Relaxing Roads Not Safe Roads (08-04-10)

Americans feel more relaxed and safer on rural highways according to a study recently conducted at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Excellence in Rural Safety.  That relaxed feeling is consistent with the tension reducing effects of looking at and being in nature found by other researchers.  Rural highways are generally less crowded than urban ones, which also reduces experienced stress levels.  The Minnesota lead research team also determined that relaxed country drivers are more likely to take risks on rural highways and to die on those roads.  Perhaps in this instance, nature puts people in too peaceful a mood for their own safety.

“Americans Take More Risks When They Drive the Nation’s Rural Highways.”  2010.  Press release, University of Minnesota, http://www1.umn.edu.