A
Review of
Dr. Leon James and Dr. Diane
Nahl, Road Rage and Aggressive Driving, 2000
By Lala Nuss,
University of Hawaii at Manoa, 12/11/02
A.)
The Expanding the Age of Rage (Ch.1, P.32-35)
This topic talks about how rage is spreading due to different factors that result in many different types of rage such as: parking lot rage, sidewalk, surf, air, neighbor, shopping mall, workplace, cafeteria, customer, keyboard, and desk rage.Ê This rage of so many different aspects in our lives that has surfaced is due to frustration, stress, and annoyance of the society we live in today.Ê There are many factors in our culture that fuel the opportunities of rage.Ê With our fast paced lives, trying to balance work and family, and the age of technology and the information highway, one can see how too much of something can actually be a bad thing.Ê It can cause a person to be too pressured and overwhelmed.Ê Another factor that influences the increase of rage is a new cultural acceptance of displaying anger and other emotions publicly.Ê We are freer to express ourselves and therefore more likely to see it displayed.Ê As the book points out, ãA new permissiveness frees more people to become more openly enraged in a wide variety of public places, sometimes in jest, but sometimes not.ä
ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ ÊÊÊÊ B.) Drivers Behaving Badly On TV (Ch.2, P.48-50)
Media is a huge factor that affects the way we perceive our self and our environment.Ê Over the past twenty years, the media has portrayed fast sport cars and driving on the edge as exciting and glamorous.Ê The media, as Dr. John Larson points out gives an appeal to, ãvigilante behavior, even that which harms others, is virtuous, associated with heroic figures, and easy to do.äÊ There is no scientific research that undoubtedly proves that the mediaâs acceptance and promotion of bad driving increases our occurrence of driving badly, but the overall conclusion gives a definite connection between media portrayal and our behavior.
C.) Defensive Driving (Ch.3, P.69-71)
We are taught through our parents, our culture, and even driversâ education that driving defensively, ãto assume the worst from other drivers, and not have it happen, than to ignore the worst and have it occur,ä is the best way to think and behave when driving.Ê But none of these factors teach us how to manage our emotions that have a huge effect on our driving behavior.Ê Defensive driving can cause us to see other drivers as enemies and discourages mutual support and compassion for other drivers.
The book offers an alternative to defensive techniques called supportive driving that ãencourages anticipating what others might do, accepting errors as normal, and trying to provide for errors by making room or by yielding.äÊ This alternative strategy also offers training in regards to emotional control helping to, ãbetter manage routine experiences such as panic, fear, stress, provocation, anger, competition, and impatience.äÊ This strategy focuses on Inner training that deals with our way of thinking and the way we rank the importance of things.Ê ãOur driving emotions have been ingrained habits, no longer questioned or even admitted, but the same social principles that taught us to be aggressive drivers in this generation can be used to teach us to become supportive drivers in the next·ä
D.) Passive-Aggressive Road Rage (Ch.4, P.85-86)
Passive-aggressive road rage is defined by the book as: ã a reactionary protest against feeling thwarted, coerced, mistreated, or repeatedly wronged, characterized by feelings of rancor and resentment against other drivers.äÊ This type of driving is a kind of resistance to cooperate with others.Ê Almost like a power struggle between drivers.Ê Passive-aggressive road rage is a power-based behavior.Ê It can be directed toward not only other drivers, but also towards pedestrians, bike riders, and even passengers.Ê Passive-aggressive driving can have long term effects on ones physical and mental health.
E.) Objective Self-Assessment for Drivers (Ch. 6, P.133-134)
This objective assessment of oneâs self the key to beginning a new attempt to a better driving strategy.Ê ãMany are surprised to learn that the majority of drivers experience intense emotions in traffic that put them at risk of expressing road rage.äÊ The assessment is made up of three steps that help in the process of actualization.Ê The first step involves one to acknowledge that every driver needs traffic emotions education.Ê The second step is acting as a witness to you own behaviors when driving by observing your feelings, thoughts and, actions to identify specifically what kind of aggressive driving and road rage you exhibit.Ê The final step is to actually modify the specific behaviors you want to change.Ê This process has to be repeatedly practiced with all the different aspects of your driving behavior that you want to modify. The goal and basis for self-assessment is to not only find problematic tendencies that enhance emotional rage in yourself and others, but to also see yourself as others see you.
