Title
of the report:
What
is Traffic Psychology?
By
Vanessa Rodriguez
Table of Contents
·
Instructions for this report
· http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy6/g6reports459.html#Heading1
·
Definitions of Traffic Psychology
·
Jae Isa
·
Ryan Mistui
·
Shane Cobb
·
Irene M. Barrineau
·
Angelica Gilmer
· Personal experience as a road user
·
Driver
·
Passenger
·
Pedestrian
· How can future generations improve
on this activity
· Epilogue
· Links to other websites
Definitions of Traffic Psychology
Presented below are excerpts and links to five different
students from previous traffic psychology generations. Also included below each students definition
is an opinion provided by yours truly.
Hopefully, their ideas and my opinions will assist in understanding what
traffic psychology is all about.
Assuming that you have no idea of what traffic psychology is, I hope by
the end of this report you will be able to provide yourself with your very own
definition as well as opinion.
Jae Isa
Generation 1 http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/leonpsy459a/isa/labreport.html#traffic%20psy
"On the first day of class, the concept of
"Traffic Psychology" and its two main purposes were introduced. The
first purpose was aimed at decreasing the amount of auto accidents and traffic
fatalities. The second purpose was to improve the American character. I found
this concept meaningful because of the first purpose. I feel that this area of
study may be able to explain other traffic related phenomenon and may also help
to develop better, safer and more realistic traffic laws and regulations. Most
studies I've read were statistical and not analytical. Most say
"what" happen and not "why" it happened. For example, just
the other day I read an article in my motorcyclist magazine which cited a
research that said 85% of drivers settle into a speed that's right for traffic
conditions and that anyone going slower than the flow of traffic (the 85%) were
at a greater accident risk. Traffic psychology may be able to explain why this
occurs."
I like the fact that Jae is
not afraid to tell the truth about studies relating to driving. I agree with her statement that most studies
are statistical and not analytical. I am
glad that she brought this to attention because I feel that it is extremely
important to consider as both a driver and pedestrian that statistics do not
give the whole story. Traffic
psychologists would agree that exposing statistics can be helpful but exposing
why accidents occur and how we can deter it thru well-developed techniques will
be better. Thus, traffic psychology can
and does provide explanations for various traffic phenomena such as aggressive
driving and road rage. Isa's second purpose of traffic psychology was to improve
the American character. In all honesty,
I do not have a clue by what she means by this.
I think maybe she was trying to say that every American should study
traffic psychology. Perhaps she is
right; however I believe that it should not just stop there with
Americans. I strongly feel that traffic
psychology should be taught and utilized all over the world, especially in
those countries that are most autocentric. But simply because one country is not exactly
autocentirc does not mean that traffic psychology
would be useless. This is definitely not
the case. It is also important to target
these countries because you never know what may happen a few decades from now
in that country. It is important to
instill such education before so it will be easier to adopt rather than harder
to change.
Ryan Mistui
Generation 4 http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/459f96/rmitsui.edu/reports/report1.html
"I
think that traffic psychology is all about learning to control our anger so
that we can learn to control ourselves better behind the wheel rather than
controlling a metal chariot across asphalt.
When I looked back on my driving personally I noticed that I tended to
speed more when I felt angry. I think that the reason that people speed when
they are angry is because it is an attempt to regain control of something.
Think about it, when you are driving, all it takes is a little flick of the
foot and, BAM!! You’re in business! You're in control of this huge steel
monster!! Usually when we get angry, we feel that we are not in control of a
situation, and if this anger persists, we get out of control. By driving fast I
think that we are trying to regain control of the situation, or at least trying
to make ourselves feel that we are capable of controlling something. Because if
we are not in control, it implies that we are helpless or weak."
Mr. Mitsui seems to have a very superficial understanding
of what traffic psychology is really about.
It is salient that Mr. Mitsui did not critically analyze the importance
of this study. Instead, he selfishly
explains it through his own personal experiences. Mitsui believes that traffic psychology is
about learning to control our anger. I
completely disagree with his lame definition.
