Polished dressers feel safe in the crosswalk

KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
Clothes may not make the man or woman, but they may make them safer. It's true if we believe a recent study at the University of Leicester in England. Allure magazine reports that psychologists observed the reactions of 18,000 drivers as pedestrians attempted to cross the street.
The researchers placed young men and women in crosswalks. Some wore a suit and dress shoes with neat hair. Others wore dirty sweaters, torn jeans and green spiked hair.
Woe unto the unkempt.
Drivers failed to stop for nearly 35 percent of the unkempt pedestrians. On the other hand, they didn't stop for 21 percent of the more polished dressers.