G29 Generation, Spring 2009, Psychology 409a
My Home Page: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409as2009/shing/shing_home.htm
Instructor Dr. Leon James: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/leon.html
Instructions for this Report: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy29/409a-g29-report.htm
Class Home Page for G29: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy29/classhome-g29.htm
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Introduction:
Welcome!
Welcome! I am a student of Dr. Leon James,
currently taking PSY409 (Driving Psychology) at
Here is an outline of the report:
Part I: A Stimulated Interview on Driving Psychology
Introduction
Aggressive Driving
Road Rage
Culture of Rage
Merging Debate
Hypermiling Debate
Cell Phones
Lifelong Driver Education
Age of Rage
Part II: Driving Personality Makeover
Introduction
Prior Research
The Makeover Attempt
Conclusion
Part III: Annotated Web Resources on Driving Psychology
Driving Psychology
Road Rage
Anger
Merging
Hypermiling
Cell Phones while Driving
Passengers’ Rights
Speeding
Sidewalk Rage
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Part I: An Interview
with Dr. Lee, the author of
the book Driving: In the Eyes of Psychologist
1. Interviewer: Welcome, Dr. Lee. Thank you for coming to this interview.
2. Author: No problem. It’s my pleasure to spread the knowledge of driving psychology.
3. Interviewer: So, Dr. Lee, how did you get into driving psychology? I have heard of emotional psychology, abnormal psychology, but never heard of driving psychology.
4. Author: Well, driving psychology is still a newly developed topic. Not too many people have studied it. I happened to be one of Dr. James's students back in 2009. That introduced me to the topic. But it was not until two years ago that I broke my left leg in a car accident, and then I got interested in driving psychology. That was like an awakening moment, you know. I always thought "I got it.", but that was not the case. Being a psychologist myself, I need to understand what happened.
5. Interviewer: What is attractive about driving? Many people get into accidents daily, but no one ended up studying it.
6. Author: That's the interesting part. Six and a half millions traffic related
injuries occurs yearly in the
7. Interviewer: In your book, Driving: In the Eyes of Psychologist, you described "aggressive driving." Can you define "aggressive driving"?
8. Author: Aggressive driving refers to the reckless behaviors of the driver that not only put him/herself in danger but other drivers or road users as well. When a driver fail to conform to other drivers, which created a situation that put others in danger, because of selfish reasons, that's aggressive.
9. Interviewer: Can we measure that?
10. Author: Yes, we can measure it. The easiest way is to simply ask. Do you tailgate? Self-observation is another method. Whenever, you noticed aggressive behaviors, such as tailgating, speeding, lane hopping, and so on, you make a note to yourself. You can tape record your driving experience and analyze it later, write it down on a notepad as soon as you reach destination, or use a token as counter for aggressive behaviors. Other ways are asking a passenger to observe and keep data, or use tools and instruments to measure distance, speed, verbal/physical aggressive reactions.
11. Interviewer: Why is aggressive driving an important issue?
12. Author: The short answer is that aggressive driving causes driving to be dangerous. There's approximately 125 million cars everyday on the road. Traffic related injuries are rising every year. We need to see our own aggressive behaviors and correct them.
13. Interviewer: What about road rage? What is road rage?
14. Author: Road rage is often confused with aggressive driving. In my view, road rage refers the emotion of anger or frustration while driving. This rage often triggers aggressive behaviors.
15. Interviewer: Can you describe the different types of road rage?
16. Author: There are three types of road rage: passive-aggressive, verbal, and epic road rage. Passive aggressive is when you protest or ignore others due to the feeling of hatred toward other drivers. Verbal, the most common, is constant complaints about traffic. It can be verbally or mentally. Epic, the most serious, is fantasizing yourselves as hero and punish other for their mistake with violence, and sometimes, people act upon their fantasies.
17. Interviewer: So far, we have talked about aggressive driving and road rage. Can you explain the difference?
18. Author: Aggressive driving is the irresponsible behaviors that caused dangerous situations such as tailgating, speeding, or running the reds. Road rage, on the other hand, is confrontational violent acts that you express toward other drivers. Let's say a car merged in front of you, and you tailgate that car, rubbing your engine, and trying to pick a fight, because you perceived that driver cut you off intentionally; that’s road rage. If you tailgate the car like you would tailgate every other car, that's just aggressive driving.
19. Interviewer: So the same act can be road rage and aggressive driving depending on the situation?
20. Author: That's correct. A person running the reds has no anger toward anybody, but that's still put others in danger, which is aggressive.
21. Interviewer: Where does aggressive driving and road rage originated from?
22. Author: The idea of road rage and aggressive driving were introduced by the media. Once a vocabulary is developed for the action or situation, people see it more clearly. And now, it became wide spread.
Culture is the core of road rage and aggressive driving. We are constantly influence by the ways our parents or families drove and by the media. If I grew up seeing my father speed around the corner, I would think that's how it is. Movies like "Fast and Furious" promote aggressive driving. Even video games reinforce speeding with bonus points.
23. Interviewer: You definitely have your points. But the society and the culture is not the only blame, what about individual anger problems?
