How long do you have to wait at a crosswalk before the passing traffic pauses to let you go? It appears that the answer doesn’t just depend on the kindness of the drivers, but also on their inherent racial biases, according to a new study from the University of Arizona and Portland State University.
The study, which is published in Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behavior, examined the results from 88 pedestrians and 173 driver-subjects. After controlling for age, clothing, and other socioeconomic factors of the pedestrians, they discovered that black pedestrians had to wait 32% longer than whites before drivers chose to yield. Further, the black pedestrians were twice as likely to be passed by multiple vehicles as they waited.
“We were surprised at just how stark the difference was,” said Arlie Adkins, an assistant professor in the UA School of Landscape Architecture and Planning and a transportation planning expert, in a press release.
“It was not a very large study, so we weren’t sure the amount of data collected would be enough to reach statistical significance, so we were surprised to see how quickly the significance showed up. Drivers were clearly displaying behaviors consistent with implicit racial bias.”
Subtle causes
Of course, this does not mean the average driver is overtly bigoted, but rather something a little more insidious. Similarly to why emails signed with “black-sounding” names get fewer responses, many people hold unconscious biases against various groups of people.
“That’s what makes contemporary forms of bias so pernicious — we may not be aware that we have these biases,” said Portland State University researcher Kimberly Kahn, an assistant professor of social psychology and principal investigator. “That’s where implicit bias comes from in the first place. So, you can think you’re just driving to work and won’t even notice that you were differently stopping for one pedestrian over others.”
These tendencies manifest themselves quietly, and are often unnoticed—but leave indelible effects.
“You can imagine how, if you are constantly experiencing these disparities, you might choose to avoid walking or force the right of way when cars are not stopping, potentially putting yourself in dangerous situations,” Kahn said. “That may play into these shocking statistics.”
“While implicit bias does not explain the disparity in safety outcomes, it may be a contributor,” added Adkins. “These microaggressions in different contexts add up to become a very negative situation for some people. It is a problem if people feel threatened, or if they are treated unequally.”
“We want this work to continue, and it will be very important to see if there are disparities in other parts of the country.”
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Image credit: Thinkstock
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