Report 2

My Understanding of Driving Psychology

By: Adam Stewart

Instructions for this report are at:

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/409a-g24-report2.htm

I am answering questions 1, 3, 5, 4, and 7

Question 1:

(a) Give a brief review of our two textbooks: Road Rage and Aggressive Driving (James and Nahl), and Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make Traffic Safer (Peter Rothe, Editor). The reviews should be between 3 and 6 paragraphs for each text.

(b) Select Chapter 8 on Supportive Driving (by James and Nahl) in the Road Rage book and Chapter 14 on Driving Skills (by Lawrance Lonero) in the Driving Lessons book. Summarize their content. Be sure to refer to the author's name(s).

(c) Discuss in what way these ideas can help solve society's driving problems. Be specific: what are the main problems and how can particular ideas in these chapters help solve those problems.

(d) Describe any resistance you experience regarding this orientation, including

(i) the idea that how you drive is a moral issue of human rights

(ii) the idea of lifelong driver education and the idea of mandatory participation in QDC support groups

(e) Describe the reactions of friends when you tell them about driving personality makeovers

The Question I am answering is question number 1.

A. Leon James and Diane Nahl (2000). Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warfare. (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books) pp. 298

Road Rage and Aggressive Driving by Dr. Leon James and Dr. Diane Nahl is a book that aims to help drivers continue their education on the road. The book is split into three main sections that each inspects and analyzes the different relationships on the road. The book has several key themes that revolve around self-introspection and improvement, building emotional intelligence, and trying to limit driving hostility.

The book takes an in-depth look at the different types of road rage and the anger that arises. It comes complete with quizzes and checklists throughout the book for drivers to do so they can be able to witness their behaviors in order to try to improve them. If a person does not realize the behavior they are doing is maladaptive then they will most likely continue in it. These quizzes help to point out behaviors that a person may normally not notice. In my personal experience, taking the quizzes in this book has helped me identify and work on driving behaviors that could be considered faulty or aggressive.

Emotional intelligence is one of the most important concepts in this book. There are three levels of emotional intelligence, which are oppositional, defensive, and supportive. Oppositional driving is often aggressive and impetuous and can result in reckless behavior. Drivers on the oppositional level often take incidents on the road as personal threats or insults. This level is categorized by the driver’s irrational thoughts. The next level of emotional intelligence is defensive. On this level driver’s are more cautious and think logically, but it also promotes drivers to be wary and untrusting of others. Aggressive thoughts and driving are still possible at this level. The last level is supportive driving. These drivers are positive and prosocial. A supportive driver is positive, safe, and gives others the benefit of the doubt. It is not that supportive drivers are immune to negative driving thoughts, but they can self witness and change their behavior in a positive manner.

This book promotes life long driver education and awareness. The people who read it will hopefully become more aware of their own mental and emotional states, more emotionally available and open, and become an overall improved driver. The accident rate in the United States could decrease in future years if ideas from this book were implemented such as lifelong driver education and if drivers became more patient and supportive of each other.

B. Leon James and Diane Nahl (2000). Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warfare. (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books) pp. 167-189. (Chapter 8)

Chapter eight is all about supportive driving and the measures people need to meet in order to improve themselves on the road. A supportive driver practices tolerance in all situations while behind the wheel. They are kind and courteous to all drivers. They have an “attitude of latitude” which means that they have a cool and even demeanor and do not suffer from intense anger or rage. Societies around the world need more drivers like these. They are emotionally available and support the other drivers around them. They are calm and courteous. A courteous driver can help diffuse a potential dangerous situation with a wave of good gesture. A supportive driver attempts to make the proper hand signals to inform or warn other drivers of dangers or events. One of the main problems while driving in our society is the lack of courtesy towards others accompanied with an aggressive and intolerant disposition.