Traffic psychology is not a tool for anger management. Mitsui further discusses his opinion by
introducing the concept of control. He
states that a good driver is not in control of his car but of his/her
feelings. To my surprise, I have to
agree with this statement. It saddens me
to see a student, after taking an in-depth traffic psychology course with a
very well educated professor, does not have an educated idea to define traffic
psychology. It also upsets me to see a
student not take advantage of such an opportunity to educate himself, as well
as others through his published website, on traffic psychology. Traffic psychology is such
an important field of study and although it may lack popularity at the moment,
believe me when I say that traffic psychology will be well-known all
over the world. Maybe then Mr. Mitsui
will jump on the band wagon and figure out a better definition for traffic
psychology.
Shane Cobb Generation 6 http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/459f96/cobb/reportA.html
"Traffic Psychology can be defined as a tool, which
through subjective analysis, functions to increase the quality of people's
lives through concise and subjective behavior observance, identification, and
modification. Traffic Psychology deals
with the affective, cognitive, and sensory-motor aspects of people in the
context of the everyday yet often maddening occurrence of driving, dealing with
traffic, and dealing with others. By identifying the affective feelings that
cause cognitive thoughts, traffic psychology allows us to understand our
resulting actions and gives us a productive, effective and reliable way of
modifying our behavior. This is because traffic psychology examines the
fundamental origins of our actions in a subjective manner and this allows for
precise evaluation of complex behavior. Traffic psychology is a specific aspect of
psychology that forces us to deal with ourselves by studying behavior and
interaction in the controlled environment of public road ways. By focusing
changes in this environment and their feasibility and solvency we are forced
through the context to deal with ourselves. Traffic psychology thus presents a
door through which we can cognitively enter and modify our very essence and
achieve a higher quality of living."
I first have to say that I relish in the fact that
Cobb includes the idea of increasing the quality of people's lives being a very
important part of traffic psychology. I
am glad that Mr. Cobb included this point in his definition because it is
undoubtedly and absolutely true. Mr.
Cobb claims that traffic psychology is a tool used through subjective
analysis. It also makes me happy that
Cobb explains traffic psychology must be subjective and not biased. He further explains that this study deals
with the affective, cognitive and sensory-motor aspects. This is important to understand because it
will enable one to correctly identify in a subjective manner how one's
feelings, thoughts and actions affect his/her driving skills. I like and agree how Cobb views the public
roadways as a controlled environment. We
can not control other people's actions or the physical features and rules of
the roadways. We do, however, have
control over ourselves. I believe that
knowing this fact is half the battle that leads to the study of traffic
psychology.
Irene M. Barrineau
Generation 8 http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459s98/barrineau/report2.html#1
"Traffic Psychology is the analysis and the discipline
of our thoughts, feelings and behaviors while driving or interacting with
drivers. When studying traffic psychology, we have to put our analysis caps on
and analyze why this problem of road rage is occurring to such a tremendous
degree and how we can discover different solutions to getting through to people
(and ourselves for that matter).
Solutions to traffic psychology have to do with disciplining ourselves
and explaining to others how to discipline themselves both physically and
mentally. By disciplining our thoughts, feelings, motives and behaviors, we can
learn the control necessary to having positive driving experiences as well as
positive experiences as a passenger, pedestrian or cyclist."
Every science includes analysis to describe and
determine the problem and/or situation at hand.
According to Barrineau, after proper analysis
is determined, discipline follows in order to control ourselves and to attain a
positive driving experience. Although, I
have to agree with Ms. Barrineau that analysis and
discipline are key concepts to understand traffic psychology, I feel Ms. Barrineau's definition is too broad and simple. The definition reminds me of a typical
'reason-solution' problem. In this case,
analysis is substituted for reason and discipline is substituted for solution.
Thus, Barrineau's definition can be applied to any
problem. Traffic psychology can indeed
help other areas of your life not related to driving but this study deserves so
much more importance than that. I feel that traffic psychology entails so much
more than what Ms. Barrineau discusses. The two concepts Barrineau
gives merely touches the tip of the iceberg of what defines traffic psychology.
She gives an idea rather than an explanation.
Personally, I would prefer an explanation. Ms. Barrineau's
broad definition of traffic psychology does not include other important
information and examples of how to analyze and how to
discipline.
Angelica Gilmer
Generation 9 http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af99/report2.html
"My first definition of Traffic Psychology is
that it is a way to learn facts about the problems with driving. Once the problems are identified a person can
work on correcting them. It seems the biggest problem is that people refuse to
accept the responsibility of their actions. Once a person learns that their
driving behavior could be dangerous and why, then we can take the next steps in
trying to help that person to change.
