In the Company of Cars (Human Factors in Road and Rail Transport)

"In the Company of Cars" describes driving as a social and cultural practice, showing how a cultural studies approach can contribute to a better understanding of driving behaviour and to a more appropriate approach to road-safety policy. It examines the perspectives that young people in particular have on cars. In looking at driving as a cultural practice, the author explores the broader social and cultural meanings of the car, the potential it is supposed to fulfil, and the anticipated benefits it offers to young drivers.Drawing on international research on driving and youth from social psychology, as well as recent innovative approaches to mobility in sociology and cultural studies, the book takes up the views of young people on the relationship to, and experience of, cars and driving from focus-group research conducted in Australia on a range of topics from media to car use and gender performance. The author looks at the ways in which driving has become routinised through articulations of the car that emphasise valued features of the car-driver such as gender, youthfulness, status, age, power, raciness, sexiness, ruggedness, and competitiveness.It has long been accepted that the social and cultural meanings of the car far exceed the practical need for mobility; this book marks the first attempt to contribute to road safety by examining what these significances are and how they shape cultures of driving.