I think a huge part of the problem is that people feel invulnerable in their gas-guzzling tanks, so they feel like they don't actually have to pay attention to where they are going. Which leads to incidents like the soccer mom who simply wasn't paying attention as her huge SUV wondered left, across the oncoming lane, and up onto the sidewalk to kill a pedestrian. She though interacting with her own kid was more important than watching the road.
Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and think what nobody else has thought.
