Psychology 409a, September 26, 2005

My Second Outline of Assigned Readings

By Julia Dailey

Road Rage Personalities

 

Leon James and Diane Nahl (2000).  Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warfare .  Amherst, New York; Prometheus Books.    

Pages 84-96.

 

Instructions for this activity are found at:

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

Instructor: Dr. Leon James

 

Concept One:  Passive-Aggressive Road Rage

            A.  Passive-Aggressive road rage occurs when someone is either unaware of other driver’s desires or retaliating against another driver’s desire.

            B.  This behavior can be seen when a driver is not paying attention and is oblivious to the line of cars behind them.  It encompasses times when a driver wishes to “teach someone a lesson” by going under the speed limit in the left lane.

            C.  I think that monitoring passive-aggressive drivers is the most difficult, because while frustrating to others they tend not to break the law.

 

Concept Two:  Left Lane Bandits

            A.  Those drivers that feel the left lane is only for excessive speed, and become enraged when detained by someone moving slower then them.

            B.  These are the drivers that will tailgate become frustrated very quickly and make dangerous situations such as passing on the right.

            C.  I think that left lane bandits are one of the groups to be most wary of and one should always try to move to the right lane if possible.

 

Concept Three:  Verbal Road Rage

            A.  The act of verbally abusing someone whether they can hear it or not, any negative statements made about another driver.

            B.  This is a constant on the road it seems, people are making judgments about other drivers all of the time and putting them down verbally.

            C.  I am extremely guilty of this form of road rage as I often attribute people’s poor choices to stupidity or just simply being rude.  This is another very difficult form of road rage to combat.

 

Links:

Dailey Homepage

Class Homepage

Related Links:

http://observer.thecentre.centennialcollege.ca/opinion/driving_kgroves012204.htm

http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/03/11/2/17695382.cfm

http://www.cpa-apc.org/Publications/Archives/CJP/2003/november/smart.asp