Aggressive or reptilian drivers act on impulse and compete against other drivers in an often hostile way. They are intolerant of others and can anger easily. Everyone has seen people like this on the road. They yell and scream at others and at traffic. They act aggressively and use their car as a way of exerting authority. Becoming a supportive driver would help the situation because supportive drivers are more aware of their own and others feelings. The roads would be a safer and more pleasant place if more drivers were open, responsive, and caring. Aggressive drivers do harm to almost every aspect of the road. They cause accidents, degrade their own and others health by raising stress levels, and they hold their passengers hostage within the car.

A passenger is at the mercy of the driver and an oppositional driver is usually not concerned with the passenger’s feelings. As far as they are concerned they are the driver and the one in control. This can be seen as passenger terrorism and a violation of human rights. Every person has the right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. An aggressive driver can deprive both happiness and life from their passengers. Terrorizing passengers can easily exacerbate an already tense situation by adding extra stress and fear into an enclosed space.

One way to battle these aggressive driving habits is a program of life long driver education. The average person drives for most of his/her life but most stop their pursuit to become a better driver once they get their license. A continuous education program that is started at a young age could help people become more emotionally available drivers. It is imperative to catch people when they are young and before they start driving because that is the time that they are most impressionable.

I described the concepts of lifelong driver education and passenger terrorism to my girlfriend Gwyn. At first she was not sure that a lifelong driver education was necessary or would work, but after explaining why kids need to be taught driver intelligence at an early age she agreed that it made sense. However, she did not immediately recognize why passenger terrorism could be seen as a violation of human rights. I explained to her that an aggressive driver could strip a person of their unalienable rights by terrorizing them or even harming the passengers. The concepts now made sense to her and she started to become interested in more of the concepts behind driving psychology.

Peter Rothe, Editor (2002). Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make Traffic Safer. (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press). Pp. 343.

Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make Traffic Safe, is a book of collected articles from various authors who are authorities on psychology, traffic systems, and driving. Each author is able to draw from their specific expertise to create a book that promotes safety not only on the road but also in personal lives and in the work place. It covers the different types of driving a person does as well as different the driving styles that people have. It details the costs of driving in both a financial matter and gives the spectrum of how many people’s lives are affected by accidents each year.

This book believes that traffic and road safety goes beyond just road engineering and auto improvement. Although those are factors in traffic safety, this book tries to analyze things like driving behavior the social pressures while on the road. One such pressure discussed in the book is the pressure on commercial drivers. There are many more factors than just driving in the commercial world of trucking. Both drivers and dispatchers have to worry about things like deadlines and the company’s profits and losses.

The book also offers some possible solutions to help encourage supportive driving. The Mission Possible At Work program educates people in work environments in order to help spread emotionally supportive driving habits. It uses methods like adult support groups and peer sharing to educate drivers. The methods this program uses have been proven to be effective in adult education. While this is not an immediate fix, this could help promote a better work environment and would have a trickle down effect on others. This book is rich in theories and almost every chapter takes an in-depth look into problems that plague our society on the road.

Lonero, Lawrence. "Driving Skills." Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make Traffic Safe. Ed. J. Peter Rothe. Alberta: University of Alberta Press, 2002. Pp. 211-230.

Chapter Fourteen focuses on the driving skills a person must possess and utilize in order to function while on the road. A skill can be defined as a learned ability to perform a task effectively and efficiently. Performance can be enhanced through learning and practice. A driver usually improves throughout the years, but also can develop bad habits at the same time. Skills can become over learned through time and become almost automatic. A person no longer has to practice those skills because they peak in that particular department.

There are two main aspects of skill. The first is information processing capacities. Every person has a limit on how much information he or she can receive and retain. The second is that each person’s skill level can vary greatly. You cannot expect every person to score the same or even comparable in tests. An example of the differences between individuals is comparing the attention and scanning capacities in the causation of accidents. Newer drivers have higher accident rates on average because their skill level may not be up to par yet. Experienced drivers have a skill advantage that has developed over time and with practice. They have improved performance in things like parallel processing, multitasking, search scanning, and risk assessment. Weakness in any of the basic skills makes a person more liable to crashes.

