NIMHANS study: Emotional highs drive the need for speed among college youth

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Brian Fernandes | News Karnataka   ¦    Agencies   ¦   Jan 13, 2015

Bengaluru: In September 2011, Azharuddin, former Congress MP from Moradabad, also a former cricket star, had presented his son, Ayazuddin, a 1000 CC super bike for Eid. A brand new high performance bike for a budding cricketer who many said was in the mold of his illustrious father as a cricketer. It was still to be registered when the 19-year-old  took it for a spin on a Hyderabad expressway along with his cousin Ajmal-ur-Rahman. He skidded and ended up in a severe crash.  Ajmal-ur-Rahman, died soon after the crash.  Ayazzudin passed away after five days of critical care.  His father was heart broken.

The next time you see your college going son zip along on the road on his newly purchased two wheeler, which, more often than not,  he literally forced you to gift  him, and you are both scared and irritated all at once,  you might want to refer to the study conducted on the subject conducted by a group of psychiatrists from National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) which reveals the psychology behind the need for speed among these hot blooded youngsters.  It might help you deal with their need in a more responsive way, and help reduce it.
The study was aimed at understanding the psychological factors associated with two-wheeler riding patterns in 1,425 college-going two-wheeler riders in the age-group of 17-30.  There were 961 youths from Bengaluru, and the rest from Delhi. The sample size consisted of 75 per cent men and 25 per cent women.

Motivating factors:

According to the study, the speeding of the exuberant collegian male can be attributed to emotional highs, relief from heavy traffic, a sense of competition with other road users and a perception that there is nothing unsafe while going at high speeds.

The much touted emotional quotient theory too has a lot to do with the need for speed -  The study has found that emotional needs – a  relief from anger, boredom and negative emotions encourage the need for speed. “The findings suggest that various psychological factors, such as expectation of relief from anger or other negative emotions including relief from boredom were likely to motivate the tendency for speeding in this age group”, says  Dr Seema Mehrohtra, the principal investigator of the study. "the conclusion was derived from self-reporting by the students",  she added.

Speed thrills, but kills

‘Speed thrills, but  kills’, is a slogan coined by the Traffic department and plastered across all forms of communicative media - to curb the urge. This, in the backdrop of an increasing number of accidents caused by speeding, and a spate of movies from the stables of Hollywood that celebrate speed

‘Speed’  was the first of the fast and furious genre of movies. It celebrated, well… speed.

The 1994 movie starring Keanu Reaves, was a hit. It was followed by others, and more recently the ‘Fast and furious’ series starring the late Paul walker, which since it came out with its first movie in 2001 has had seven sequels, and is very popular among youth all over the world. Paul Walker, who has starred as Brian O'Conner since 2001, and was a hero among many of the youth, will mark his final film appearance in Furious 7 due to his death on November 30, 2013 in a single car crash, which in itself is ironic.

Peer Pressure

Movies like these, and peer pressure play an important role in developing this insatiable desire to beat the wind on the road. Dr Manoj K Sharma, from the Department of Clinical Psychology, NIMHANS, who was one of the researchers, said, "We observed that speeding was often a peer learning phenomena and they feel that if their peers indulge in this they too should be involved. It is also a novelty-seeking experiment where one often feels good about crossing the speed limit."

Dr G Gururaj, professor and head, Department of Epidemiology, NIMHANS, also attributes this desire for speed to physiological changes that occur during this age and availability of high speed bikes. “Youngsters go at higher speeds because they are also provided with vehicles that can go at higher speeds”, he says

This is true, as in the case of Azharrudin’s son, heavy duty and high speed bikes, like the KTM Duke’s are now available easily and once in the hands of a young collegian, who has peer pressure, and other forms of motivation to egg him on,  goes overboard.
The good news:

The study however revealed an interesting statistic - almost fifty per cent of the riders reported using helmet almost always while riding. It doesn’t however, state the reason thereof – regulatory compulsion or safety awareness.  It’s more likely the former.

Dr. G. Gururaj suggested the need to improve our protection systems on the roads, like in the west. He opined that there is  a need to make protection a crucial point and that mostly has to be from the road engineering side. This includes introducing road design measures, a strict speed control legislation, high level of penalties and also increasing awareness on the dangerous outcomes (of over-speeding).  He says that while parents can play a key role in creating this awareness,  a greater impact can be had from improvements on  the road engineering and administrative side.
The study is a collaborative effort between Department of Clinical Psychology, NIMHANS, and Traffic Engineering and Safety Division, CSIR-Central Road Research Institute.

The research team, apart from Dr Mehrotra and Dr Sharma, included Dr Rajeev J Michael, Dr Humera Banu, Dr Rajesh Kumar, Dr Paulomi, Dr M Sudhir and Dr Neelima Chakrabarthy (the last being from CSIR, or Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Delhi).