Report 2
My Report on Driving Psychology
By Rhiannon Tokita
Instructions for this report
are at: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/409a-g25-report2.htm
I am answering Questions 1,
2, 3, 5, and 6
Dr. Leon James, Instructor
University of Hawaii
December 2006
My Report on Previous Generations
Select
any four student reports from G20 listed in this directory of links:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/gc/g20-409as2004.htm
How do their reports differ from your report? How is the theory or content
similar? How do you evaluate their level of understanding of driving
psychology? What advice do you have about the generational curriculum?
The
four reports that I have chosen are:
How Their Reports Differ From Mine
The
biggest difference I noticed about my report as compared to the reports that I
reviewed is that mine contains much more about my explanations of concepts as
well as my analyses of items and occurrences.
I noticed that their reports were based on theories and definitions that
were provided in the lecture notes and books.
While my report still had the content and backing of the terms and
theories, most of it was my interpretation of them as well as my
experiences. There was also not much
opinion or analysis given of the checklists that they did and did not give an
explanation of their results. It seemed
to me that their directions for report 2 was a lot different from mine and
therefore was the reason for the biggest differences in our reports.
I
noticed that all of their reports had an in-depth experiment on modifying
driving behavior which is something my report did not. They did their driving personality makeover
and gave lots of information about their results and data. There were many charts and graphs that
accompanied the results. It seemed as
if their paper was more of an experiment than anything else.
How Their Reports Are Similar To
Mine
The
generational reports were similar to mine in that they talked about many of the
same concepts that I did in my report.
It was presented in a different way than mine, but basically had the
same content. In my report I talked
about the three-step self witnessing method as well as some of the driving
norms. The generational reports
included the same information, but was presented in a more straightforward
way. I did not find many more
similarities between my report and the reason being that the instructions were
very different as well as the expectations.
My report required more critical thinking as well as content analysis.
My Evaluation of Their Understanding
of Driving Psychology
I
find it very difficult to evaluate their understanding of driving psychology,
mainly because their reports were short and did not contain very much
information. I feel that it is hard to
evaluate their understanding because most of their reports were based on
theories and principles that were taken straight from the book or the
notes. Without them giving
explanations, it is hard to judge how much of it they really have absorbed. I am sure that they have a good
understanding of the material, but I do not think the report is a good representation
of how much they know. Their reports
were done very well and followed the instructions, so I will assume that they
understand the content reasonably well.
My Advice about the Generational
Curriculum
I
do not especially like doing analyses of the generational curriculum because
their reports differ so much from ours.
The instructions are so different that it is hard to compare and
analyze. I am also not sure how helpful
it is to analyze what previous generations have wrote or what they think. It may help us to better understand some
concepts or to look at things from a different perspective, but I do not think
that doing analyses will assist our learning.
I cannot say that I would recommend continuing this generational
analysis, but it may prove to be helpful for some individuals. I think that it may be helpful to some
people because they may benefit from reading other student’s reports, but do
not see how comparing the previous generations reports will be beneficial.
The Question I am answering is
Question #01
(a) Contrast our two textbooks: Road Rage and
Aggressive Driving (James and Nahl), and Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems
That Make Traffic Safer (Peter Rothe, Editor). Name some ways they are similar,
and some ways they are different. Would either text be suitable for high school
students?
(b) Discuss in what way these ideas can help solve
society's driving problems. Be specific: describe the main problems (use some
statistics) and how can particular ideas in these two books help solve those
problems.
(c) Describe the reactions
of friends when you tell them about driving personality makeovers and its psychological
and social context.
(a) Contrast our two
textbooks: Road Rage and Aggressive
Driving (James and Nahl), and Driving
Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make Traffic Safer (Peter Rothe,
Editor). Name some ways they are similar, and some ways they are different.
Would either text be suitable for high school students?
About Driving Lessons: Exploring
Systems That Make Traffic Safer
(i) The Driving
Lessons book is broken down into three sections: Personal Sub-Systems,
Institutional Sub-Systems, and Technical Sub-Systems. The section on personal sub-systems include the driver as well as
the environmental and social influences that they encounter. It talks about driver’s behaviors as well as
the types of stressors that affect their driving behavior, including family and
friends.
Institutional Sub-Systems
include the law, economics, behavior as well as education. The parts on the law include how driving
infarctions are dealt with in court as well as the programs which are
established in order to provide more stable and fair consequences. When talking about economics, the book talks
about how driving can cause economic hardship as well as unnecessary
expenses. This section mentions the
skill of the driver by evaluating performance and behavior. The last part talks about driving education
and the benefits of them.
