- 20 hours ago
Passengers can calm or distract drivers – impacting road safety more than you think. Discover who makes the ideal person riding shotgun, and why their role matters.
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00:00Problem passengers. Did you know that they're often younger men? And that women behind the
00:05wheel or in the passenger seat actually prevent car crashes? What about passengers with trust
00:11issues or the dreaded backseat driver who'd grab the steering wheel if you'd let them?
00:16Though normally an annoyance, sometimes they might even save the day. So who has the makings
00:22of an ideal passenger?
00:24Who can act as another set of eyes and ears for the person who doesn't distract them at
00:30critical moments.
00:31What can we learn from professional passengers?
00:34He's not working without a good portion of trust.
00:38And what can you do to help your driver?
00:40If you see something your driver should be aware of, say something.
00:44Rev delves into the art of co-driving.
00:47Riding shotgun. If you're not behind the steering wheel, the front passenger seat is the most coveted
00:52spot in a car. You've got a clear view ahead, can stretch your legs out, have dibs on the
00:58radio and can fiddle with the air con as much as you like.
01:01Shotgun for eternity.
01:02You can't call shotgun for eternity.
01:04I just called it.
01:05Essentially, you're a passenger prince or princess with zero responsibility, right?
01:10Think again.
01:11Riding shotgun comes loaded with responsibility. In fact, that's where the term comes from.
01:17From the guy who'd ride up front next to the coachman, shotgun in his hand to protect their
01:22carriage from enemy attacks.
01:24Sure, the modern day passenger doesn't have that sort of responsibility.
01:28But they do wield significant influence.
01:31In fact, the relationship between the driver and the front seat passenger is particularly sacred.
01:36And it all comes down to one thing. Trust.
01:39Stop it.
01:41What?
01:42I can feel you judging my driving.
01:43I'm not judging your driving.
01:46Let go of the handle then.
01:49Whether you're travelling with a friend or on a road trip, you have a huge role to play
01:54in how your driver behaves, the safety of other road users and whether you're involved in an accident.
02:00You're going the wrong way!
02:04Red delves into the science behind this and tells you why being a passenger isn't as passive of a role as you might think it is.
02:13Look, kids. Forget it.
02:15It's amazing. I cannot get that.
02:25Probably 20 years ago, people started to realise when they started looking carefully at crash data that there was a bit of a pattern emerging, especially for young drivers.
02:38That's Michael Reagan, an emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia.
02:44He took part in one of the pioneering studies of passenger influence on driver behaviour.
02:49Depending on the driver, depending on the passenger and other characteristics,
02:55passengers can have both a positive and a negative effect on drivers.
03:01Many factors come into play here. Age, sex, the relationship between the driver and passenger, the number of passengers and more.
03:09Factors that can make all the difference in whether that simple trip to the grocery store and back is run of the mill or extremely eventful.
03:17Factors, I left the driver's license making machine on. Turn it off.
03:25Let's face it. Getting a driver's license is a rite of passage, a symbol of freedom, a tiny plastic card that says the world's your oyster.
03:3425 years old. You're not 25 years old. This idea is completely fake.
03:40Enter the teenage driver, eager to take on the tarmac, chauffeur their friends around town and prove they've left childhood behind for good.
03:48Come on, you little moron!
03:50What are you waiting for, son? Christmas?
03:52And here's where it gets interesting. Not surprisingly, younger drivers are more accident-prone given that maturity and inexperience
03:59play a huge role in performance behind the steering wheel.
04:02Road trip!
04:03But the age of their passengers counts too. Turns out that young male drivers between the ages of 16 and 24 are hugely influenced by passengers roughly the same age, especially if they're male passengers.
04:20Why? Well, a number of reasons come into play here. A prefrontal cortex that isn't fully developed yet, which means risk-taking behaviour can sometimes be quite out of control.
04:31There's also the element of peer pressure.
04:37And a little something called the feedback loop of bravado.
04:40Here, bad behaviour like exceeding the speed limit is rewarded with cheers and encouragement that in turn leads to more bad behaviour.
04:48The result? Accidents and injuries. But that's not all. More young male passengers equals more chaos.
05:07If a young male driver is carrying another male passenger, that increases the risk of having a crash or a fatal crash by about two times.
05:16If they carry three or more passengers, that risk increases by about five times.
05:21So what about young women? The data shows that young female drivers are less susceptible to peer pressure from passengers.
05:35And young female passengers tend to have a more positive influence on driving behaviour in general, even on young male drivers.
05:42In fact, studies even indicate that carrying more than two female passengers in a car dramatically reduces the likelihood of a crash.
05:53Young female passengers tend to reduce the crash risk of young male drivers.
05:58Interestingly, young female drivers aren't at any greater risk when they carry young female passengers.
06:04So that's an interesting farming.
06:07Though when it comes to reining in bad behaviour in a car, some passengers have a far higher success rate than others.
06:13Go for it, champ.
06:15Get out!
06:16Sorry, just ease on the gas and...
06:20Oh, too much! Too much! Why was I scared of this? This is exhilarating!
06:25No, it's not! Slow down!
06:26Don't tell me what to do! You're not my father!
06:28Say hello to the parental figure.
06:31Usually an actual parent but sometimes simply a person older than the driver and with some level of authority over them.
06:40When drivers are accompanied by parental figures, they're on their best behaviour and follow the rules of the road.
06:46They're not tempted to show off as is often the case when driving with their peers and they're paying full attention to the traffic around them.
06:53The result? Far fewer accidents.
06:56This navigation system is all messed up. It thinks we're in a park.
07:00Oh my God, it is a park! Away from the kids!
07:04Away from the lake!
07:05But give young drivers the responsibility of transporting much younger passengers and the results are surprising.
