Shared patterns of nonverbal normative expectations in automobile driving.

In the scientific literature on automobile driving, little attention has been devoted to how drivers interpret nonverbally the locomotive intentions in return. The view presented in this brief discussion is that mutually understood patterns of social expectations (norms) develop out of the realities of the driving situation. These shared expectations then serve as the basis of nonverbal communication. Examples are given of how confusions result when normative expectations are not shared, and of the process by which new drivers learn the norms.