The section on Technical
Sub-Systems includes geographic systems as well as the effect of technology on
driving. This section gives examples of
how Geographic information systems are used in accidents as well as hazardous
driving locations. The sections on
technology talk about how things like cell phones are detrimental to driving
and how things like red-light cameras can help encourage safe driving. The last part has an overall conclusion of
traffic safety.
About Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering
Clear of Highway Warfare
The Road Rage book also
includes three sections: the conflict mentality, driving psychology, and the
future of driving. The conflict
mentality section discusses whether or not road rage is real as well as the
affect of aggressive driving on mental health.
It also gives some of the causes of hostility on the road as well as
different types of road rage.
The driving psychology
section includes the three-step driver self-improvement program as well as
other suggestions for dealing with road rage and aggressive driving. It also goes into what supportive driving is
and the concept of lifelong driver education.
This section also talks about how children are influenced by their
parents and the media in regards to driving behaviors and actions.
The last section, the future
of driving, talks about how to battle aggressive driving, the rebellion of
motorists, as well as driving realities.
It talks about all the costs of aggressive driving as well as the
initiatives that police and law enforcement are taking. They talk about how motorists rebel against
the law by stretching the speed limit as well as ways to get around speed traps
and speed technology. The final section
describes how new technology is affecting driving behaviors.
(ii) The biggest similarity
between the Driving Lessons book and the Road Rage book, is that the main point
of the books is to address safer driving.
Both textbooks talk about aggressive driving and road rage as well as
possible solutions to those problems.
In both of the textbooks, many useful suggestions of why aggressive
driving takes place and solutions are given, but this is where the books begin
to differ. The types of suggestions for
solutions are very different. The
Driving Lessons book gives solutions that are aimed more toward the community
level than the individual level. It
takes into consideration driving situations and not so much the driver
themselves. On the other hand, the Road
Rage book gives many suggestions that are aimed at how the driver can better
improve his or her driving skills.
(iii) I feel that the Road
Rage textbook would be a great tool for teaching high school students about
driving. It not only is an interesting
book, but it provides activities that can help the students better understand
the concepts. The greatest thing about
the Road Rage book is that it is easy to read and could easily keep high school
student’s attention. It would be a
valuable tool in drivers education as well as being part of the regular
educational curriculum. On the other
hand, I would not recommend the Driving Lessons book because it is a little on
the boring side and is a little harder to read. I do not think that high school students would be interested in
this text and would not get enough out of it.
(b) Discuss in what way these ideas
can help solve society's driving problems. Be specific: describe the main
problems (use some statistics) and how can particular ideas in these two books
help solve those problems.
Helping Society’s Driving Problems
(i)
I think that drivers who read these books or take into consideration the
suggestions that are given, can benefit greatly in many aspects of their life,
including driving behavior. If the
drivers would use the three step self witnessing suggestion, they may be able
to see the error in their ways and may find ways to fix it. It is very simple to follow the three step
method and can easily be adopted by the general driving population. It is very evident that road rage and
aggressive driving is becoming more prominent and is causing many deaths and
injuries. According to the website
www.drdriving.org, 42,000 American are killed every year as a result of a
traffic accident. The statistics show
that driving is something that has to be dealt with soon and following the
suggestions in the textbooks could be a solution to the many traffic deaths
that occur every year.
(ii) As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, the
three step self witnessing method is a good way to begin solving driving
problems. It consists of acknowledging
that there are errors in the drivers way, witnessing the actions as they
happen, and modifying the behavior when it occurs. It seems as if many drivers do not see that they have any problem
or are doing anything wrong, and acknowledging it is the first step. There are many suggestions similar to this
method in the textbooks. I feel that
all of them would be a great place to start in order to modify bad driving
behaviors.
(c) Describe the reactions of
friends when you tell them about driving personality makeovers and its
psychological and social context.
(i) I discussed the driving personality makeover
with a group of friends and they seemed to come to a consensus about how they
felt in regards to the makeover. They
felt that this was a good method and could work for people who were willing and
wanting to change. One of them felt as
if the wanting of change was the only determinant of whether this method was
going to be successful. They felt that
if the driver did not want to change or would not want to acknowledge they had
a problem, this method would not work no matter how hard it was impressed on
them. I then asked which part of the
three-step method they thought was the most important. They all agreed that acknowledging the error
in their ways was the key to changing and becoming a better driver.
I then asked them if they felt this method could
work on a society as a whole. They
replied that they did not think that the majority of the people in the US would
agree to using this method because most people would refuse to acknowledge any
wrong doing or errors. It was said that
most people in the US feel that they have the right to act and drive as they
wish, as long as they are not breaking the law. Therefore, they would not want to change their ways and would
continue on the way that they felt was right.
