昂貴的汽車不太可能因為行人而停車

昂貴的汽車不太可能因為行人而停車

The more expensive a car is, the less likely the driver is to stop for a pedestrian who is crossing the road, at least in Las Vegas. The race and sex of the person trying to get across the road may also matter.

車越貴，司機越不可能在過馬路的行人面前停車，至少在拉斯維加斯是這樣。試圖過馬路的人的種族和性別也很重要。

Approximately 200,000 Americans are injured or killed by cars each year while walking. Those hurt are disproportionately male and non-white. Understanding why is an important step towards reducing the toll, so Dr Courtney Coughenour of the University of Nevada is searching for explanations. Her results, published in Journal of Transport and Health shed some light on the distribution of victims, but even more on those behind the wheel.

每年大約有20萬美國人在步行時被汽車撞死或撞傷。受傷的主要是男性和非白人。了解原因是減少死亡人數(shù)的重要一步，因此內華達大學的考特尼·考夫諾爾博士正在尋找原因。她的研究結果發(fā)表在《交通與健康雜志》上，對受害者的分布情況有所了解，但對那些開車的人了解更多。

Stephen Luntz

Coughenour recruited four adults to try to cross busy Las Vegas streets at two midblock zebra crossings that are commonly used by school children at other times.

Coughenour招募了四名成年人，試圖在兩個街區(qū)中間的斑馬線處穿過繁忙的拉斯維加斯街道，這兩個斑馬線通常是學生們在其他時間使用的。

Each similarly pedestrian, dressed for visibility, would approach the crossing as a car passed a marker, put one foot on the street to indicate they wished to cross and attempt to make eye contact with the driver. Legally at this point the driver was required to yield, but the pedestrians only actually tried to cross the road if the driver slowed or stopped to make it safe. The efforts were videoed so Coughenour could see whether drivers gave way, and analyze the cars by make and age to gain an estimate of their value.

每一個相似的行人，都穿著顯眼的衣服，當一輛汽車經(jīng)過一個標志時，他們會靠近十字路口，把一只腳放在街上，表明他們想要過馬路，并試圖與司機進行眼神交流。從法律上講，司機必須讓路，但行人只有在司機減速或停車以確保安全的情況下才會試圖過馬路。這些努力都被錄了下來，這樣Coughenour就可以看到司機們是否會讓路，并根據(jù)汽車的型號和年齡來分析這些車的價值。

In 72 percent of cases, drivers refused to yield, which is a pretty striking indication of what drivers think of both the law and pedestrians' lives. The proportion was higher for the white and female walkers than for the black and male ones, but the white woman participant was still granted her legally required right of safe passage well less than half the time. Moreover, the camera failed in the Nevada heat, leaving Coughenour with a sample size small enough that neither finding reached statistical significance.

在72%的案例中，司機拒絕讓路，這是一個相當驚人的跡象，表明司機對法律和行人生命的看法。白人和女性參與者的比例高于黑人和男性參與者，但白人女性參與者獲得法律要求的安全通行權的幾率不到一半。此外，攝像機在內華達州的高溫下失靈，使得Coughenour的樣本量非常小，這兩項發(fā)現(xiàn)都沒有達到統(tǒng)計學意義。

The highlight of the study was that for every $1,000 greater estimated value of the car, the likelihood of yielding dropped 3 percent – a finding that was statistically significant even with the small sample. Coughenour and co-authors acknowledge that without interviewing drivers they can't be definitive about the reasons those driving flashy cars are less likely to give way. However, they speculate: “One potential explanation may be that drivers of higher value cars... felt a sense of superiority over other road users. Similarly, individuals of lower socioeconomic status (SES) may empathize more with the pedestrians.”

這項研究的重點是，每增加1,000美元的汽車估計值，汽車的收益率就會下降3%——即使是在小樣本中，這一發(fā)現(xiàn)在統(tǒng)計學上也很重要。Coughenour和其他作者承認，在不采訪司機的情況下，他們無法確定那些開豪華車的人不太可能讓路的原因。然而，他們推測:“一種可能的解釋是，高價值汽車的司機……感到比其他道路使用者優(yōu)越。同樣，社會經(jīng)濟地位較低的人可能更同情行人。”

The work combines and confirms a series of previous studies, some of which found American drivers were less likely to give way to black than white pedestrians, while others found wealthier people are consistently more likely to behave unethically when driving.

這項研究綜合并證實了之前的一系列研究，其中一些研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，美國司機比白人司機更不容易給黑人讓路，而另一些研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，富有的人在開車時更容易做出不道德的行為。