24. Author: Of course, anger is our first response to danger and insult. A lot of times when we are endangered by other drivers' actions, we get angry. Or we take other drivers' action too personally thinking a merge is a "cut off" --an insult-- and react with anger. Our emotions take over and we get trap into road rage.
But that is just the effects of
the American culture. In
25. Interviewer: Let's move on to another topic. Are you aware of the merging debate that is going on?
26. Author: Absolutely.
27. Interviewer: Please, give me a brief background of the debate.
28. Author: Basically, the debate is between the late-mergers and early-mergers. A typical merging situation would be two lanes merging into one, or when roads are under constructions that force drivers to merge into one lane. Late-mergers are drivers that merge at the last minute, the merging point. Early-mergers are drivers that merge as soon as possible. The problem is that both sides argue their ways is better and more efficient.
29. Interviewer: Well, I am an early-merger myself. And I hated it when late-mergers speed by me and cut me off at the last minute. I think late-mergers are cheaters.
30. Author: That is one of the issues of the debate. Early-mergers felt cheated when late-mergers cut in at the last minute. They also felt righteous, because they stood in line and wait for their turns. However, late-mergers justify their actions by stating that they are just using the road to its full capacity. Also early-mergers merge at different points which actually slow down everybody as well as increasing risk of accidents.
31. Interviewer: Wow, that's complicated. Both sides have its pros and cons.
32. Author: Yes, both sides have its point. And depending on the situation, one can be more efficient than the other, which makes it a difficult problem to solve.
33. Interviewer: Can you elaborate on that? How is one more efficient than the other and in what circumstances?
34. Author: Imagine during rush hour, at the peak of traffic the left lane is closed for construction, everyone needs to merge to the right lane. If they are early-mergers, they would merge at different time as early as possible. It would be kind of chaotic.
First of all, drivers would force their ways in as soon as they see a gap due to the anxiety of people not letting them in. Secondly, multiple merging points will cause a lot of sudden braking and slowing down, which back up everybody. Thirdly, the cars backed up several blocks down the road would not know what is going on and get very frustrated. The frustrated drivers might force their ways into the left lane (fast-moving lane), which in turns increase accident rates. Finally, all the spaces of the left lane are wasted.
Now imagine the same scenario, but this time with late-mergers. Cars merge in a zipper fashion only at the end of the left lane, the merging point.
35. Interviewer: I see. That way left lane will be use to its full capacity. There would be no anxiety of not being able to get in and no unnecessary tailgating to block other from merging in, because at the merging point, cars go in a zipper fashion, one from the left lane, then right, then left and so on.
36. Author: Exactly. Now imagine another scenario. The left lane is close for construction and cars need to merge to the right lane, but this time it's ten o'clock in the morning, not much traffic, maybe just five or six cars. If we follow the late-mergers' way, cars would be braking suddenly at the merging point to merge in a zipper fashion.
On the hand other, if cars merge as soon as possible, the merging point won't be clogged up. Although when cars merge to the right lane, there might be some slowing down, but since the traffic is relatively low, no major stopping is needed.
37. Interviewer: So it is better to be an early-merger when traffic is low and late-merger when traffic is high. Is there any law that specifies what to do in a merging situation?
38. Author: In
39. Interviewer: I have also heard of "Dynamic Late Merge." Can you tell us how it works?
40. Author: When engineers realized that late-merging improve efficiency in congested condition, but not with free flowing traffic, they invented the "Dynamic Late Merge." It is a changeable message signs that instruct late-merging when there's high traffic and conventional merging when traffic is low.
41. Interviewer: What is the result of Dynamic Late Merge? Did it improve traffic flow significantly comparing to other methods?
42. Author: In the summer of 2003,
43. Interviewer: Human always behaves in an unpredictable ways. Recently, there is a new practice of driving due to the raising of gas price and the economic crisis. I believe they call it "hypermiling."
44. Author: Hypermiling is an interesting driving style. The goal of hypermiling is to increase fuel efficiency. In another word, run more miles on less gas.
45. Interviewer: What are some of the practices of hypermiling?
46. Author: Some of the practices are maintaining proper tire pressure, keeping windows up and A/C off, keeping constant motion, coasting whenever possible, timing intersection to hit green lights, swerving into turns without braking, pushing or rolling into parking space, drafting behind large truck, and warming up engine before starting.
47. Interviewer: Some of the practices sounded dangerous, like swerving into turns and drafting behind a large truck.
48. Author: Yes, some of the practices are dangerous. In fact there's a debate going on. One side argues that hypermiling is rude, dangerous, and disturb normal traffic flow. The other argues that most hypermiling techniques are safe, only very few practice the extreme. In addition, it is fun, save money, protect the environment, and decrease America dependency on oil.
49. Interviewer: What are the dangers in the practice of hypermiling?
50. Author: The danger of hypermiling is its unpredictability. When a hypermiler coast or do gradual stepped up speed techniques, drivers following them get frustrated. The constant variation of speed increase accident rates because drivers behind them might not respond fast enough. Over airing the tires decrease friction and can be dangerous on wet roads. Techniques like drafting are obviously danger. Following close behind a truck limits you visual field. On top of that, truck makes frequent sudden stops, which increase the risk of rear-end collision.