The Question I am answering is
Question #02
a) Search Google News section, for "road
rage." Describe what you see. Is it a general phenomenon? How do you
react?
(b) How do you explain what's going on -- using
driving psychology theory. Connect what you found in the news with the problems
and solutions you discuss in Question 1.
(c) Tell your friends about what you found.
Describe their reaction.
(a) Search Google News
section, for "road rage." Describe what you see. Is it a general
phenomenon? How do you react?
(i) When I typed in the
phrase “road rage” into the google news section, I found many articles about
road rage and to my surprise, the frequency at which it was occurring. Each article has a date at which the
incident occurred, and some of the incidences took place hours ago. The article that I read that saddened me the
most was about the death of a twelve year old boy. The article stated that two motorists were chasing one another
while yelling obscenities at speeds of 160kph.
When the two speeding vehicles came racing down the road, one vehicle
hit the boy who was crossing the street with friends. It was never discovered as to what sparked the road rage
incident, but both motorists were sentenced to long prison terms.
(ii) After reading all the
articles about road rage, I would definitely say that it is a general
phenomenon. I noticed that these
incidences of road rage were coming from all parts of the world and seemed to
happen in all parts of our country as well.
I was shocked to see how widespread the issue of road rage was affecting
so many fatalities. I understood that
it was becoming more relevant in the US, but did not realize how prominent it
was all over the world.
(iii) I was shocked not only
by the huge number of incidents, but by how frequently road rage was
occurring. The big shocker came when
new articles were published every day and many just hours apart. I also find it extremely saddening that many
people in this world do not care about the lives of other people. In the article I mentioned above, where the
boy was killed, after the motorists stopped because of the accident, they got
out of their car and assaulted each other.
None of the motorists or their passengers got out to help or to check on
the child that was injured. It
reassured me that people in this world do not care about anyone else but
themselves.
(b) How do you explain
what's going on -- using driving psychology theory. Connect what you found in
the news with the problems and solutions you discuss in Question 1.
Explanation
(i) I feel that the road
rage situations are occurring more frequently these days because of the
generation that is on the road today.
It is said in Dr. Leon James’ driving psychology theories that the
characteristics of this generation’s driving norms include: valuing
territoriality, dominance, and seeing competition as a desirable driving
style. It is also mentioned that this
generation of drivers condone aggressiveness, disrespect, and expression of
hostility. I think that the
descriptions of this generation are very accurate. It may not apply to all drivers, but can account for many of the
people involved in road rage incidences.
If you consider what may
have sparked the road rage incidences, it probably stems from some sort of
dominance and can occur because expression of hostility is condoned and
somewhat accepted. In some of the
articles that I read, the road rage incidences were because the motorists felt
threatened and wanted to protect their space.
Many drivers these days need to realize that in order for people to
coexists successfully, there needs to be an unspoken rule of sharing the
roads. In order to lessen the
incidences of road rage, people need to modify their behaviors and take a look
at how they feel and how they react to other motorists.
The solution to the problems
of road rage could be the three-step self witnessing method. If every driver would acknowledge their
driving errors, witness when they occur, and then try to modify the negative
action and/or behavior. I feel that
this would be a great first step to changing the way this generation is
thinking and acting. Motorists must be
made aware of the number of fatalities and incidences that occur just because
of negative driving behavior. It may be
that then people will realize that change is necessary in order to curb the
incidences of road rage. I know that I
didn’t realize how big of a problem road rage was until I took this class and
saw the statistics. When I read more
about the road rage cases, it made me want to change my ways and be a more
supportive driver on the road. If more
people are made aware, then there might be some that would want to change for
the better.
(c) Tell your friends
about what you found. Describe their reaction.
(i) I shared the information
that I found with my boyfriend and asked him what he thought about the many
incidences of road rage occurring all around the world. He did not seem to be too shocked because he
had already realized what a growing problem road rage is becoming. I then asked him what he thought causes road
rage to occur and why people are driving so aggressively. He stated that the main reason road rage
occurs is because people are self-centered, self-absorbed, and selfish when it
comes to other people. Drivers feel
that they “own” the road and can act in any way that they feel is right.
I then asked him what he
thinks would be a good solution to road rage and aggressive driving. He said that people need to start by taking
responsibility for themselves and their actions. Then he suggested that the public be educated about how
detrimental road rage and aggressive driving really is. He feels that people should be made aware of
the fatality statistics so that they can see the reality of how big of a
problem we really have. In order for
people to change they must be educated on the statistics as well as the want to
change their behaviors and actions.