Driver skills fall under the domains of the threefold self such as the sensorimotor, cognitive, and affective. The main skills required to be a successful, safe, and dependable driver are as follows: knowledge, attention, detection, perception, evaluation, decision making, motor skills, imagination, motivation, responsibility, and vigilance. A person would be able to improve themselves in most of these areas with time and experience. A skillful driver must be aware and be able to adapt to most situations.

People should practice the skills required to be a good and safe driver. Most people only think of driving as a sensorimotor activity, but they do not realize the cognitive and affective aspects. If more drivers tried to improve themselves in all of these areas than there would most likely be fewer accidents in our society. There are too many aggressive and shallow drivers and not enough capable and emotionally available drivers. Almost every driver over-estimates his or her ability while behind the wheel. This becomes a problem because a person may think that they are capable of handling a situation when in reality they are not. People also think that just because they have not gotten any tickets or just minor tickets that it automatically makes them a good driver. By reading this chapter, it helped me realize that my skills may not be as great as I think they may be. I am still young and have a lot of room for practice and growing and by reading these types of books it will help me further my driving education.

Question 3:

(a) Select three student reports at http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499s2003/newsgroups/

Be sure you put a link to the report you are quoting from. Summarize what the three students were trying to do, what methods they used, and what they concluded.

(b) 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?

(c) Now go to some driving newsgroups by Googling the phrase driving newsgroups. 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?

The question that I am answering is question number three.

Students were given an assignment to participate in newsgroups online and report on what they found, how they found it, and what it now meant to them. I read three former students reports and this is what I learned from them. The first report was from, http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499s2003/newsgroups/newsgroups15.html by Jason Thompson.

This student aimed to inspect newsgroups on three different topics that were wine, driving, and surfing. The student participated in online bulletin boards and found several subjects that they were interested about. This person discovered that newsgroups could be much more fun than previously thought and can benefit a person with information, entertainment, and making new friends with similar interests. They used a search engine through AOL to find the sites in question. This person learned how useful information sharing could be. If other people throughout the world have similar interests, it is beneficial for all to share the acquired information.

I believe that this student had some good ideas. They took subjects that they were interested in and participated in the activities. The student said that they used an AOL search engine, but personally I prefer Google or Ask.com because I think they are more inclusive and have a wider range of topics. As far as driving psychology goes, they did not write much about the subject, but they did get some other people’s opinions from countries around the world. I could neither confirm nor disconfirm their writings. Their report will not influence me in one way or the other because it was more superficial and did not seem very in-depth.

The next student’s report I chose was, http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499s2003/newsgroups/newsgroups14.htm.

This student chose to focus on more subjects, which are computer games, computer hardware, more computer hardware, soccer, and movie stars. His writing style is very different from the other person. He uses a lot of technical computer jargon in some of his reactions but is also very blunt in others. His typing is full of misspellings and typos. It made me wonder if his computer had a spell check. He supports newsgroups and think that they can have a good place in modern society. They can bring people together and can be used for entertainment.

This person did not seem to have any one clear method or acquiring information for their report and it seemed poorly put together. His writings were either too technical, describing in depth details of computer software and hardware, or they were poorly written and filled with errors. Under the topic of soccer, the subject he was reacting to seemed to have little to nothing to do with the subject. This person was able to find solace online with the anonymity that accompanies online activity. This person did not really bring up any issues so I cannot comment on how they affect me or any follow up reports.

The next student report that I covered was the following, http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499s2003/newsgroups/newsgroup72.html by Janice Kamm. She covered a variety of topics that centered on driving such as traffic flow, headlight usage, felonies for speeding, and aggressive driver stereotypes. This student found online chat groups about various subjects, selected a specific entry and commented on it in her own words. Her entries are just reactions to the post she used. This student did not have one clear conclusion for the project. She would comment her opinions about the post and even though they were often insightful, they were not a conclusion. She did seem to learn more about laws in specific areas along with other drivers’ inflexibility while on the road.

This person did make a few insightful comments to the sections she chose. I was shocked to see that Maryland attempted to make speeding over ten miles per hour a felony. I tried to see if the law ever took effect, but the person did not include a link to the source and I was unable to find anything about it on Google. As far as her other topics are concerned I was not impressed. She concluded that people do not like traffic and that people who do not turn on their headlights at appropriate times were inconsiderate. To me, these topics are very obvious. It is like saying that people do not like pain.