51. Interviewer: Is there any good things about it?
52. Author: Of course. Hypermiling strategies that don’t affect other drivers are good car maintenance practices. As hypermilers stated, it reduce the use of gas, save money, and protect the environment (to a certain extent).
53. Interviewer: Can you name some of that?
54. Author: For example, keep tires at recommended pressure, decrease cargo/load, decrease electrical accessories, and keep a maintenance schedule.
55. Interviewer: It this problem getting better or worse?
56. Author: The problem seems to be getting better, but still not accept by other drivers. Auto companies and researchers become aware of the practice and did analysis to provide safety advices. AAA spokeswoman Christie Hyde says "No traffic accidents have been attributed directly to hypermiling practices" (Fisher 2008). However, bloggers continue to see hypermiling as "obviously dangerous and illegal." Other drivers still find hypermiling as an annoying practice.
57. Interviewer: Other than hypermiling, cell phones while driving also become an annoying practice. What is you position on cell phones?
58. Author: I personally have a “1 minute” rule. While I am driving, I don’t talk on the phone more than one minute.
59. Interviewer: Even speaker phone?
60. Author: Yes, even speaker phone. Even though we can free are hands with speaker phone, holding a conversation add on mental work load, which is already overloaded by driving in the first place. One minute is enough time to determine if the subject is emergency or not and to let the other person know I am driving, so I will call you back when I am not.
61. Interviewer: What if it is am emergency?
62. Author: Well, then I will pull over and find out what happen.
63. Interviewer: As you know, there’s a lot of research out there. Some stating cell phones are distraction and some said the opposition. Why is research unable to decide this problem once and for all?
64. Author: Well, it’s a difficult question. Not everyone process the same. Some people are more talented with multitasking and some are not. There are too many factors with driving and cell phones that we can just give one prescription to everybody. There are always exceptions.
65. Interviewer: Should there be legislation to ban the use of all phones while driving?
66. Author: No, banning doesn’t solve the problem. Cell phones are too popular. It would be like the alcohol prohibition, which made the situation worst. People will somehow find a way to do it. And we shouldn’t take away people’s rights, but teach people how to do it correctly and responsibly.
67. Interviewer: So you are suggesting that drivers should be train to use cell phones?
68. Author: Absolutely. We multitask all the time. We just need to train ourselves to do so. Air traffic controllers don’t just become air traffic controllers overnight. They went through months and months of schooling. We can train ourselves to use our cell phones safely while driving.
69. Interviewer: Can you outline the steps of the training to use a cell phone while driving?
70. Author: Well, first you need to get familiar with the phone, then train yourself on how to dial and make a call just sitting in the car, and finally dialing while driving. It’s helpful to have a passenger to give you feedback. And then, you need to train yourself to stay alert and attend to the road while talking and driving.
71. Interviewer: Can this be the basis for licensing the use of cell phones in cars?
72. Author: I think we should take it voluntarily at first. Sudden changes would upset the people. We have to take it slowly and let the trend spread. Law enforcement will only lead to temporary improvements. Changes made willingly are the ones that last.
73. Interviewer: Right. Change is hard. In your book, you mentioned the lifelong driver education. Can you explain it?
74. Author: Well, as I said before, aggressive driving roots from the culture. In order to cure it, we must address the core issue to eliminate faulty expectations and negative attitudes and reinforce more positive driving beliefs.
75. Interviewer: How do we go about that?
76. Author: Children acquire their values at a young age. The lifelong driver education starts in the kindergarten. Early ages, up to elementary school should address affective driving skills such as regulating our emotion by understanding our anger and diffuse it as well as promoting positive emotions such as compassion and sympathy for others.
Then, middle school builds on the affective skill with cognitive driving skill. They can practice self-witnessing exercises such as writing down their thoughts toward other road users, pedestrian, or passengers; or do a group discussion on pedestrian, truck drivers, or bicyclist’s rights.
Finally, high school will focus on the sensorimotor skills. It will be like the driver’s ed that we offer today but with additional classes to incorporate self-witnessing and regulation, emotional intelligence of communicating effectively and controlling anger or rage, and multitasking such as using the cell phone.
77. Interviewer: What about after getting the license? Is that the end of it?
78. Author: Of course not. It’s a lifelong driver’s education. After the drivers get their license, they should continue to train themselves to improve their driving skills in all three areas: sensorimotor, cognitive, and affective, especially, the sensorimotor skills, because technology is advancing fast. When a new technology comes out, like the GPS, we need to train ourselves how to use it safely while driving. This doesn’t come with the instruction manual.
79. Interviewer: Are there any organizations that offer classes?
80. Author: Yes, there are. There is the Roadrageous Video Course developed by Dr. Leon James, Dr. Diana Nahl, and Dr. Arnold Nerenberg. There is also a support group called Quality Driving Circles, where drivers meet regularly and voluntarily to support one another on their personality makeovers and self-improvement exercises.
