There is an '
Invisible Car'
effect.
When
driving,
people do not
notice cars that are out of the
norm, unless they are
cognitively looking for them. I have heard that hundreds of car-
bus accidents occur when the
driver believed that the bus was *NOT* there before they changed lanes or slammed into the
rear end of the bus. Upon
closer inspection, I found out that this is
common with not only buses, but anything that is not the norm, for
instance,
motorcycles, large vehicles where small vehicles are standard, small vehicles where large vehicles are standard,
bicycles, and
pedestrians. This effect occurs for all drivers the same in their
familiar geographic region,
regardless of their vehicle
size (For instance, a large vehicle driver in an area where small vehicles are the norm will not notice a large vehicle, just like a small vehicle driver would not notice a large vehicle).
I normally refer to this as '
Lemming Syndrome' since
conformity appears to be
safer than non-conformity on the
road.