The Question I am answering is Question #03:
(a) Select some student reports at www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499s2003/newsgroups
Discuss your reactions to what they did – their ideas, their method, and their
explanations. What did they gain from doing their reports? How do their ideas
influence what you yourself think about these issues?
(b) Now go to Google Groups search and type in
"driving". See if you can corroborate the conclusions of the student
reports which were done several years ago. Is this still going on the same way?
(a) Select some student reports at www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499s2003/newsgroups
Discuss your reactions to what they did – their ideas, their method, and their
explanations. What did they gain from doing their reports? How do their ideas
influence what you yourself think about these issues?
For part (a) of question #03
I decided to choose three different reports from the link provided above.
(i)
The first report I will
be discussing can be found at http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499s2003/newsgroups/newsgroups25.html,
By Mike Sakamoto. Mike wrote his
responses to several different news stories and gave his reactions and personal
opinions.
IDEAS:
I think that Mike has some interesting ideas about solutions and
responses to driving problems. I agree
with some of his suggestions, but there are also some that I do not agree
with. I really like his idea of having
an alternate 911 for lesser emergencies because it will free up the line for
more imminent emergencies. I felt that
he was providing a good suggestion to a person that had a gripe with people
reporting simple traffic violations to the police. What I do not agree with is his response to a driver about
speeders, “the next time you find someone driving with a lead foot, ask them to
think about what they are doing and tell them to slow down. I feel this is not a smart thing to do because
it could provoke road rage and cause more of a problem than speeding
itself. In that regard, his ideas were
not at all in line with the driving principles offered by Dr. James.
METHODS:
Mike read the stories that people had
posted and wrote his response and possible solution to the problem at
hand. In almost every response to the
articles, he gave an example of some related incident that occurred here in
Hawaii. I felt that relating the story
to a Hawaii incidence was a good idea because many Hawaii people think “it’s
not going to happen here.” This may
make people more aware that incidences are happening everywhere in the world
and is a concern to everyone who travels on the roadways. I also noticed that Mike liked to criticize
most of the writers of the stories and posed questions that would be hurled at
the writer in a negative way.
EXPLANATIONS:
Mike’s explanations seemed to be his
feelings and beliefs about what was mentioned in the news stories. He did not give much explanation with
regards to driving psychology and theories.
His explanations also included what he would do if he were in the
situation or what he did if he had been in that situation before. I do agree with some of his suggestions that
unnecessary distractions could result in an accident or some sort of traffic
altercation. Mike’s overall concern
seems to be with the safety of everyone who uses the roads, drivers,
passengers, runners, and pedestrians.
All in all, he believes that people should act in a way that could be
safe for everyone.
What They Gained
(ii) I think that Mike was able to
relate to a lot of the stories and events that were posted. It seems that by relating his own
experiences to other driver’s stories he will better retain the information and
will think more critically about situations when he is again faced with
them. I also feel that Mike put a lot
of thought into giving suggestions and finding explanations for the problems
that people encountered. I think that
by critically thinking about the situations, he was better able to grasp the
concepts of driving psychology while also grasping the reality of the
occurrences of road rage and aggressive driving.
(iii)One of the things that
I got out of reading Mike’s responses was reading his suggestions to some of
the issues. When I read his suggestions
I thought about the reality of it and how beneficial or negative they would
really be if they were acted out. It
added ideas to some of the suggestions that I had already thought about and was
analyzing. Mike also looked at some of
the stories in ways that would never have crossed my mind. It added an interesting twist and different
point of view that had never occurred to me before.
(i) The second report I will
be discussing can be found at http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499s2003/newsgroups/newsgroups23.html,
By Thadd. Thadd wrote her responses to
several different news stories and gave her reactions and personal opinions.
IDEAS
Thadd
had some really good responses to people’s postings and gave good
suggestions. Thadd also analyzed each
of the situations that were presented in the stories. I agreed with almost all of the ideas that Thadd gave when she
analyzed the situations. I especially
agreed with Thadd’s response to hitting people with the shocking facts of the
fatalities caused by road rage and aggressive driving. I too believe that drivers need to be aware
of these statistics in order to see the reality of the problem. Seeing the statistics may scare a driver
into rethinking his or her driving behaviors.
I feel that this person has a good grasp on handling the situations as
well as giving good advice.