81. Interviewer: What are some of the self-improvement exercises? Can you name a few of them?
82. Author: Like I said, training themselves how to use the GPS safely well driving, starting a journal for self-witnessing as a driver, respecting passengers’ rights, practicing positive thinking and feeling of other road users, and many many more.
83. Interviewer: What would it take for the society to adopt this plan?
84. Author: Before any actions of change, we need to acknowledge that we are poor drivers. Public awareness is one of the important issues. The society needs to realize the need for a lifelong driver’s education. We need to recognize that driving is part of our value and culture.
85. Interviewer: Should the federal government be involved?
86. Author: Sometimes is takes the federal government to change bad habits. Fifty years ago if the Supreme Court didn’t abolish segregation, I don’t know what our society would be like. However, law enforcement should encourage voluntary compliance rather than coercion. Police officers shouldn’t catch offenders and punish them, but to increase awareness of lifelong driver education with citations and warnings.
87. Interviewer: Why has this not yet been done?
88. Author: Change takes time. In the 1990s, many states along with the federal government outlawed aggressive driving behaviors, such as speeding, tailgating, running the reds, making hand and facial gestures, etc. That was revolutionary; many of the common practices become felony. Many actions have already taken place to discourage aggressive driving and promote driving or traffic improvement programs, such as “Section 402” and Highway Safety Act of 1996.
But the culture of rage is still growing. The media is still promoting aggressive driving as the “cool” thing to do. The government only can initiate change, but it is the people that need to make the change.
89. Interviewer: Final topic, can you explain your concept of “The Age of Rage”?
90. Author: We are in the Age of Rage. Everything we do is about winning or losing. Aggression and competition are valued over cooperation. Constantly we are competing against one another for the best toys, the best grades, the best jobs… Violence is reinforced by success and/or no punishment.
91. Interviewer: How is that related to aggressive driving?
92. Author: Negative thoughts and frustration in traffic are learned behaviors. Children learn the aggression norms from parents and the media. When they become teenage drivers, they too act accordingly to the culture of rage. And therefore, the aggressive driving continues and passes on from generation to generation.
93. Interviewer: What other sorts of rage are there today?
94. Author: Many. There are parking lot rage, sidewalk rage, surf rage, shopping cart rage, etc.
95. Interviewer: Is it going to get better or worse?
96. Author: If you don’t do anything about, it is going to get worse. Like I explained, the rage is a passed on from generation to generation. And this rage is spreading.
97. Interviewer: Do media play a role?
98. Author: Yes, media play a big role. As I stated before, media often portray aggressive driving as “cool” or rewarded with success, like batman in his bat-mobile. Batman saves the day. A lot of kids adore that, and they learn that speeding or making sharp turns are cool.
99. Interviewer: Should the media be responsible of our driving conditions?
100. Author: Yes, but they are not the only influence. Parents have the responsibility to teach their children the right values. Nowadays, parents are relying too much on media and school to teach the children. Parents should be more aware of their children’s grow too.
101. Interviewer: Thank you, Dr. Lee for your time.
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Part II: My Driver's Personality Makeover
Introduction: Being a Better Driver
How many traffic related deaths per year in the U.S.? My guess was 30,000. What about traffic related injuries per year in the U.S.? Well, I guessed 50,000. I was so wrong. The actual statistic of traffic related death per year in the U.S. is 40,000 and injuries 6.5 million. These incredible numbers are unthinkable.
And that’s not the end of it. Eighty-five percent of crashes attributed to driver’s error. Eighty-five percent, we can save 34,000 lives just being more cautious. We are taking driving too lightly and driving too aggressively. Just because it is an everyday activity doesn’t mean we can take it for granted. And just because everybody else is aggressive doesn’t mean it is right.
Aggressive driving stems from the culture. From observing in the back seat to getting a driver’s license, we are constantly influenced by the society to drive aggressively. Our parents, for example, are our role models for driving. When they acted aggressive on the road, we mimic and become aggressive drivers too. And the cycle goes on. Secondly, the media portraying dangerous drivers as hero, such as batman, further increase our desire to be aggressive. Video games too, like Wheelman, give point for speeding. And when we do see people drives at speed limit, we honk at them, stared at them or give them the finger.
The respect for others is lost. The world becomes the enemy, who constantly trying to block “my” way, prevent “me” from getting ahead, or suppress “me” from success. Being aggressive and competitive is the only way to stay ahead. These kinds of thinking are imbedded in us throughout our lifetime. And it takes a lifetime to turn these thinking around.
The first step is to acknowledge the need to change. And from there, one step at a time, we can all be a better driver.
One of the many ways to improve our driving skills is to do a personality makeover. For a starter, like me, looking into other drivers’ makeover plan will help you to formulate your own makeover plan.
