PSYCHOLOGY OF SPEED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 195, 19 August 1930, Page 6

PSYCHOLOGY OF SPEED.

Discussing the psychology of speed, a writer in the "Spectator" says that in the early years of motoring numbers of women would urge "Faster, faster!" and after a while would sink back almost in a swoon of exquisite satisfaction. They were tasting an experience altogether new. Trains ran at speeds greater than those of the first motor cars> but in a railway carriage one is not conscious of rapid movement as one is in an open vehicle. It is the effect of the air rushing past and creating a stir all round which accounts for the physical delight of unsually ewift going. It was not possible to capture this effect with horses. Even if enough of them could haye been driven to make one go fast enough, the consciousness of effort on their part would have spoiled everything. It is only by mechanical speed, or speed caused by force of gravity (e.g., going downhill on a bicycle) that this particular pleasure can be conferred. It is one of the principal factors in the psychology of speed. There is another which operates more often, influencing not at all those who reach spectacular speed but only those who are on the road with other drivers. That is the competitive instinct. More frequently found in men than in women, this impatience of anything ahead is one of the most common causes of accident. It is an unreasoning urge, liable to attack' even persons who are otherwise normal and sane. Something of the same kind is seen in children who run after butterflies because < they flutter, and in young dogs who chase hens or chickens that scurry away from them, though they walk quietly past birds that take no notice of them. There are people who cannot be content to walk behind anyone on a pavement, who must try to pass just for the momentary satisfaction of passing.- Some drivers offer as a reason for their eagerness to outstrip other cars their desire to test their engines, to discover juat what their cars can do against different makes. This might explain an occasional dash to get in front, but it will be found that those who do this dash 'are not occasional speeders; they make a habit of it. Some will, even admit that it is a bad habit, but they cannot give it up. Good intentions dissolve as soon as they see a car ahead of them. Down go feet on accelerators. Up go speed indicators. The passion for speed, then, yields under analysis certain physical elements and others of the spirit or mind. What may be considered certain is that no rational or useful object is connected with it. It is like the passion for gambling, or, under certain aspects, the passion for drink.