METHODS
Thadd
read each of the stories and gave an in-depth analysis as well as her own
opinion to the situation. In her
analysis, she explained what she thought the writer wanted to say through his
or her postings. I found this very
useful in understanding the situation as well as the message that was being
conveyed. Thadd also talked about the
good and /or bad points that the writers brought up and related the story at
hand to something personal she had experienced or was told. She also incorporated theories from driving
psychology into her analysis, which gave great depth to the responses that she
gave.
EXPLANATIONS
Thadd
explained what she felt the writer of the postings was trying to convey. She gave in depth explanations as well as
her own ideas and feelings. I agreed
with many of the explanations and ideas that Thadd gave and found them very
interesting to think about. The main
message that Thadd wanted to get across, was to look at her commentaries and
responses with open minds and to see it from the driver’s point of view.
What They Gained
(ii)
I believed that Thadd gained a lot of insight as to what other people or
drivers are thinking. I feel that the
biggest thing she gained from this experience is to look at things from the
other person’s point of view. It seemed
as if she took into consideration what the writer was saying as well as to put
things in her own words. I think she
had a lot of fun with the newsgroups and got entertainment as well as learning
out of it.
How They Influence Me
(iii)Thadd’s
ideas and responses were quite similar to responses I would have said. Even though most of her ideas were similar
to mine, I feel that her strategy of open-mindedness was beneficial to me. One of my biggest problems is not looking at
situations from someone else’s perspective and she reminded me to step back and
see things from the other side. It made
me realize how important it is to see both sides of a story before you place blame
or accuse anyone of anything.
(i)
The third report I will
be discussing can be found at http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499s2003/newsgroups/newsgroups19.html,
By Aaron. Aaron wrote his responses to
several different news stories and gave his reactions and personal opinions.
One of Aaron’s ideas that I
agree with the most is that we live in an individualistic culture where “I”
comes before “we.” He states that our
society is not geared to be a collective group and therefore makes changes very
difficult. Another if Aaron’s ideas
that I find most like mine, is that there needs to be tougher punishment on
offenders and have to clearly draw the line as to what you can and cannot
do. He understands that there are
people who are going to find ways to get around or break the law, therefore
harsher punishment and more clear-cut laws should be made. I also agreed with his idea that road rage
kills and sometimes you just need to let the guy pass you. He makes it clear that sometimes fighting
another driver just isn’t worth it and you need to let it go.
Aaron analyzed the postings
that were in the newsgroups and gave his suggestion of what the writer was
trying to say, as well as his own personal beliefs and feelings. He goes into more detail about how our
individualistic society helps to create and maintain a lot of the altercations
that are going on. In some of his
responses, Aaron incorporates theories not only from driving psychology, but
from learning in general.
Aaron’s explanations
basically relate back to the concept of our society and being
individualistic. He explains the
actions of the motorists as being self-centered and not caring about anyone
else but themselves. What I found to be
very enjoyable about his report was that with every explanation he gave, he
related it to a movie and a specific situation. It seemed as if in general, Aaron related all of his explanations
to some aspect of the real world, not necessarily with regards to driving, but
to something general and unrelated.
(ii)I think that Aaron
gained a lot of knowledge on different incidences of road rage as well as
better analyzing situations. It was
obvious that he put a lot of thought into each response and even took the time
to help people understand the concepts from other examples. I think his greatest benefit was the amount
of critical thinking and analyzing that he was required to do. There are not many assignments these days
that encourage people to think critically and I think he got a great
opportunity through this assignment.
(iii) This report influenced
me to analyze driving situations within the context of driving psychology as
well as in the context of everyday life.
It would never have occurred to me to relate every situation with
something I had seen in a movie or on TV.
I feel that it may bring difficult situations into perspective and make
them easier to understand. I also
benefited from reading how he related the driving situations to other learning
theories in general. It was again,
something that I had never thought of before and may bring more insight to me
in the future.
b) Now go to Google
Groups search and type in "driving". See if you can corroborate the
conclusions of the student reports which were done several years ago. Is this
still going on the same way?
Driving
Groups
(i) When I typed in the
word “driving” into google groups, I was surprised at what I saw. I expected to see many more groups
discussing and venting about their road rage incidences and encounters with
“stupid driver.” What I did find was
groups who talked about the different punishments for people who kill others
while driving and who cause accidents because of carelessness or aggressive
driving. There are still a handful of
groups who complain about other drivers and like to talk about their road rage
encounters. When reading the postings
of the people who are complaining about other drivers, it seemed as if nothing
had changed from when the previous generation did their reports. People continued to vent about their
encounters, while others gave his or her opinion about what the other motorists
had to say. The only difference I saw
between the group discussion now as compared to a few years ago is that I found
less people complaining, but it does still exist.