The posts do not influence me either way because the topics seem so obvious that I already had my own opinions on the subject. For all three reports I had a tough time backing up their sources. Either the student did not put a link to their source or I got an error message saying file not found or file moved. The Internet is constantly evolving so I suppose it would not be likely for a site to remain for five or more years unless necessary.

Question 4:

(a) Consider Table 5 in the Lecture Notes, in the Section on Driving Psychology Theory and Charts at  http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/409a-g24-lecture-notes.htm#Charts

Read the article from which the Table was taken. Copy and paste the table into your file. Describe the Table in your own words: what is for, what it says, what it shows.

(b) Copy the Table again and paste it again. But this time delete the examples in each cell and replace them with your own examples that you make up. Title this Section: My Version of the Table. Explain what your table shows and how you came up with it. Discuss your Table with friends. Summarize their reactions. Summarize your reactions to their reactions.

(c) Discuss why driving is such a big problem in all societies and why no effective solutions have yet been found for them. Refer to our two textbooks for examples of some of the world wide problems and solutions proposed. Be sure to refer to the author and page numbers.  What likelihood is there that his approach will be adopted? Explain.

The question that I am answering is question four.

Table five from lecture notes:

Driver Competence Skills	Aggressive NEGATIVE DRIVING	Supportive POSITIVE DRIVING	YOUR DRIVING
	Not Emotionally Intelligent (REPTILIAN DRIVING)	Emotionally Intelligent (CORTICAL DRIVING)	What would be your words here?
1. Focusing on self vs. blaming others or the situation	"This traffic is impossibly slow. What’s wrong with these jerks? They’re driving like idiots."	"I’m feeling very impatient today. Everything seems to tick me off."
2. Understanding how feelings and thoughts act together	"I’m angry, scared, outraged. How can they do this to me."	"I feel angry, scared, outraged when I think about what could have happened."
3. Realizing that anger is something we choose vs. thinking it is provoked	"They make me so mad when they do that."	"I make myself so mad when they do that."
4. Being concerned about consequences vs. giving in to impulse	"I just want to give this driver a piece of my mind. I just want him to know how I feel."	"If I respond to this provocation I lose control over the situation. It’s not worth it."
5. Showing respect for others and their rights vs. thinking only of oneself	"They better stay out of my way. I’m in no mood for putting up with them. Out of my way folks."	"I wish there was no traffic but it’s not up to me. These people have to get to their destination too."
6. Accepting traffic as collective team work vs. seeing it as individual competition	"Driving is about getting ahead. I get a jolt out of beating a red light or finding the fastest lane. It’s me vs. everybody else."	"I try to keep pace with the traffic realizing that my movements can slow others down—like switching lanes to try to get ahead."
7. Recognizing the diversity of drivers and their needs and styles vs. blaming them for what they choose to do	"How can they be so stupid? They’re talking on the phone instead of paying attention to the road."	"I need to be extra careful around drivers using a hand held cellular phone since they may be distracted."
8. Practicing positive role models vs. negative	"Come on, buddy, speed up or I’ll be on your tail. Go, go. What’s wrong with you? There’s no one ahead."	"This driver is going slower than my desires. Now I can practice the art of patience and respect for the next few minutes."
9.  Learning to inhibit the impulse to criticize by developing a sense of driving humor	"I can’t stand all these idiots on the road. They slow down when they should speed up. They gawk, they crawl, anything but drive."	"I’m angry, I’m mad Therefore I’ll act calm; I’ll smile and not compete.  Already I feel better.  Be my guest, enter ahead."
10. Taking driving seriously by becoming aware of one’s mistakes and correcting them	"I’m an excellent driver, assertive and competent, with a clean accident record—just a few tickets here and there."	"I monitor myself as a driver and keep a driving log of my mistakes. I think it’s important to include thoughts and feelings, not just the overt acts."