For more information on driving personality makeover go to http://www.drdriving.org/articles/makeover.htm
Prior Research: What Has Been Done
For G3, Lori Kim’s student report was to focus on reading and summarizing other generational reports regarding personality makeover. Although she didn’t have her own makeover plan, her comments pointed out important things to focus on. For example, her summary of Christine Huisman’s report highlighted that there are things that we can and cannot control. A successful makeover plan must focus on the things that we can control. One improvement would be to relate the readings with personal experience. Often time she just agreed or commented on the reports.
G25 Kirk Ishida’s report was very informative. The student gave me a nice background of information about driving psychology, the three-fold self, and driving makeover stages before going into his own plan. Reading his report and his makeover plan helped me formulate my makeover plan. It gave me a sense of what kinds of problems might come up and how to solve it. One thing he could improve on is to give advices about his makeover attempt rather than the class.
G26 Antonio K. Bale’s report has nice examples when explaining the two stage of makeover attempt. It helped me bring theory into context. I also like the fact that he stated that he won’t list all the driving psychology principles, but highlighted the ones he felt was important. That way the readers won’t be overwhelmed by all the information at one time. Also I really agree to his comment that these theories doesn’t only apply to driving, but life in general. Overall, he did a great job on his report, I wished he could have outline and discuss more in details about his makeover plan.
My Driver’s Makeover Attempt
Unfortunately, I am not a frequent driver, so I decided to design a makeover plan for my boyfriend (due to confidentiality, I will use his initial “J.L.” in place of his name) with his permission. We followed the partnership driving approach along with the three steps program of AWM.
The Threefold Self
In order to change the culture of driving, we needed to include the threefold self in the makeover plan. The threefold self are sensorimotor, cognitive, and affective. Just changing the behaviors are not enough. We may have mastered "not tailgating," but still make a speedy turn. In order to address aggressive driving, we must tackle the core of the problem: the attitude that drives those behaviors.
Sensorimotor refers to the actions of the driver. It is the action that we do when driving. For example, when parking, shifting into reverse, steering the wheels to direct the car, doing head checks to estimate spacing, and applying the right amount of brake pressure are all sensorimotor components of parking a car.
Cognitive refers to the thinking and reasoning of the driver. Why do we do this action over the other? For example, when reversing into the stall, driver might think that no pedestrian will walk behind a reversing car and start to reverse without checking rearview mirror or doing a head check. Such thinking of “no pedestrian will walk behind a reversing car” is the reasoning of not doing a head check.
Affective refers to the emotions and motivations of the driver. For example, signaling to claim the parking stall before parking maintain the motive to avoid cars in back closing in, leaving limited maneuver space for parking. It also avoid frustration for the cars in behind, so that if they wish to go around, they can do so before the driver start to park.
The threefold self works intimately with one another. Our behaviors are drive by our thoughts, and our thoughts are drive by our emotions. By addressing our affective skills, we control our emotions, feelings, and motives of our thoughts and reasoning, which in turn influence our behaviors.
Partnership Driving Approach
First I asked J.L. for permission to do this personality makeover. I explained the concepts of aggressive driving and supportive driving to him. Aggressive driving creates frustration, which leads to road rage. Aggressive behaviors often are the root of congestion. By tailgating the car in front, you are not allowing other cars to merge in smoothly, which causes traffic wave and affects the flow of traffic. Driving supportively can lessen frustration for yourselves and others to some degree. If you believe the car “merge” in front of you instead of “cutting you off,” you will feel less angry. Supportive driving also aims at supporting other drivers such as creating large gap to assist other driver to merge in smoothly.
J.L. understood the purpose, however, disagreed to it. He didn’t think one or two drivers being supportive would change the other drivers too. He believed that other people would take advantage of your courtesy. For example, when you do leave a large gap for others to merge, the other driver still merges speedily. Speeding in is a claim of control, taking credit for your courtesy. The other driver is probably thinking: “You have to leave a large gap for me, because I was so quick you couldn’t close the gap in time.”
I agreed with his thinking that one or two drivers might not change the world, but I continued to insist that he should try it and see what happens. After a long talk and assuring that “it’s ok if nothing changes but I just want to try it,” J.L. agreed to try it.
We both read the partnership driving session of the book Road Rage (p.185-189). The driver, J.L., should give me feedback about his driving experiences. For example, was the driving partner helpful? In what ways? The passenger, me, should observe and comment objectively. For example, "It's ok, we don't need to rush. We still have 5 minutes." instead of "You are doing it again." Also I could ask for feedback with question such as "Are you upset at the driver? Why is that?"
Upon agreement, J.L. signed the "Designated Driving Partner Agreement" form. After receiving permission, we planned according to the AWM program.
AWM: The Three Steps Program
Together we followed the AWM three-step program. “A” stands for acknowledgement. Drivers must acknowledge the needs for improvement before they can change. Drivers that see themselves as perfect drivers will not change their driving style, because they see themselves as perfect already.
First, I showed J.L. the list of sensorimotor, cognitive, and affective skills. I had him to choose which specific skill for the makeover. By choosing the skill, he acknowledged the need of improvement in those areas. Choosing the sensorimotor was easy, because it’s not too personal. Sensorimotor just focused on actions and skill. But for the cognitive and affective skills, he said that I was trying to “brainwash” him. So I had to let it drop and asked him again on a different day.
