If you live in the Toronto area, you were no doubt aware of, and angered by, the thought that a 4-year-old little boy lies in hospital in critical condition after being hit by a motorcyclist, who then fled the scene. Thanks to the tattle-y goodness of cameras, cameras everywhere, the police were able to post a photo of the bike, along with the driver and passenger, almost immediately. Anyone spying the newish, large, orange Harley Davidson Road Glide must have chuckled just a little. That’s like trying to hide an elephant under a Smartie: not a ton of those bikes in the wild, and that colour will stand out and be memorable. Surely those committing this most cowardly of acts, to cause bodily injury or death, or even just material damage, and then flee, must know in a situation especially like this one, there are witnesses. His passenger hopped off and ran; if it was a first date, hopefully it’s the last. Dr. J. Thomas Dalby is an adjunct professor of Psychology at the University of Calgary. He’s also a forensics expert in the area of hit and run. With a colleague, Dr. Marc Nesca of Athabasca University, he authored the 2008 paper The Psychology of Hit and Run. He’s used to getting a call when anyone has questions, because before their paper, most previous studies date back to the 1940s. I asked him if the lack of studies indicates that the problem is going away. I’d called because the headlines of late seem to be littered with incidents of hit and run, from the viral video from Highway 410 where a car is clipped and spun by a vehicle that then speeds away; a 14 -year -old cyclist dead near Quebec City; a 21-year-old Brampton man left with critical injuries back in March; a Mom of five in Central Alberta; the list is endless. “No, it’s getting worse!” said Dalby. U.S. statistics are better than Canadian ones, he explains, and our countries share the same cars and similar cultures. National Highway Traffic Safety Association numbers generally reflect Canadian behaviours if you adjust for population – we’re about a tenth of theirs. “In the U.S., they’re at 750,000 hit-and-run incidents annually. Two thousand of those result in fatalities,” says Dolby. Why do people run? I posed the question to Dolby, anticipated some deep seated psychological tick. “They don’t have licences, they’re in a stolen car, or they’re drunk,” he stated, flatly. “Overwhelmingly, those who flee the scene of a hit and run have made an instant decision – within seconds – about the cost of staying versus taking off.” If they are driving with no licence or are impaired, the choice must seem easy. Self preservation overtakes everything else, including the basic humanity of not leaving a person to die on the road. I ask him about a panic response. Surely some people have a stress-induced response that allows them to act in ways that are contrary to both their normal selves and a lawful society. “There is a small, legitimate subsection where we see an adrenaline rush kick in, which can lead to confusion and panic.” He cites one such case where a woman had been driving home at 2 am, having had nothing stronger to drink than tea. On the road, someone stepped out in front of her car, she hit him and killed him. She drove home, and her husband – a first responder – instantly knew something was wrong. Police were called and she was charged, though a judge later tossed the case. The man she’d hit had been carrying out his suicide, and the shock she was in meant she didn’t recall the scene, not that she was a trying to flee it. Dalby stresses that drivers make a call instantly. They consider their surroundings. In a rural area where there might be few, if any, witnesses, they might be more tempted to run. “Police face an uphill battle solving many of these,” he says. We all think it could be a neighbour suddenly parking in a garage that’s never held a car, or a car sporting a new paint job, but the hit and run remains a stubborn crime to solve. I ask if television has helped or hindered the ways the public views hit and runs. “It’s the CSI effect,” Dalby says with a sigh. “You mean that Dead to Me show, right?” It’s a new show on Netflix featuring a dead husband and a damaged Mustang. And yes, I do mean that show. “Paint analysis is an extraordinary science, and we know that every car has unique paint characteristics. That part is true, but believing that it can be tested in an hour is misleading.” Resources in real life are not meted out as they are in the movies. If you want a paint chip analyzed in half an hour, you better be the president. Dalby admits that the increasing use of dashcams and better quality CCTV means the public is getting more information to help find those who flee, but he also stresses while that will help police find more criminals, it will do little to deter the actual event. “They make this decision, they weigh their odds in a fraction of a second, and if they’re impaired, or have no insurance, or the car is
Origin: Lorraine Explains: Why do people hit and run?