing the wrong thing." Take note of this when you listen to peoples reasoning when it comes to conflicts and problems; you may be surprised just how ubiquitous this is.
People Running to Help:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtJ6GGGkDBA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EorAX0YoJrQ
This is simply further demonstration of how much people truly care about their fellow human being. Notice all the people coming to see if they can help? Next time you see an accident and find yourself gaping, question why. You may feel better about it. Why? Because often we cannot help due to the amount of others actually helping already. So, because we cannot, we may walk away in guilt because we did not contribute anything when we wanted to. The idea is to focus on your intention. Further, it is also a learning experience (ie. "I ought to get snow tires!")
Powerless:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM2gLjfE_3Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npTRXr4Sgxg
Unfortunately, no matter how good of a driver you are, you cannot control everything. Your car may break down, brakes fail, run out of gas, another driver, icey conditions, are all variables that you cannot control that can easily cause an accident and your death. Do not live under this delusion and keep a cautious and content mind while driving.
It was this very reasoning that actually quelled my fear of rollercoasters and made me feel more confident to drive.
Speeding:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbdH-J6UoYI
Of course, I am an advocate that people might actually drive naturally peaceful without speed limits. However, I am not going to sit here and say "Watch the limits! Do not speed!" but argue that you should not think to yourself, "My day is more important than others and I need to get to X before anyone needs to get to anything else!".
There are many people who are off to do very important things. Could you use the same reasoning for a husband driving a woman in labour? How do you know what other people are doing? Because of their speed? What if they have slowed down for a purpose (ie. car problems, maintaining a calm ride for an anxiety attack, etc.)
I just thought this would interesting to discuss.
What do you think...?
On another note:
- Recent traffic psychologists (yes, traffic psychologists) have showed that wearing bike helmets actually increases your chances of getting hit. This was measured by the distance between took between bikers and their cars and how they reacted to helmet wearing bikers versus others. The reasoning is that you may unconsciously see a helmet wearing biker and think "they are a responsible helmet wearing biker and I can drive comfortably next to them" as of compared to "that person is not wearing a helmet and likely irresponsible. I ought to keep my distance."
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