07:12Hello? Over.
07:13If you've got a young person aged between 16 and 19 years, if they carry a child, the risk of crushing, it has been found through research, actually decreases.
07:23What about travelling with your significant other? Well, despite all the bickering...
07:29Go straight.
07:30No, Lola says take a right.
07:31Well, you'll hit mall traffic. Just go straight.
07:3350 feet.
07:34Yeah, but she said take a right.
07:35Well, I'm telling you to go straight.
07:37Arguing.
07:38You don't have the directions?
07:40No, I was following him!
07:42How could you not take the directions?
07:43Because he's my directions!
07:46And the potential for discussions to get out of hand.
07:49Please stop.
07:50The last person in the world that I want to hurt is you, Cal.
07:53If you keep talking, I'm going to get out of the car.
07:55But I think back when I did it, it just shows how broken we are.
07:58Oh, Cal!
07:59How much, how much we really need...
08:00Cal!
08:02Oh my God! Cal!
08:04It turns out that in most cases, your significant other's presence in the car doesn't up your risk of getting in an accident.
08:12Are you okay?
08:13If you drive with your spouse or your girlfriend or your boyfriend, it has no influence at all in increasing your crash risk.
08:22When you've got, you know, your spouse there with you, if you love them, you want to protect them.
08:27And so you don't want to, you know, expose them to danger.
08:30In fact, studies show that feedback from one's partner can help a driver stay out of trouble.
08:34If someone has a partner who often corrects their driving behaviour, chances are that they'll avoid making similar mistakes,
08:41even when that partner isn't in the car with them.
08:44What about general nagging and backseat driving?
08:46Research indicates that's filtered right out.
08:49In one year, out the other.
08:51Now that we know the combination of drivers and passengers that lead to crashes and prevent crashes,
08:57let's take a look at why drivers carrying passengers do crash.
09:03It's often due to something called inattentional blindness, a phenomenon brought about by cognitive distraction.
09:09You've got your eyes on the road, you see the danger, but because your mind is elsewhere, you don't register it and fail to act to prevent an accident.
09:17We can prove with an eye tracker that people were looking at the hazard, that they didn't respond to it because they weren't attending to it.
09:25To be able to respond to something, you've got to pay attention to it.
09:29I am the car.
09:30Righteous.
09:31Younger drivers not only have less experience, they aren't as good at filtering out extraneous stimuli.
09:41And this is where older passengers tend to come into play.
09:45Parents are going to promote a sense of responsibility when they're with the young driver.
09:50They are most likely to act as a co-pilot.
09:53Co-pilot.
09:54That's a really interesting choice of words.
09:57Which brings us to the role of the active passenger.
10:00Although not all of us can be professionals like Timo Gottschalk.
10:04The German rally co-pilot has competed for decades and even won the Dakar twice.
10:09So he's got insight into what it takes to make a driver front seat passenger combo work.
10:15I think trust is a very important part of all the motorsport we are doing because
10:20somehow you're giving your life in the hands of the driver and the driver is giving his life in the hands of the co-driver.
10:26So I think it's not working without a good portion of trust.
10:31In a rally car, the driver's job is to focus on driving while the co-driver tells him what lies ahead
10:36and if there's a dangerous situation that they need to watch out for.
10:40It's about trust, coordination and communication.
10:43Something that transcends the boundaries of nation and language.
10:47You don't need to have a driver on your side or a co-driver from the same country or so at the end.
10:53It's working even with completely different cultures.
10:55You just have to respect each other.
10:58Though when he's off duty, Timo is pretty relaxed in a car.
11:03I'm a good co-driver. I also like to drive a lot.
11:06But I also have no problem to sit beside any other driver.
11:09I even can sleep in Morocco in a taxi passing the Atlas Mountains.
11:13So I'm quite good on this.
11:17There are a few lessons in what Timo says that we can apply to our own roles as passengers.
11:23Golden rules for the active passenger in a motor vehicle.
11:29For the most part, you really shouldn't get in the way of your driver.
11:32That means don't encroach into their space.
11:34There's nothing worse than a bony knee fouling with the gear shift or someone blocking their view out the rear view mirror.
11:41Offer to help with the radio, the aircon and the navigation if they'd like that.
11:45And act as a collision warning system.
11:48If you see something your driver should be aware of, say something.
11:51Without causing panic, of course.
11:53In fact, one of the key goals of the research we've talked about so far was to see how the role of an active passenger could be implemented in everyday driving situations to ensure better road safety.
12:06In Norway, the Speak Out Road Safety campaign encouraged passengers, especially teenagers, to be active backseat drivers, speaking out against unsafe driving practices.
12:17The results, a significant drop in teenage road fatalities and car crashes.
12:23An Australian campaign aimed at young drivers should similar results.
12:27Australia has a graduated driver's license system.
12:30In many states, under 25s with a provisional license aren't allowed to carry more than one passenger under the age of 21.
12:37Immediate family accepted.
12:39So who is the ideal co-driver?
12:42The ideal co-pilot, as the data suggests, is someone who is able to carry out the responsibilities of a co-pilot,
12:50who can act as another set of eyes and ears for the person who doesn't distract them at critical moments,
12:56that would take their eyes off activities and objects and events that are critical for safe driving.
13:03Shotgun for eternity.
13:04You can't call shotgun for eternity.
13:06I just called it.
13:07So the next time you call shotgun and strap yourself into the front passenger seat,
13:11ask yourself if you really have what it takes to make you worthy of that place of honor.
13:16And be on your best behavior.
13:18Chances are your life depends on it.
13:20And ask yourself exactly who you would like behind the steering wheel or as your co-pilot in a truly tricky driving situation.
13:28After all, the data seems to point in a pretty clear direction.
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