The Question I am answering is Question #05:
(a) Our textbook Road Rage and Aggressive Driving
has checklist exercises in several chapters. Have a friend do the following
four exercises:
(i) Exercise on Aggressive Thoughts and Feelings on
p. 65-66
(ii) Exercise on Are You an Aggressive Competitor on p. 104-5
(iii) Exercise on Positive Driving Behaviors on p. 212-3
(iv) Exercise on Your Passive Aggressive Road Rage Tendency on p. 88-9
(b) Discuss the results with your friends. How do
you explain the results? Where did they get this style of reacting and driving?
How do they help you understand some principles of driving psychology mentioned
in the book?
(c) Discuss how this activity helps you to become
more aware of yourself as a driver.
(a) Our textbook Road Rage and Aggressive Driving has
checklist exercises in several chapters. Have a friend do the following four
exercises:
(i) Exercise on
Aggressive Thoughts and Feelings on p. 65-66
(ii) Exercise on Are You an Aggressive Competitor on p. 104-105
(iii) Exercise on Positive Driving Behaviors on p. 212-213
(iv) Exercise on Your Passive Aggressive Road Rage Tendency on p. 88-89.
Driving Checklists
(i) I chose to have my boyfriend complete the
checklist exercises that were listed above.
It was interesting to compare my impressions of his driving to what his
impressions of himself are.
(b) Discuss the results
with your friends. How do you explain the results? Where did they get this
style of reacting and driving? How do they help you understand some principles
of driving psychology mentioned in the book?
Explanation of Results
(i) When giving my boyfriend the checklists to
complete I discovered that he only scored relatively high in one category,
Fantasies of Retaliation and Revenge.
It seemed as if he admitted to being frustrated by other drivers and
thinking that he wanted them to get out of the way but he did not score high on
the questions that asked if he wanted to physically cause them any harm. He did not check the statements which
including ramming them or actually causing bodily injury. My boyfriend also scored high in the high
pressure driving. He checked the
statements about rushing due to him being late.
According to the results of the passive aggressive
checklist, my boyfriend does not have many passive aggressive tendencies. He did admit to making gestures and facial
expressions at other drivers, but did not exhibit much else. When reviewing the checklists on being a
rushing maniac and being an aggressive competitor, my boyfriend did not check
any of the items. I did not expect him
to check off any of those items because he is not the aggressive type and does
not usually rush unless he is late, which is rare.
When it came to the checklist on positive driving
behavior, my boyfriend checked many of the statements. I think that he feels that adopting many of
the statements given would be a good idea and may try to adhere to them. I do realize that just because he checked
the statements does not mean that he is going to change his ways. I feel that since I’ve been explaining my
driving theories to him he wants to change and realizes how dangerous road rage
and aggressive driving really is.
Style of Reacting and Driving
When I asked my boyfriend where he got him driving
style and reactions, he replied that he didn’t know. He said that there was nobody in particular that influenced him
or that he got his aggressiveness from.
He stated that he just developed his own driving behaviors and does not
feel he was negatively influenced by anyone or any particular event. I think that he learned to drive from his
mother, who is not at all an aggressive driver. It seems as if when he first started driving, he did not express
as much aggressive driving as he does now.
One explanation he suggested was that as he became more comfortable
driving and being on the roads, the more inclined he was to be aggressive. I feel that this is probably true because I
do not see any other possible influences.
Understanding Principles of Driving
Psychology
I think that going through the exercises with my boyfriend
and hearing his explanations made me better understand the affective driving
norms for this generation. I think my
boyfriend continues to drive the way that he does because he sees it as
culturally and socially acceptable. It
seems as if everyone is being aggressive and showing obscene gestures, which
makes it seem that these actions are being condoned by the general public. I think it means a lot when you see all
types of people behaving obscenely on the road because it is not just the
typical young males who are exhibiting these behaviors.
(c) Discuss how this
activity helps you to become more aware of yourself as a driver.
How it has
helped me
This activity has helped me
to become more aware of myself as a driver by making me analyze the checklists
and answer them myself. In going over
the checklists, I scored my own driving behaviors in my head and thought about
whether or not I would be considered an aggressive driver. I had not done the checklists until I had my
boyfriend do them, so I was not aware of my own scores. By doing the various types of checklists I
was able to see where my aggressive tendencies were high. It seems that I become aggressive whenever I
feel threatened or if I am in a rush. I
am not usually competitive and am not a rushing maniac, so I was able to
pinpoint my weaknesses. Now that I am
aware of my specific weaknesses I can better address them and find solutions to
the problems.