“W” stands for witnessing. For the most part, I was doing the witnessing. I observed as a passenger, took notes, and commented on J.L.’s actions while he was driving. Most of the time, he actually was a supportive drivers. The only time he got frustrated was either he was in a bad mood, or other drivers nearly caused a major accident, especially nearly hitting a pedestrian. He got very angry and sometimes turned into verbal road rage and get into a defensive driving mode.
I also noticed that when other drivers merged out to the empty lane with intention of cutting back into the same lane at the end, J.L. would tailgate the car in front so there won’t be enough space for the “cutter” to merge back in. But most of the time, J.L. was alert to his surrounding.
“M” is for modifying. Together we picked the following areas to improve on: let one car in at merging point instead of tailgating the car in front to close the gap (sensorimotor), decrease the need of rushing by leaving 5min earlier then usual (cognitive), and decrease the feeling of hostility or competition toward other drivers (affective).
Sensorimotor Makeover: Merging
Courtesy
For the sensorimotor makeover, I explained to J.L. that by letting one car in at merging point, the traffic flow would be better for everybody. So I as a passenger simply have to remind him, if needed, to let one car in at merging point.
Day 1: This was the first day of our attempt. At merging points or when seeing others signal to merge into our lane, I reminded J.L. to "let one car in." And he complied with silent. No comment from J.L.
Day 2: It's spring break, so the traffic condition was different from normal school days. The unpredictable traffic condition put J.L. in a bad mood. He appeared stressful, so I remained silent, not to distract him.
Afterward, I talked to him about the traffic and the road. He agreed that the Spring Break traffic made him stressful while driving. I encouraged him that he was handling the traffic fairly well. Although he didn't leave a large gap, because there was heavy traffic, J.L. did let one car merge in front of him at merging point. I praised him for that to reinforce the behavior.
Day 3: We agreed that J.L. does not need the reminder anymore, and I suggested that I would observe him without giving reminders. The drive was smooth. More importantly, J.L. let cars merge in front of him without problems. He acknowledged that supporting other drivers for smooth merging decrease traffic interruption (brake and gas, break and gas) and make the drive smoother.
The sensorimotor makeover was easily accomplished. Over the three days of observing J.L., for some reason, he had no problem letting one car in at merging. When I commented on him and praised his action, he simply replied that he did it for “safety.”
Cognitive Makeover: No Rush
For the cognitive makeover, J.L. and I planned to leave early enough so that we don’t have to rush. And if we are running late, I as a passenger will not rush him (which I normally do). And we would remind ourselves and each other that rushing will only save us 5 minutes, which is not worth the risk of dying. As J.L. stated, “Arriving late is better than arriving dead.”
Day 1: We set the clock in the car and in the house 5 minutes faster, so that we would leave on time. Before starting the car, I would remind J.L. that we were working on not rushing. J.L. in turn would tell me not to rush him if I do.
On the way back home, at a stop light, the light turn green but the car in front of us didn't go. At first I was a little annoyed. I suggested honking at the driver, letting him know the light had turned. But J.L. opposed to it. We got our frustration under control. Instead of honking, we started to joke about the driver. "He's day dreaming." I joked and started creating stories of day dreaming. Because we joked and laughed about day dreaming, we were distracted from being angry and frustrated at the driver.
Day 2: Today, a taxi coming out of the driveway merged across three lanes to the left lane to make a left. His moves stopped many cars and blocked our lane for a moment. J.L. was a little frustrated because he said that was an unsafe move, putting everyone to risk. But we stopped the cycle of anger and road rage with laughter again. “Taxi rules.” I laughed. "Ho! Ta-xi!" J.L. said in a funny tone, "Ta-xi tax."
Day 3: We were driving to Kapolei for a wedding. We were running behind schedule, but because it was our first time going there, we didn’t go too fast, worried that we might miss the exit. During the long road on the freeway, I thought that we were going really slowly. Our windows were up, so no audio feedback, the scenery stayed pretty much the same and the distance with the car in front of us was constant. But when I looked at the meter, we were going 60 mph.
J.L. was surprised too when I told him the speed. So he told me to monitor his speed, give him an up-date every so often. And it worked well. We weren’t rushing. We weren’t speeding. And we arrived on time with a few minute for bathroom break.
Although at times, I wasn’t a supportive passenger, rushing J.L. or advising him to honk at others, we learned to support each other in the progress. We learned to communicate to each other that “You are going too fast” or “Don’t rush me”, which is a good change.
Affective Makeover: To Compete
or Not To Compete?
For affective skill, we decided to reduce hostile and competitive reactions to other cars. I would point out his hostile or competitive acts and together we would try to talk it out. We would try to understand from the actions to the thinking and the emotions behind it. For example, if J.L. turned up the volume upon hearing another car’s blasting music, I would question him if he is competing with the other car, why, how did turning up the music make him feels (better or worst), what are the alternative responses, etc.