The previous table is a list of behaviors or skills that help a person while on the road. Becoming competent in those fields and becoming emotionally responsible in them is the first step to becoming a supportive driver. This chart can be used to help a person figure out what type of driver they are by showing the skill and then showing the response each type of driver would make. Once the person figures out what their responses would be, they can then begin to model their behavior accordingly. For example, number four is being concerned about the consequences vs. giving into the impulse. An aggressive driver would give into the animalistic urge and retaliate to the other driver. A supportive driver realizes that for every action there is a reaction and it may be very unpleasant. There is always a choice that a driver can make for every event. Depending on what choice the driver makes determines what type of driver they will become.

My Version of the Table:

Driver Competence Skills	Aggressive NEGATIVE DRIVING	Supportive POSITIVE DRIVING	YOUR DRIVING
	Not Emotionally Intelligent (REPTILIAN DRIVING)	Emotionally Intelligent (CORTICAL DRIVING)	What would be your words here?
1. Focusing on self vs. blaming others or the situation	“That jerk almost hit me!”	“Maybe I should increase my following distance.”
2. Understanding how feelings and thoughts act together	“Being stuck in traffic is the worst ever! I think I am going to snap.”	“I can’t let my emotions get the better of me. “
3. Realizing that anger is something we choose vs. thinking it is provoked	“That guy cut me off so I am going to give him a piece of my mind. I have no choice, he deserves it.”	“I am scared at the close call I just had. It makes me angry, but I must control myself”
5. Showing respect for others and their rights vs. thinking only of oneself	“I wish my passenger would just shut up. I’m the driver and I’m in control.”	“Maybe my passenger is right, I will try drive more carefully.”
6. Accepting traffic as collective team work vs. seeing it as individual competition	“That guy won’t let me in. I just want to get ahead of all these people so I can get to my destination first.”	“There is nothing I can do about this traffic so I will wait patiently and try to enjoy my time alone.”
7. Recognizing the diversity of drivers and their needs and styles vs. blaming them for what they choose to do	“Stupid tourists! These out of towners are the worst drivers ever!”	“If I was lost in a strange city I would want others to be patient too.”
8. Practicing positive role models vs. negative	“Vin Diesel drove like a bat out of hell in that movie. That was awesome!”	“Ralph Nader has done a lot of positive things to keep people safe. I want to drive more conservatively to help keep the roads safe.”
9.  Learning to inhibit the impulse to criticize by developing a sense of driving humor	“That close call was the last straw, I am going to go show that guy a thing or two!”	“That was a close call, at least no one was hurt.”
10. Taking driving seriously by becoming aware of one’s mistakes and correcting them	“Even though I got a ticket for reckless driving it’s their fault, not mine.”	“I was out of control on that drive, I need to slow myself down and regain my composure.”

My version of the table uses the same skills, but has different ways an aggressive or supportive driver would respond. I tried to use real world language, (minus the swearing) which people in similar situations would make. By using more realistic responses, it can help a wider variety of people who may better understand the types of feelings that I brought up.

An example I used is from skill number five where an aggressive driver is yelling at his passenger for commenting on his or her driving. Most people do not like to be told what to do and it is evident in this case. A supportive driver would take the criticism in stride and reflect upon his or herself to find out how to change the offensive behavior. I was able to come up with this chart by putting myself in each role and trying to think how each type of person would respond to a given situation. Once I was in the mindset it was easy to think how each driver reacts to every day occurrences.

I showed both the original table and my table to my girlfriend Gwyn. After reading both of them over several times she concluded that she was able to identify much more strongly with my table than the original one. She was able to point out specific feelings that she herself had felt. Now that she can see the type of faulty behaviors she made and the correct responses it gave her a model to follow to try to improve herself. I totally agreed with her statements and think that if more drivers could realize how they act on the road and had something that would give them an alternative behavior than perhaps they could change.