I also began to think about
where my driving style came from. I
realized that both of my parents are aggressive drivers, but in different
ways. My father, who is usually calm
and never in a rush, would get very angry and aggressive when another driver
crossed his path or did something to put him in harms way. He would yell, cuss and show obscenities to
the drivers when they did something my dad did not like. I feel that watching him react as a child
influenced me to do the same when I began driving. My mother on the other hand, was always rushing and wanted
everyone to hurry up. She was not as
aggressive towards other drivers who wronged her, but she did occasionally give
an obscene gesture. The combination of
both my parent’s driving styles greatly influenced how I drive today and can
greatly influence any child who witnesses aggressive behaviors by their
parents.
The Question I am answering is Question #06:
(a) Search the Web and the University of Hawaii
Library Electronic Resources of full text journals to find out what is known
about how cell phone use affects people's driving. Summarize some of this
literature. Be sure you have articles from both the Web and the Library
Electronic Journals Databases. Give the full reference and link for each
article.
(b) Use the theory in the Lecture Notes to explain
what drivers need to learn about themselves in order to be able to handle the
proper use of cell phones while driving. Is it better to train drivers to use
cell phones properly or is it better to outlaw the use of any cell phones while
driving? Discuss the solutions.
(a) Search the Web and
the University of Hawaii Library Electronic Resources of full text journals to
find out what is known about how cell phone use affects people's driving.
Summarize some of this literature. Be sure you have articles from both the Web
and the Library Electronic Journals Databases. Give the full reference and link
for each article.
Articles
and Citations
The articles I chose can
be found at:
1.
http://www.iii.org/media/hottopics/insurance/cellphones/
2.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/pdf/cellphones.pdf
Complete Reference for
(3) Seo, Dong-Chul and Torabi, Mohammad
“The Impact of In-Vehicle Cell-Phone Use on Accidents or Near-Accidents Among
College Students.”
Journal of
American College Health Volume 53, No. 3
Summary
of Articles
The first article I chose
Cell Phones and Driving, discusses the two dangers of driving and cell
phone use. The article states that the
first danger is that drivers must take their eyes off of the road while
dialing. The second danger is that a
driver may become so involved in his or her conversation that their ability to
concentrate is impaired. A study done
in April 2006 found that almost 80 percent of accidents and 65 percent of
near-accidents involved some driver inattention. The study also found that the most common distraction is
cell-phone use.
The study tracked the
behavior of 241 drivers of 100 vehicles for more than a year. The drivers were involved in 82 crashes, 761
near crashes, and 8,296 critical incidents.
The study showed that a drivers risk of an accident is nine times more
likely if they are reaching for items or talking to passengers. A driver using a hand-held phone had an
increased risk of 1.3. Despite the fact
that cell phone use was not as dangerous or as risky as other distractions, it
still increased the risk of an accident.
Another study that was
done in Perth, Australia revealed that a driver is four times as likely to get
into an accident if they are using their cell phone while driving. The results of the study showed that even
the banning of hand-held cell phones would not improve safety if the driver
switched to a hands-free phone. It was
determined that the type of phone used did not have an affect on accident
occurrences. Other studies also
concluded that driving while talking on a hands-free cell phone can be just as
dangerous as driving while intoxicated.
The second article that I
chose, Study Finds that Restricting Cell Phones While Driving May Be
Premature, That Benefits May Be More Compelling Than the Risks talks about
the argument that the benefits of cell-phone use while driving, outweigh the
negative aspects. After reviewing
scientific data and independent focus groups, the study found that cellular
phone use while driving does have a risk to the driver, other motorists and
pedestrians. It also revealed that the
risks of cell-phone use while driving as small compared to other daily
risks.
The study also listed
some of the benefits of using cell phones while driving. It can reduce the number and duration of
trips, can be used to contact emergency services, strengthen social networking,
decrease accident response times, and improved life-saving outcomes. The economic studies that were done showed
that the monetary value of using a cellular phone while driving exceeds the
costs, even when it includes safety risks expressed in terms of dollars. In conclusion, the article suggests weighing
the benefits against the costs when deciding on whether or not to use a cell
phone while driving.
The third article I
chose, The Impact of In-Vehicle Cell-Phone Use on Accidents or
Near-Accidents Among College Students examines a study done on recruited
college students in four states. The
students were given a questionnaire to examine the relationship of cell-phone
use in vehicles to the number of accidents and near-accidents. The researchers on the study initially
hypothesized that drivers who have longer and more frequent cellular phone
calls while driving, might be associated with more accidents or
near-accidents. The questionnaire
consists of 28 closed-ended questions that asked about driving experience,
involvement in unsafe driving behaviors, in-vehicle cell phone use while
driving and accidents or near-accidents, and attitudes about talking while
driving.
