PSY 409a, November 13, 2005

My Sixth Outline of Assigned Readings

By Karis Amano

Driver’s Education for Life

Dr. James, Leon, Dr. Diane Nahl. Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warfare. New York: Prometheus Books, 2000. Pages 190-202.

Instructions for this activity are found at:

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy23/409a-g23-oral.htm

Instructor: Dr. Leon James

Concept 1 – Needed: More Experience

a) All novice divers lack experience, being so new to driving. Drivers need more supervised on-road experience before going out on their own.

b) The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that 16 year-old drivers have a 42% higher chance of getting into car accidents than teenagers with just one more year of experience. Here are some suggestions, from the book, for parents as their teenagers learn to drive:

a. Supervise teenagers as they drive with their learner’s permit and when they first earn their license.

b. Limit when teens can drive (not during big holidays like New Year’s) and establish a curfew.

c. Be a good role-model

c) Experience is an important part of driving education and you cannot get it from a book, watching a video, or classroom instruction. As I learned how to drive, I was glad that I took driver’s education. I felt a little more confident in myself having completed a course plus so many hours of on-road driving. I agree with the law having teens take driver’s education before qualifying to take their license test. It is too bad that so many driver’s education classes have such long waiting list. I also wish we cold change those people with more risk taking personalities because it also puts everyone else at risk.

Concept 2 – Driving Psychology

a) Stresses the 3-fold self, the affective (feelings and emotions), the cognitive (thoughts, judgments, and knowledge), and the sensorimotor (actions and reactions) aspects of a driver.

b) Because we know learning anything should start as early as possible, the book gives goals for children from kindergarten through high school for learning about affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor driving skills.

c) It is important for children to have the right attitude towards driving and others whom are sharing the road. But children who are still in elementary may not quite grasp the rights and needs for other drivers. You should teach them to be kind and caring towards others but I think it can focus more on driving when they reach the sixth or seventh grade.

Focusing on the sensorimotor in high school seems very appropriate because that is when they are old enough to get their permits and start practicing real driving.

Concept 3 – Quality Driving Circles

a) Quality Driving Circles, or QDC’s, are voluntary groups for adults who already have their license and probably years of driving under their belts. They aim to reeducate long-time drivers on every aspect of driving.

b) Right now these groups are still experimental but hopes to become more incorporated in daily life. These groups can be face-to-face or less formal like internet forums or online chat rooms. Useful tools for these groups include daily journals for self-witnessing, self-reminders in the car, driving statistics, and little prizes or symbols of reinforcement.

c) I do not think that QDC’s need to be such a formal thing. It can just be friends or family members discussing with each other their daily driving experiences and receiving feedback of what others think.