Driving is both a blessing and a curse. In one sense it gives people the power and freedom to go where they want when they want and they are masters of their domain, but on the other hand people are becoming injured and dying on epidemic levels. Car manufacturers and governments spend millions in order to make their cars and roads better and safer for passengers. However, much less resources are spent in the effort of trying to find out why these accidents are caused. It is still up to the individual to decide whether or not they want to obey the traffic laws and respect other drivers.

One proposed method to try to curb these high rates of accidents is a program of lifelong driver education. A program like this would be started at an early age and its goal would be to increase emotional intelligence and tolerance while on the road. Dr. Diane Nahl and Dr. Leon James outline this concept in Road Rage and Aggressive Driving found on pages 115-16 and in chapter nine titled lifelong driver education. A driver education program like this would try to get people in touch with their three fold self and how the three entities interact and relate. The cognitive, affective, and sensorimotor senses help keep a person regulated and calm, or if ignored can throw a driver into a rage. This has not yet been implemented but Dr. James has been pushing for a like program for a while.

Another program like Mission Possible at Work attempts to help people become emotionally available and responsible and hopefully will cut down on accidents. This is in the chapter titled From Workplace to Community by Walter Barta in the book Driving Lessons. This program has had success in reducing work place driving accidents and is being implemented in business all over.

Question 5:

(a) Our textbook Road Rage and Aggressive Driving has checklist exercises in several chapters. 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 your reactions to each exercise? How do you explain your answers? You can give your answers in their entirety or you can make selections. What do they show about your driving personality? Where did you get this style of reacting and driving? Discuss how these exercises help you to become more aware of yourself as a driver.

(c) Do some of the exercises with another driver you know. How do they help you understand some principles of driving psychology mentioned in the book? Discuss and illustrate with specific examples.

The Question I am answering is question 5.

Taking these quizzes forces a person to reflect upon how they truly feel and react to certain situations. Upon completing the exercise on aggressive thoughts and feelings found in pages 65-66, I confirmed that I was generally a cool and levelheaded driver only having answered yes to six out of twenty-seven questions. The majority of the questions I answered yes to were about listening to loud music while driving, driving faster than the posted limit on an open road late at night, and driving while tired.

The only question that I answered yes to that surprised me was, “I passionately hate drivers who think that they are the only ones on the road and act carelessly.” Of course I do not really hate these people, but I certainly do not like their behavior either. Upon completing this exercise, I estimated that I am not an overly aggressive driver because I do not share in most of these behaviors and feelings. Although I did answer yes to a few, they were mostly concerned with my own behavior and actions and were not dependent upon others.

The next survey is to find out whether or not you are an aggressive competitor, which is found on pages 104-105. I answered yes to two questions scoring a 20% on this quiz. These questions had to do with having to wait in long lines of traffic. For example, “I love it when I pass a long line of waiting cars, then when I cut in at the front of the line. Victory! Only losers wait in line.” I was able to answer no to many of them because I realize that traffic is an unavoidable entity in our growing society. Becoming frustrated by traffic only harms yourself and does nothing to rectify the problem. Although I do enjoy passing a long line of cars when I can avoid it, I do not revel in the feeling and feel like I have triumphed over the other drivers.

In the next survey, on positive driving behaviors found in pages 212-213, I actually was able to answer positively to more than just a couple of questions. I answered yes to eleven out of fourteen questions in this section. This tells me that I am a supportive driver and am aware of my three fold self while on the road. I can monitor my feelings and emotions and control my actions so that I do not lash out at others in frustration and anger.

I also failed the exercise, or passed depending on which way you look at it, to find out whether or not you are an aggressive competitor on pages 88-89. I scored a mere 20% on this exercise only agreeing with the questions about taking more time than seem necessary in a parking space and making gestures or comments about my disapproval of pushy drivers. The only reason why I take more time getting out of a parking space than the normal person is because I drive a classic 1966 Ford Mustang and when the engine is cold it takes a few minutes to warm up before you are able to safely drive the car. I do not maliciously waste time exiting a space just to make others mad, but others do not always understand my situation.