Traffic Psychology also teaches you to look at traffic differently. One of the
major realizations is that when you are out on the road you are not sheltered.
You need to remember and be aware of the many other drivers and pedestrians out
on the streets. People tend to drive with blinders on and just concentrate on
getting to themselves and getting to their final destinations as soon as
possible. It is extremely important to realize what a social act driving is.
Traffic Psychology is also a way to heighten your awareness. It teaches you to
be aware of yourself on three levels: Affective (A), Cognitive(C), and Sensorimotor(S). It is what Dr. Driving likes to call The
Three Domains of Driving Behavior.
One technique to awareness is self-witnessing. The easiest way to do
this is tape all your feelings (A), thoughts(C), and actions(S). My suggestion is to turn it on as soon as you
get in the car and leave it on the dashboard and sooner or later you'll forget
it's even there. When you take it home and listen to it pick one thing to work
on. This is called self-modification; Dr. Driving has suggested driving buddies
or Quality Driving Circles (QDC).”
Ms. Gilmer's begins to have a mediocre definition
explaining traffic psychology as easy as possible. It appears to be unattractive thus leaving me
uninterested. However, as Ms. Gilmer
further explains her definition of traffic psychology I begin to get a better
understanding. Perhaps her simplistic
approach was a means to ease into a very in depth definition. To condense Gilmer's definition of traffic
psychology, I would have to say that she views it as a way to learn facts about
driving, realize driving is a social act and to heighten the three domains of
awareness. She goes on to give examples
on how to heighten awareness which I thought was just fantastic. According to Gilmer, such ways to increase
driving behavior awareness is through techniques called self-witnessing and
self-modification. Thankfully, she also
includes Dr. Driving's suggestion of Quality Driving
Circles as a way to increase awareness.
I am glad that Ms. Gilmer provided these examples because I believe that
people simply learn and understand better when they are provided. Furthermore, I feel that all three examples
are extremely helpful to understanding traffic psychology because it shows how
this field of study can only lead to improvement. I have to say that improvement is key to understanding the basis of traffic psychology and is
a reason to explain why this study even exists.
Traffic psychology can only lead to improvement.
My experience as a driver
Statistics you should know: Because of aggressive driving, there are
42,000 deaths a year due, 6.5 million people are sent to the hospital land
there is an estimated cost of 250 billion a year.
As soon as I turned fifteen I got my driving
permit. I was happy yet somewhat
scared. I was happy because this showed
I was growing up yet I was scared because I was still somewhat traumatized from
my accident that just happened a year before.
My mom surely pushed me over the hump and forced me not to fear driving
by making me learn how to drive on a stick rather than automatic. I abhorred my
mother for this because it was so difficult and frustrating for me to learn how
to drive while all of my other friends were having fun learning on an automatic
vehicle. I ultimately got my license as
soon as I turned sixteen and I have to admit, I am sure glad my mom did what
she did.
I have been driving for eight years now and I admit
that my driving behavior has been a roller coaster. In the beginning of my driving career I was a
healthy and supportive driver. It was
not until I turned 21 that I became an aggressive driver. I did not only speed, yell and give people the
bird, I also drove while intoxicated. I
even allowed for others to drive while intoxicated. I regret my actions and feel ashamed. Knowing what I know now due to the education
of traffic psychology, I sadly realize that my experience as a driver has been
clearly more negative than positive. The
good news, if you can believe it, is that because of my education on traffic
psychology I am now able to critically analyze all aspects of my driving
behavior and modify it towards improvement.
All thanks given to Dr. Leon James.
Isn't that wonderful?!
To further explain, I shall focus on my most recent
experience as a driver from what I learned a few months ago while taking a
traffic psychology course with Dr. Leon James.
First of all, deep down inside one really knows what needs to be
improved concerning his/her driving behavior.
The first problem arises: how does one can discern and explain
irrational driving behavior? This is best explained thoroughly in three specific
domains: affective (feelings), cognitive (thoughts) and senorimotor
(actions). Now the second problem
surfaces when trying to figure out how to alter their behavior from aggressive
to supportive. I learned there are
various techniques such as self-witnessing, self-assessment, self-modification,
acting as-if, scenario analysis, road rage tendency checklists, quality driving
circles, driving personality makeovers and emotionally intelligent driver
personality skills, to improve driving behavior. There are many more!
