See also
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Motonormativity (also motornormativity, windshield bias, or car brain) is an unconscious cognitive bias in which the assumption is made that motor car ownership and use is an unremarkable social norm. [1]
The term was coined by Swansea University psychologist Ian Walker, Alan Tapp and Adrian Davis in a 2023 study. [2] [3]
Motonormativity is not a bias confined just to motorists, but is a feature of car-centric societies. [4] Walker has argued that a consequence of motonormative bias is that any attempt to reduce car use is not seen plainly for what it is, but interpreted as an attempt to curtail personal freedom. [4] This effect has been documented not just in famously car dependent North America, but around the world. [5]
Walker has cited certain road safety campaigns targeting children as an example of motonormativity: by encouraging children to wear brightly coloured clothing to avoid being run over, such campaigns normalize the idea of motor traffic as an accepted danger others must adjust to, in a way which in other contexts would be considered victim blaming. [4]
Motonormativity may affect planning decisions so that, for example, a new hospital is built outside a city even though that makes it less accessible to city dwellers who do not have use of a car. [2]