I think that overall I scored well on the quizzes. I am an emotionally intelligent and available driver and do not suffer from bouts of road rage. I developed this driving style due to a calm and levelheaded attitude. I realize that there are more drivers on the road than just me and that I cannot have immediate gratification for all my driving needs. I try to stay in touch with my three fold self and the factors that are involved with it. These exercises did not really surprise me, but it did make me aware of a few responses that I make on occasion. Now that I am aware of those responses I can try to change the maladaptive ones.

I had my girlfriend do the same exercises in the book that I did and the results were very different. She has not been driving as long, nor has she taken the driving psychology class. She is not as in touch with her cognitive, affective, and sensorimotor aspects of her personality as I have become. I have shared with her some of the principles of driving psychology and her driving skills and attitude have improved but she still has occasional fits of anger and frustration while driving. She believes that in traffic situations other drivers try to intentionally block her way when she is in a hurry or she feels like she is trapped while in traffic. I am planning on donating my book to her after the semester is over and hopefully her driving behaviors will improve with practice.

Question 7:

(a) Find 3 road rage newspaper stories on the Web that give enough detail that you can reconstruct enough of the interactions to do a scenario analysis of events (you can use google News for this). The Road Rage and Aggressive Driving book gives some examples (see the Book Index under "Scenario analysis:. There is also an example in the Lecture Notes in the Section on Charts at Table 6 -- see http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/409a-g24-lecture-notes.htm#Charts

(b) Try to reconstruct the interactions of each News story you selected by making a list or table of the steps, as illustrated in our textbook. Apply driving psychology principles to explain what's going on and whether this is a necessary or avoidable outcome.

The Question I am answering is question seven.

Road Rage Incident Report One.

There are a number of errors that occur between both parties in this story. It was a simple incident that quickly got out of hand and ended in violence. The offending drivers appeared to be under the influence of drugs and possessed firearms. The driver of the truck could have attempted to avoid the situation by allowing the Subaru to pass. He was being a passive aggressive road rager and imposing his will on the people in the Subaru.

Truck driver errors involving the three fold self:

- Passive aggressive driving / driving too slow for the given situation.

- Exchanging looks with the driver and passenger of the other car.

- The driver probably felt like he was wielding power over the others by holding up traffic.

- He may have also thought that he was teaching them a lesson by driving the speed limit (or under) when they were trying to pass him.

Subaru driver and passenger errors involving the three fold self.

- Driving under the influence of narcotics

- Tailgating the truck driver.

- Firing a gun at another driver.

- Impatience with others.

- Not recognizing their feelings on why and how they were angry resulting in aggressive and violent acts.

This event would have been totally avoidable if the people in both cars thought about more than just their own selfish needs. If the truck driver would have sped up or allowed the car to pass there would have been no incident to report. Likewise, if the people in the car had shown patience when following the truck and recognized why they became angry and sought a solution to resolve their problems the incident would not have happened. Narcotics seem to have played a role in this road rage scene and if the people in the car had not been abusing the substance then it may have been avoidable.

Road Rage Incident Report Two.

In this incident report a man was threatened with a gun by a group of men who followed him to a parking lot. Both of the groups of people made driving errors that led up to the final incident.

Victim’s driving errors involving the three fold self:

- Cutting someone off and not realizing it. Even if it was a mistake, sometimes a wave helps ease the tension that arises.

- There may be some details missing like if there was a look exchanged or a rude gesture made between them.

- The pedestrian always has the right of way, but in extreme cases it may be wise to get out of the way of an aggressive driver. It is always better to be safe than sorry.

Driver’s driving errors involving the three fold self.

- They were cut off, but they lost control of their anger and it turned into a road rage incident.

- They were not in touch with their affective and cognitive senses and their anger boiled out of control.

- They followed the family and pointed a gun at the father. This is a sensorimotor error that could have been avoided with self-control and proper thought processes.

- The driver ignored the fact that people make mistakes and that people are not infallible. If he would have recognized this fact he may have been able to save his temper.

This road rage incident would have been avoidable if each party could have extended common courtesies to the other driver. If the person who cut off the other would have waved it may have eased tensions and the incident may not have occurred. The driver who was cut off could have let it go and not let it bother him, but he made the choice to be angry and followed through with a hostile act.