Day 1: While driving to town the car behind tailgated us for the longest time. J.L. disliked tailgaters, because that put us into danger. He was observing the car closely with the rearview mirror, holding his anger. Finally, he braked suddenly as a message to the car to back off. The car did indeed back off. But I was scared, because J.L. didn’t warn me about the braking. I told him that I dislike this sudden braking. He replied that “Didn’t you see the car tailing me?”
Day 2: A Corolla sped and merged very close in front of us. J.L. was again a little mad, not because he "cut us off" but because of the "Keep the Country Country" bumper sticker. Though J.L. dislikes the driver's political opinion of "Keep the Country Country," he didn't do any hostile acts. When I asked him why, he said, "Because he's a cousin" (referring to driving the same model car us we are).
Day 3: On the way to school at a red light, we were checking for cars to make a right turn, a large trunk honked at us, pressuring us to go. J.L. was a bit annoyed at the truck, he wanted to be cautious because we were on a hill; the view of the left side was limited. After making the right turn, the truck sped up and passed us on the right. At first J.L. was mad at the truck, because the truck was putting us into danger by pressuring us to make the right turn, tailgating, speeding and passing us closely.
Then, I saw a dog in the truck’s car and stated that, “Just for the doggy, we forgive you.” J.L. agreed and was able to control his momentary anger. For the next few minutes we focused our attention to the cute puppy instead of how the truck endangered, which would increase our anger.
After the three days makeover, I asked for J.L.’s feedback. He said that at times by having me around to talk to helped him distracted himself from anger and feeling of revenge. He also stated that there’s no need for competition, because by not competing, he won. Although this statement still embedded a competitive view, J.L. was able to lessen his competitiveness on the road.
Conclusion
Carrying out the makeover plan was difficult. I remembered for days I have been saying “Let’s start the makeover today, and I will take notes.” However, as soon as I get into the car, I totally forgot. After weeks of reminding myself, I was able to finally remember and start the makeover plan with J.L.
Over the weeks of makeover, I noticed that the rides with J.L. were a lot smoother. I don’t know whether it was the traffic that had gotten better or our attitude toward driving made the rides smoother. J.L. too noted that it is not as stressful to drive anymore. I, as a passenger, learned to be a better passenger. I learned when to remain silent, not to distract the driver. I learned to co-pilot, watching out for the right side during turns and parking. And I learned to express my feeling in a non-criticizing way. One thing I should include in the makeover plan is rewards. Although J.L. responded pretty well with verbal reinforcement, I believe an actual reward would be more effective. I could have use tokens or small treats like soda as rewards.
Our makeover attempts were so successful mainly due to our support for each other. I would recommend driving personality makeover for all those who are committed to it, definitely use a partner if possible. For all those who are not ready to change, it’s ok. Acknowledgement is the first and hardest step to be a better driver. I rather people take their time to assure themselve that they are committed, than to have them jump into it, failed, and discouraged by it.
![MCj04118660000[1]](shing_report_files/image020.gif)
Part III: Annotated Web Resources on
Driving Psychology
1. Driving Psychology
http://www.funandsafedriving.com/forum-3.html
It is a site based on blogging and posting by users, touched upon wide range of topics. Driving psychology is one of the forums of that site. If you go to homepage, you can find many interesting postings such as driving with dogs, driving in other states, saving gas, driving manual cars--stick shift, and many more. It also has a query (highway survey) such as "Who has the right of way in a four way stop?" and driving videos of sitting posture, driving around a slippery corner, etc.
http://www.defensivedriving-course.com/defensivedriving-course08.php
Driving psychology is clearly defined in this site. It is reader-friendly, in layman's term. It also discusses the principle of driving psychology, including the affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor driving norms. The information is nicely organized under sub-topics such as "Stop Aggressive Driving," "Avoiding Road Rage" and "Positive Self Talk," so reader can pace themselves through the overwhelming numbers of information.
2. Road Rage
This contains a lot of information about road rage. It has a road rage quiz. It gives advice on how to avoid road rage. You can even file a road rage report on the site (for informal use such as entertainment by others). It also sells products that have slogan of “Smile, you’re on Roadrager.com” or “Road rage makes you ugly Roadrager.com”. The most interesting feature is the polls. People vote on questions like “What irritates you the most?” “Why do people lane hop?” and “Do you drive more safely when you have your friends or loved ones as passengers [in] your cars?”
http://www.howstuffworks.com/road-rage.htm
Easy to read article that explains how road rage works, describe the mindset and anatomy of road rage, differentiate road rage and aggressive driving, how to prevent road rage, statistics and other information. It is very informative and reliable, cited some information for Dr.Driving.org and AutoAdvantage.com.
3. Anger
https://ssl.search.live.com/health/article.aspx?id=articles%2fmc%2fpages%2f4%2fMH00073.html&q=Anger
This site has a lot of insight in understanding our anger and controlling our anger. Anger is an important emotion that we often express while driving. Understanding anger can help us manage it and drive more positively.
http://compassionpower.com/anger%20free%20driving.php
This site provide brief information on how anger impact driving. Basically, it degrades judgment and impairs motor skills. It is also an advertisement for a six hours education program that guide you to control anger, hostility, and anxiety on the road. It’s $20.
