Commonwealth, Accidents, and Everything in Between

Ghost Riders*

I had been travelling the notably dangerous Commonwealth Avenue for four years now. And there’s one important thing I learned: THIS ROAD REALLY KILLS. It kills riders and street crossers. And even occasionally, it kills my time.

Early preparation for school does not necessarily mean I would arrive early in class. Well, the probability that I would is high, but there’s still that minute but always threatening likelihood that I would not. Nothing is impossible with Commonwealth, as they say. There are those predictable ‘regularities’: Rallies happen whenever government officials gather at Sandigang Bayan; Monday mornings, or whatever day it is after long break mean heavier traffic. And there are those common-yet-I-don’t-know-when-would-strike happenings: rallies against fare hikes and other social issues; unsystematic road constructions; accidents. Yes, even accidents are common.

They read, but they don't mind.**

There are but a few pedestrian crossings along this 12.5km- avenue, and there are too many overpasses. Some of which are apparently useless, as many undisciplined people prefer to take the for-their-eyes-only pedestrian lanes over the oh-so-tiring-to-climb and oh-so-nakakalula footbridges.  Those rude drivers make the scenario worse. Swerving unpredictably. Switching lanes anytime they wish to. Avoiding the Yellow Men and pressing themselves on the commuters. They choose to risk their own lives just so they could save time and energy. They trust their senses and skills to be accurate enough to get them through safely. What they are not much aware of is that a lot of times, what they thought of to be enough for them to get by is actually not enough. They are being deceived.

Perception of speed, as in perception of any other things, is biased. For one, it was found to be influenced by perceived contrast. When the things on the environment appear to move in approximately the same speed as the target (low-contrast), the target appears to be moving slower than it actually does. The opposite is true for high-contrast situations. However, in the study by Stocker & Simoncelli (2006), it was found that this contrast-induced bias was reduced when the speed of the moving target was at the high end. Still, the participants were unable to make sound judgments of the speeds at this range.

Looming and optical perceptions do provide help in speed judgments. In fact, Wann, Poulter & Purcell (2011) have shown that children’s less sensitivity to looming make them more prone to inaccurately detect a vehicle moving at speeds more than 25kph, especially when scene motion was out of central (extrafoveal) vision. Also at extrafoveal vision, even adults encounter difficulty detecting looming when the vehicle was laterally moving. Adults, compared to children, obviously made better judgments of vehicular speed. Nonetheless, it wasn't too accurate.

Generally, there is a tendency to underestimate speed (Conchillo, Recarte, Nunes & Ruiz, 2006). They have found that highway traffic increases the complexity of the speed estimation tasks, and that drivers reported moving at lower speed rates than they actually do. Same was the case for the non-drivers.

We rely on cues as we judge, but these cues go with a lot of noise. And oftentimes we don’t take a lot of time trying to be critical in interpreting them. We rely on our senses and abilities as we judge. We use our instincts. We use our past knowledge. We use our confidence in our past interpretations. Why not? It does, after all, save us a lot of time and spare us from further exhaustion. I remember my friend once told me, that if we take every detail of things too much, we would break down. I responded, if we don’t take every detail of some important things too much, we would die. Nonetheless, I know, and researches have repeatedly proven, that though we pay attention on certain things, details slip our consciousness. Paying attention to the cues does not guarantee accurate judgments. Neither survival. Because at any point, even your own senses and perceptions may deceive you.

People do not see 'reality' as it is. They make their own reality based on whatever is out there, and whatever is in them. Maybe a lot of times the discrepancy is not so huge, but at times even a small discrepancy could mean risking our own life. So I hope we choose the safer side, especially at Commonwealth.

Conchillo, A., Recarte, M. A., Nunes, L. & Ruiz, T., (2006). The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 9(1), 32-37.
Stocker A. A. & Simoncelli, E. P. (2006). Noise characteristics and prior expectations in human visual speed perception. Nature Neuroscience, 9 (4), 578- 585.

Wann, J. P., Poulter, D. R. & Purcell, C. (2011). Reduced sensitivity to visual looming inflates the risk posed by speeding vehicles when children try to cross the road. Psychological Science. DOI: 10.1177/0956797611400917


*Rivera, E. (Octover, 2011).  Down to one a week: Motorcycle accidents drop with MMDA's blue lane. Retrieved February 20, 2012 from http://www.noypi.ph/index.php/metro/5064-down-to-1-a-week%3A-motorcycle-accidents-drop-with-mmda%E2%80%99s-blue-lane.html
**Ahab, I. F. (July, 2011). Mayor Bistek is scarier than the MMDA sign. Retrieved  February 20, 2012 from http://theparadoxicleyline.blogspot.com/2011/07/mayor-bistek-is-scarier-than-mmda-sign.html