Below is a chart developed by Dr. James. I came up with quotes according to my own
personal experience as a driver.
Emotionally
Intelligent Driver Personality Skills
|
Driver
Competence Skills |
Aggressive |
Supportive |
|
|
Not |
Emotionally |
|
1. Focusing on self vs. blaming others or the
situation |
"I absolutely can not believe this! Don’t
people know how to drive in traffic? I’ll never get home.” |
"Oh well, I can take this time to relax and
listen to the new cd I just bought.” |
|
2. Understanding how feelings and thoughts act
together |
“This is their entire fault that I am so frustrated
and irritated.” |
"I can handle this frustration. Things could have
been worse.” |
|
3. Realizing that anger is something we choose vs.
thinking it is provoked |
"Drivers who leave their blinkers on agitate
me so much I want to scream.” |
"I agitate myself when I continue to worry
about blinkers left on.” |
|
4. Being concerned about consequences vs. giving in
to impulse |
"I am so ready to give this guy a piece of my
mind. I’ll do it at the next stop light.” |
"Why am I even going to waste my time and
energy on a stranger? This is immature and not worth it. " |
|
5. Showing respect for others and their rights vs.
thinking only of oneself |
"Everybody needs to get out of my way. I have
to go shopping so I can make the sales.” |
|
|
6. Accepting traffic as collective team work vs.
seeing it as individual competition |
"I am the only one who really knows how to
drive in traffic. I’ll show them how to really change lanes- the fast and
chic way!” |
"There is real no reason to show off in
traffic-I’ll slow other people down. Everybody is in this together.” |
|
7. Recognizing the diversity of drivers and their
needs and styles vs. blaming them for what they choose to do |
"Oh my goodness! I can’t believe that man is
actually flossing his teeth while driving. How can he be so stupid?” |
"That man must have an important meeting or
date to attend. I am just going to drive away from him.” |
|
8. Practicing positive role models vs. negative |
"Why must the driver in front of me drive so
slowly? I am going to tailgate until he speeds up or gets out of my way.” |
"I don’t need to tailgate. He’s actually
driving the speed limit. I need to pay attention to the speedometer more
often.” |
|
9. Learning to inhibit the impulse to criticize by
developing a sense of driving humor |
"They didn’t teach this in driver’s education
class! Why must everyone be so clueless on how to drive? You better learn or
take the darn bus from now on.” |
"It’s not their fault that they haven’t
studied traffic psychology. They really need to pick up Dr. James’, ‘Road
Rage and Aggressive Driving’ book. |
|
10. Taking driving seriously by becoming aware of
one’s mistakes and correcting them |
“I don’t trust anybody‘s driving skills. I know
that I am the best driver around. People should take notes on my skills so
they can learn.” |
“OK I am not the best driver around. I acknowledge
that there is room for improvement.” |
My experience as a passenger
My experience as a passenger stems mostly from when I
was young and did not have a license.
Even today, I prefer to drive and not be a passenger. I mostly remember my mother’s erratic yet fun
behavior of driving really fast through large puddles of water. In grade school and junior high I thought
driving fast was so cool. I adopted this
attitude while being a passenger with my older brother and his friends. In eighth grade, just two years before I was
to get behind the wheel, I was in a terrible car accident with my brother while
his best friend was driving. It was the
typical mistake of a speeding accident.
I broke my back, one vertebra close to being paralyzed. My brother was not so lucky. He suffered from a plethora of damages that
left him in Intensive Care Unit for nearly two weeks and then bedridden with
hospice for three months. And just like
many horrible accidents, the driver was left unharmed. I tell this story not to show how precious
life is but to explain why my attitude on driving became such an important
aspect in my life, so early on…before I even had a license.
Because I had such a traumatizing experience while
being a passenger, one could imagine how sensitive I was towards an aggressive
driver while I was in the vehicle. Both
my affective (feelings) and cognitive (thoughts) domains were established early
on and it clearly affected my sensorimotor (behavior)
and the behavior around me. For example,
if I was a passenger in a speeding car, feelings of fear and outrage would take
over me. I would then think why must
this person be doing this? Doesn’t
he/she understand the consequences of what might happen? Finally, I would loudly object to the current
behavior and demanded to be let out. It
was not until now I realized that I too was attributing to aggressive driving
through my outlandish behavior as a passenger.