4. Merging
http://www.dmv.org/how-to-guides/merging-into-traffic.php
Although this is a privately own site, it contains a lot of information. It begins with a short description of merging and follows with “Tips for Keeping the Flow.” The tips follow by explanations, so drivers will understand the methods and more likely to compile with them. Merging is only one of the many topics. There are also tips on how to drive a stick shift, parallel park, control a skid, drive in reverse, etc.
http://www.amasci.com/amateur/traffic/seatraf.html
This site is simple, easy to follow. It goes straight to the point: merging cause traffic, to cure traffic jams, drivers need to create large gap to allow merging. If you click on “other” suggestion, it will take you to a description of a personal experience along with a video clip. It’s very interesting.
5. Hypermiling
This site is nicely outlining a six-step agenda to help you decrease fuel consumption. It contains photos and links to hypermiling technology, such as scan gauge for mileage and tire pressure gauge. It also has interesting links to a hypermiling forum, and even a link to buy hypermiling bumper stickers and t-shirt (if you are a hypermiling fan).
http://climate.weather.com/articles/hypermiling091501.html (Fish 2008)
The article is easy to read, divided into eight pages so it doesn't appear to be overwhelming. It provides a nice summary of the hypermiling debate and practices. And then it describes several techniques such as tire inflation or pulse and glide with a short analysis of its pros and cons.
6. Cell Phones while Driving
http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone_laws.html
I like lists and charts; it makes information easy to read. This site clearly lists all the cell phone driving laws, which I didn’t know. It also have a chart that nicely outline the specifics by states, such as no hand-held or no text messaging for bus drivers, novice drivers, or all drivers. On the right side, there’s a link to Learn More about cell phones as distraction while driving.
http://speakout.com/activism/issue_briefs/1334b-1.html
Although the article is dated back in 2000, it reveals both argument of pros and cons with banning cell phone while driving. On the right side, there’s different links to further details of the topic, such as investigation, association of death/collision and cell phone usage. It also has links to organization such as Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
7. Passengers’ Rights
http://www.rezat.com/2009/03/passengers-rights/
It’s an article within a law firm website claiming that passengers have rights to their safety and defining “safety.” Though the article focuses on the legal aspect of passengers’ rights, it spells out clearly what it means and giving many scenarios as examples. With the lawyers backing up passengers’ rights, the society with increase awareness and respect the passengers’ rights.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/18/washington/18cnd-search.html
This article also discusses the legal aspect of passengers’ rights. I chose this because it shows the other side of the first article. This article did not support passengers’ right, because if passengers have rights, that means when a police seize a vehicle, that includes not only the driver but the passengers and everything inside it as well.
8. Speeding
http://www.saferoads.org/speeding
This site provides interesting facts about speeding and speed limits. After reading the speed limits facts, I change my view of speed limits. I don’t think it’s a good idea to raise speed limits, because when states raised their speed limits, the drivers too adjust and continue to go over the higher speed limits. And generally, the higher the speed, the more fatal a crash can be.
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/roadsafety/speedandspeedcameras/index.html
This article contains a video comparing the damage of a crash at 60 mph vs. 100 mph. Numbers and facts are presented in chart which is easy to visualize. Under “the size of the problem,” the chart clearly outline that death related to speeding is approximately 40% of total death on the road from 2002-2007. Speeding is a huge problem. On the left, there is also links for sub-articles of speeding: advertising campaign, fixed speed cameras, problems and initiatives, speed limits, speeding research, and intelligent speed adaptation.
9. Sidewalk Rage
http://jscms.jrn.columbia.edu/cns/2007-03-13/cahall-sidewalkrage
It is an article about sidewalk rage. If you never heard of sidewalk rage, this will give you a good idea. The author started off with a typical situation of a sidewalk rage, tourist looking at building or teenagers walking side by side block the whole sidewalk.
http://noisetank.com/hugeasscity/2008/08/12/the-massively-important-issue-of-sidewalk-etiquette/
This is a blogging site, started with a posting about sidewalk etiquette (walk right, pass left) and a question of why does people like to “hug” the building. The responses are quite interesting. Some people even started a escalator etiquette and bringing on other issues of sidewalk, such as people with twin baby stroller or a large group of people occupying the sidewalk.
10. Teenage Drivers
http://www.cdc.gov/Motorvehiclesafety/Teen_Drivers/index.html
Under Teen Drivers, there are three articles on the topic: fact sheet, graduated driver licensing (GDL), and tips on prevention of teen accidents. I selected this website, because the fact sheet outlines the problems such as risk and cost of teen drivers. Then the second article provides a solution—GDL, where teens can gain driving experience in low-risk environment. And finally, the last gives tips on simple prevention such as wearing seat belt.
http://life.familyeducation.com/teen-driving/teen/36439.html
This is a nice article on teenage drivers, aiming at parents as readers/audiences. The article is very reader-friendly and the outline format with clear subheadings makes it easy to pick out important information. I especially like the second part, the list of suggestion on what kinds of argument to include in the agreement with the teens.
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