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 and colleagues in a 2023 study.
[2][3] Motonormativity is not a bias confined just to motorists, but is a feature of car-centric societies.
[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.