I learned and now realize that traffic psychology is a team effort.
My experience as a pedestrian
Statistics you should know: On average, a pedestrian is injured in a
traffic crash every 6 minutes. On average, a pedestrian is killed in a traffic
crash every 107 minutes.
I have very few experiences being a pedestrian. The first was before I had a license. And the second was my first year of college
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Call me
lazy, but I would just prefer to use some kind of transportation to get to a
particular destination other than foot.
When I was younger, I actually liked walking. Friends in my neighborhood and I would always
walk to the local liquor store to run errands for our parents or walk to the
mall to catch a flick during the summer.
Now where I grew up in San Diego, California, it is a very autocentirc city- even more so now compared to when I was
younger, which was the early 1980's. But
the difference, in my opinion, is that back then people, especially young
children played outside in their neighborhood a lot. Such popular activates back then included
homerun derby, hide-and-go-seek, and water balloon fights. All of these activities required children to
be outside in the street. Nowadays, young children do not want to be outside
playing. Instead, they are inside the
home incessantly playing video games and glued to the television. It is important to note too that video games
have drastically changed since my time.
Now video games are more focused on violence than ever before. This easily teaches children aggressive behavior,
including road rage and aggressive driving before they even get behind the
wheel! I feel that it is necessary to
give you this background information because it is important to realize how
people’s attitudes and values have changed.
I also feel because of this change, it has led to more children getting
hit by cars deterring them from playing in the street. My point is, I never felt afraid running
around in the street, I thought and knew drivers were courteous to children and
I continued to played baseball out in the street. I wish children today could experience what I
was afforded while growing up.
Since my experience as a pedestrian when I was a
young girl was not too diverse, I was bombarded with difficulty coping on how
to deal with being one my first year of college. Right out of high school, I moved from sunny
Nevertheless, after a few months the novelty of
walking through the snow grew tiresome.
The beautiful snow now turned to dirty slush (at least in center
city). I began to ask myself, was it
better to be a pedestrian or a driver in the city? I gave you the pros to being a pedestrian but
the cons were plentiful. Being a pedestrian
in a large city like
How future generations can improve
on this activity
My advice for future generations is to get a head
start. A big way to improve on this
activity is to allow yourself enough time to browse through all of the
generations to find a report that sparks your interest. You must take note that there are currently
22 generations and to this day the generational curriculum is still going head
strong.
Another way to improve on this activity is being able
to subjectively analyze yourself as a driver, passenger and pedestrian. To make it easier, you have Dr. James’
website, http://www.drdriving.org/, to
get further information pertaining to the three domains of driving
behavior. It is very critical you
discuss these three domains when analyzing your experience as a driver,
passenger and pedestrian.
Finally, another way to improve on this activity is
to voice your opinion. Explain why you
think traffic psychology is needed and provide valid points and examples. The more you develop an opinion, the more you
will become passionate about expressing it.
Epilogue
Now that I am concluding my report, I have a lot to
say about what I experienced from my learning steps. To begin, as soon as I read the directions I
felt like this was going to be fun. I
was excited because I already had some knowledge about traffic psychology and
searching through what future generations had to say was going to be
interesting. The next step was to figure
out how I was going to do this. I thought
this was going to be easy but it turned out that I was completely wrong. I had knowledge about traffic psychology but
after browsing through nearly twenty different generations I found out my
definition was just breaking the shell.
I learned that traffic psychology can be all encompassing with a
plethora of different definitions. The
third step consisted of actually gathering all of my feelings, thoughts and
knowledge and meshing them together to build a website. I am a pretty fast typist so I had this to my
advantage. However, the most difficult
part as I began building this website was figuring out how to links to all
subsections from the table of contents.
This is still a work in progress and will be working shortly.
I have to say my affective domain was most at work as
I gave examples from my own personal experiences as a driver, passenger and
pedestrian. My cognitive domain was most
at work as I summarized my reactions and feelings to other generation
definitions of traffic psychology. Lastly,
my sensorimotor domain was well utilized throughout
the whole report.
Class home page: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy22/classhome-g22.htm
My home page: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459s2005/rodriguez/home.htm
.