The results found that
21% of those that reported being in an accident and near-accident said that it
involved using a cellular phone while driving.
The findings of their study support the association of cell phone use
while driving and accidents or near-accidents.
The study also found that the use of hands-free models does not provide
greater safety over hand-held cellular phones.
The conclusion of the study suggests that the total ban of all types of
in-vehicle cell phones may not be a practical option because of the public’s
overwhelming opposition to the idea.
(b) Use the theory in
the Lecture Notes to explain what drivers need to learn about themselves in
order to be able to handle the proper use of cell phones while driving. Is it
better to train drivers to use cell phones properly or is it better to outlaw
the use of any cell phones while driving? Discuss the solutions.
Proper
Use of Cell Phones While Driving
In Dr. Leon James’
lecture notes on driving psychology, he states that “driving inherently
involves taking risks, making errors, and losing emotional self-control. He then suggests that drivers be trained in
risk taking, error recovery, and emotional control. I feel that Dr. James’ statement about being trained in risk
taking relates to the use of cell phones while driving. I think that in order for a driver to
properly use a cell phone while driving, he or she needs to learn how to handle
risk taking. Driver’s need to become
aware of their strengths and weaknesses as well as knowing how much
concentration is required of them while driving. Some drivers may not need to concentrate as hard as others when
it comes to supportive driving, but the driver must learn how much they can
handle.
When learning about
themselves, drivers need to consider the circumstances and environment they
will be in while talking on the cellular phone. If the driver is going to be involved in a long and deep
conversation, it may be wiser for them to pull over or to continue the
conversation at another time. The depth
of the conversation plays a large part as to how involved you are in your
driving as well as in the conversation, therefore making it essential for the
driver to assess the type of conversation before he continues to drive. This is another factor that drivers need to
learn in order to safely handle talking and driving.
Training
Drivers vs. Banning of Cell Phones While Driving
I feel that the total
banning of cell phone use while driving is impossible. It is impossible because the cops cannot
know if you are using a hands-free device, or if you are simply talking to
yourself. Even if banning of the cell
phone were possible, I would rather have the alternative of training
drivers. If drivers are aware of their
own abilities and limitations, cell phone use and driving may not be as
dangerous as it is now. When drivers
learn about themselves and their abilities, they can hopefully use good
judgment as to when it is appropriate to talk on the phone. I feel that there are many benefits of
talking on the phone while driving, although not always essential, and that
people should have the option of doing so if they have the proper
training. I know the reality of formal
training is grim, but I do believe that if people are taught to be aware of
themselves the driving world would be a lot safer.
Advice to
Future Generations
In order to succeed in
this course, you must do the readings, the outlines, the oral presentations and
the reports. The key to success in this
class is following Dr. James’ directions to a tee. If you are able to follow his directions and complete all of the
assignments, you will do more than fine.
This course is not only a writing intensive and an oral communication,
but on following step by step directions.
The content of the material is not difficult to understand, but it does
take time to understand and process.
You should always come to
class prepared to ask educational questions to the students who are doing their
oral presentation. Dr. James does take
into consideration who speaks up in class and who doesn’t, so you want to know
about the material that is going to be talked about that day. When doing your oral presentation, be sure
to have rehearsed it well enough so that you are not reading from your
notes. All it takes is just some time
to prepare and be comfortable with the material. I found that going over the presentation again and again helped
me to flow better during my report.
I feel that the biggest
and best thing anyone can get out of this course is a new outlook on driving
and behaviors. When I began this class
I did not know what to expect and I did not think that it would change my life
as much as it had. I always knew that
road rage was unhealthy and dangerous, but I never realized the extent of how
detrimental it can really be. I’ve also
learned to give other drivers the benefit of the doubt while on the road and to
think about driving with an open mind.
There were so many aspects of driving that I had never heard of before
this class and that will be with me forever.
When taking this class, please have an open mind and be willing to
really think about the concepts. Having
an open mind can really expand your learning and thinking in this course.
As I said in my report 1,
do not procrastinate! I cannot stress
that enough, because I myself procrastinate about everything. I was able to successfully complete all of
my assignments, but I was always feeling stressed and pressured. Starting early will make your experience in
this class more enjoyable and fun. All
I have to say is to stay on top of the assignments, go to class, and do not procrastinate. Follow those basic rules and have a Happy
Driving Psychology Course! J
My Homepage: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409af2006/tokita/tokita-home.htm
Class Homepage: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/classhome-g25.htm