F.) Road Rage Nursery (Ch.7, P.151-153)
This topic in the book speaks of the way our traditions of road rage and aggressive driving are passed on from generation to generation.Ê The book bases itâs idea of this finding on the well-known fact that children learn from their parents, caregivers, and siblings from very early ages on.Ê ãChildren soak up the norms of behavior in their environment·Years before they get behind the wheel of a car, children absorb and imitate the values of their parents and other authority figures.Ê The book suggests that we need to pay more attention to how children learn to interact with other drivers, and help children in developing emotional intelligence by being role models for them.Ê A good idea that the book gives on practicing these ideas to our children is to practice being a good passenger with them through small rewards.
The major problems this book covers in the aspect of road rage, is the way our culture praises aggressive driving and our behaviors we display through the media and acceptance of these acts.Ê Another problem is the specific way we are trained and taught to drive, with aggression and defense that can be dangerous.Ê The third problem I found the book to uncover is our disregard to the emotional aspect of driving which has a huge impact on how we display our behavior.
The overall solution to these problems that the book provides is to start a whole new approach to driving in todayâs society.Ê Through evolving our driving perspective towards conscious awareness, emotional intelligence, understanding, and then modifying our old behaviors.Ê With new programs, exercises, and cultural practices we can begin to reshape and definitely improve the quality of driving.Ê Hopefully reducing the fatal conclusions of so many unnecessary acts of road rage.
The topics identified by the book are relevant to public concern and to psychology as a field in significant ways.Ê Driving is a huge part of our lives in American society.Ê By approaching the dilemma of road rage in a psychological manner (by looking at emotions as well as behaviors and trying to improve them through theories and exercises) we can begin to redirect a public concern and change the problem of road rage.Ê I do believe this strong message of needing to change our approach to driving is revolutionary and needed attempt to solve one of the many public concerns that we deal with in our society.Ê It is important and essential to try to look at new ways in practicing our traditions of driving because of the tragic outcomes that result from so many years of inadequate practice.Ê This book fits into society and psychology in that it is an attempt to resolve a big problem in todayâs society that affects all of us in some way or another through psychological study and techniques that allow us to come up with alternatives that will have a positive impact on such a wide spread concern.
The book has many exercises and tests that are displayed through tables and diagrams to give great visual aids.Ê These exercises and tests are structured to help you evaluate and understand yourself in respect to driving.Ê The exercises and tests consist of questions and tasks that you can follow in a structured form to help you first be aware, and then change or modify what you have become aware of through repeated attempts and continual practice.Ê I tried the exercises for myself and they helped me to break down and be consciously aware of the problems I have when driving.Ê I learned a lot about myself in regards to driving.Ê There were many things that I never even realized I did or thought or felt while driving.Ê Being able to recognize these practices, I can attempt to change and modify my practices to become a safer and more responsible driver.Ê The book also features a bibliography, endnotes, and an index which was not to long but nicely detailed.
The book gives unique and catchy titles to its chapters that are very relevant to the content.Ê I really donât have any suggestions for other titles.Ê The layout of the book was rational and very well organized.Ê The books layout gives the reader a good sense of the progressive process that takes place during your experience with the handbook.Ê The print size was also very accurate for the structure of the book.
What I enjoyed most about the book was itâs revolutionary approach to such a long found problem that plagues our society.Ê The book gives a wonderful process that is backed by useful exercises and tests that give you a sense of hands on experience that can be related back to you.Ê ãDrivers inherit the seeds of aggressiveness and territoriality form parents and the media.Ê Road rage and Aggressive Driving examines the psychological context of a growing social epidemic and provides instructions for putting the brakes on highway aggression by restoring civility and safety to our roads.äÊ I learned through this book that by being able and willing to take the time to understand and be aware of a problem, we can take the appropriate steps to resolve the problem.Ê The bookâs strength is itâs unique approach to the problem of road rage and the exercises that are offered to get an intimate grasp of what the book is trying to display.Ê I canât come up with any weak areas of the book because it covers so many important aspects and gives wonderful advice on how to come up with a solution.
The approach this book takes on trying to solve the wide spread problem of road rage can be used and expanded to other areas of our lives.Ê Through conscious awareness, understanding, and then willing to modify, we can use this approach to change any behavior or aspect in our lives such as marriage, children, career, and personal habits.Ê I think this is an unbelievably genius attempt in trying to fix one of the many problems that we as members of society are affected and touched by.