Road Rage Incident Article Three

This is a fictional account of a man stuck in traffic experiencing road rage. Even though he is not acting out to others, he still is suffering from anger problems. He is late to an appointment and that adds stress to the situation.

Driving errors that involve the three fold self.

- He is late for an appointment and the added stress causes a ripple effect throughout his three fold self. He feels stressed out; he is “fuming in the morning traffic”, and various sensorimotor errors like screaming at a driver and rising blood pressure is the result.

- He felt like he was competing with the other drivers and began yelling at them because of it.

- He ignored how he felt and what he thought and just acted out his rage. He made the anger choice and is suffering physically and mentally because of it.

- His aggressive and competitive behaviors are also a form of road rage.

Even though he is not hurting anyone other than himself, he is still a danger on the road. An aggressive and frustrated driver often makes many driving errors and he already almost hit a biker and is at risk for making many more. This type of behavior is avoidable if you make the right type of choices. You have to realize that anger is a choice as are all the decisions you make on the road. He needs to change his cognitive processes because his current ones are making him stressed and could lead to dangerous events. Realizing that traffic is a larger entity than you, that there is nothing one person can do to resolve it, and that by getting mad you are hurting yourself and possibly others is important for well being while driving.

My Report on the Previous Generation:

Student Report 1 From G22

This student answered questions 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7 in their report. Question one looks at the tables from the lecture notes and also at the threefold self. This student looks at each domain of the threefold self and analyzes their characteristics. The other part of the question examines the different type of driving personalities and how to become each one with driving personality makeovers. These makeovers can help a person decide what measures he or she should take to reach their desired goal. Question three evaluates two website, drdriving.org, and drviers.com. The student evaluates the sites based on appearance, content, and any main differences between them. Question five is much like question four of this report. It lists table five and has the student evaluate it and comment on why driving is such a large problem in society. Question seven is a self-assessment test using the different quizzes from our book Road Rage and Aggressive Driving.

Student Report 2 from G22

This student answered questions 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7. This student covers the three domains of driving in question one, but does not spend as in-depth look at it as the previous report. They created their own driver personality makeover, which outlined their behavior in all three domains. This student also summarized, compared, and contrasted both of the websites as listed above in question three. They go on to evaluate previous reports and driving personality makeovers in the next question. Six reports in total were evaluated and reviewed in this section. The same driving skills from table five were reviewed and discussed in question five. They offered a few more solutions to the driving problem than did the last report. Question seven was much more detailed in this report. They cited specific questions with the specific driving traits. They finished their report with a summary of their current generation and advice to the next generation of students.

Report 1 from G23

This student answered questions 2, 4, 5, 7, and 10 in their second report. They began by giving a brief summary of the required readings in class, both Driving Lessons and Road Rage and Aggressive Driving. They then selected a chapter from each book to review and summarize. The next task they had was to select three prior student reports and to summarize each. The three reports they selected are as follows: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2001/chun/report2.htm

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2001/ahsing/report2.htm

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2001/lukey/report2.htm

This student inspected the methods, ideas, and explanations of each report. In question five the student made their own responses to the emotionally intelligent driver and the reptilian driver. In another section they took some of the quizzes in the Road Rage book to find out how aggressive/emotionally responsive they were. This student capped off their report with the following advice to future generations, “DON’T PROCRASTINATE”.

Report 2 from g23

The student in this report answered the exact same answers as the previous report. It is quite a bit longer in some areas and has greater detail in some questions. It has a very similar style and content to the previous reports, but they are very personable and well done.

Advice To Future Generations:

Almost everyone who is taking this course has been driving for a number of years, but the people who get the most out of it are those who can open their mind to the ideas and have the ability to take criticisms about their driving habits. The course is not too hard, but it does involve a lot of work that you need to keep up on in order to succeed. The reports can be very long if you go into great depth about each question, but you just need to power through and complete them. And once again like everyone else says, don’t procrastinate!

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