A Review of
Road Rage And Aggressive Driving: steering clear of highway warfare
Authors: Dr. Leon James and Diane Nahl
Published by Prometheus in 2000
By Rich Snider 12/9/03
1. OVERALL CONTENT:
I have picked the following topics out of the book because they all relate to the education of our drivers and how that is the cornerstone to making our roadways safe. Our nation is in need of an attitude adjustment when it comes to our safety while traveling to and from work or picking up our children from school. If just one generation could stop the viscous cycle of passing on roadway aggression and competitiveness, many lives would be saved. This is possible only if people posses the desire to change.
DEFENSIVE DRIVING (chapter
3, pages 69-71) is an important topic that is covered in this book by Dr. James
and Dr. Nahl.
Defensive driving is a teaching guideline for driver safety that focuses
on watching out for the other driver and avoiding their mistakes on the road.
The authors of this book explain that the actual cause of highway hostility
sometimes stems from defensive driving attitudes which is not exactly the way
that we should be educated. Neither
conventional driver education nor defensive driving courses include training
for emotional intelligence on the road.
Emotional intelligence is the understanding of ones emotions and the
ability to recognize and control them.
Teaching defensive driving does provide ways of
avoiding future accidents but it has consequences that increase risk while
driving. Defensive attitudes on the road
can lead to suspiciousness and encourage the tendency to see other drivers as
the enemy. I feel that this is true. Sure we need to know what to physically do
with our car in situations that may arise, but we should also be trained how to
control our emotions and stay away from becoming competitive or offensive
drivers. Drivers should be trained in
emotional intelligence along with the standard operations of a vehicle.
I feel that all drivers should think about defensive driving and understand it is not a solution to highway hostility. I think that people are only thinking about the results of the accidents instead of what happened previous to the accident. Was the driver frustrated about traffic congestion, or did the driver become distracted by a passenger or device? These questions also need to be asked because they are just as important as what happened during the accident.
THE AGGRESSIVE COMPETITOR (chapter 4
pages 103-105) is what people are called who feel that they must always be in
the lead and feel a sense of loss and rising anxiety if someone else passes
them. Some do this by mere habit from
cultural influence and child upbringing.
Others become aggressive competitors by making a mistake and worrying
what other drivers might think; then when the other driver makes a mistake,
it’s their turn to ridicule them.
Competitiveness is viewed as a good thing, but on the road it can be
lethal and dangerous, risking the lives of others as well as ourselves. We need to recognize that our culture fuels
these attitudes. We grow up playing
sports where winning is the only option and we watch our parents as they curse
and scream at other drivers while they drive us around.
The authors of this book explain that
the most crucial step in stopping ones competitive impulses is to break through
the denial of this behavior. I believe
it is likely that everyone has ridiculed another persons driving before. Self- witnessing is a good combatant of
competitive behavior behind the wheel.
Self-witnessing involves looking at the emotions, the thoughts, and the
acts we perform when we behave as if driving is a competitive game.
This attitude of competitiveness is
all to revealing when recognizing the rise over the last 10 years in road
violence. People are acting purely on
their emotions without thinking what the consequences may bring. Many Americans find themselves in jail,
injured, or even dead due to their lack of emotional restraint which is
sometimes fueled by competitiveness.
REAL WORLD DRIVING TIPS (chapter 4
page 107) are strategies for drivers to use to steer clear of highway
warfare. Everybody is at risk to road
rage because it can erupt at anytime, anywhere.
But there are some tips that can help you keep simple mistakes from
turning into something out of a horror movie.
These tips consist of; avoiding eye
contact with aggressive drivers, pretend other people on the road are people
that you know, ask yourself “Is it worth being killed or going to jail” when
you become upset, and go with the flow…no matter how slow. These are all good tips for staying out of
confrontations.
A lot of people out there do the exact
opposite of what these tips recommend that you do. This leads to major problems on our roadways
which often result in death. The only
way to combat these people is to try and stay away and not provoke.
I should have used these tips on
several occasions where I did the opposite; like giving someone the bird or
yelling at them instead of simply staying away.
That would have been much less stressful. I think that all drivers should have
knowledge of these tips for their own good.
QUALITY DRIVING CIRCLES (chapter 9
pages 199-202) is a post-licensing approach where people continue training
through voluntary participation. Groups
of two to ten drivers meet regularly to help and encourage one another with
self-improvement as drivers. These
groups target self-witnessing procedures to better identify their own problems
while driving. They focus on learning
emotional intelligence, training themselves for safe multitasking like using
cell phones, and many other important aspects of safe vehicle operating.
Dr James and Dr. Nahl
explain that QDCs are inexpensive to be a part of and
should be taken advantage of more frequently. The amount of people who are a
part of these programs is no where near the amount of people who should
be. I think that our government should
implement these programs through the workforce.
A good way to do it would be giving companies and businesses tax breaks
for having these programs at the workplace.
I feel that QDCs
could really improve the overall safety of our roadways and save thousands of
lives per year. Everyone should
participate in a QDC if they want to improve their driving experiences.
RESISTANCE TO CHANGE (chapter 6 pages
144-147) means a reluctance to do something different from what is normally
done. Drivers initially resist changing
their driving style. Changing habits is
difficult for anyone to do, and yet they must be done to improve our
highways. Resistance usually dissipates
when the process of driving without inner pressures becomes safer and more
enjoyable.
One useful technique in this book for
modifying unwanted behavior is mentally switching roles with the other driver
by asking yourself “How might he or she be feeling?” and “What if that where my
grandma (kid, spouse, pastor)?” This is
a good way to steer away from hostile feelings that can lead to trouble not
only in that situation, but also health problems that come from the stress
related to the hostility.
Progress needs to be made on a
national level in teaching people to how to change their ways when it comes to
dangerous driving and dangerous driving attitudes. This is probably the biggest feet of all, in
trying to make our roadways safe, and it is very important.
ROAD RAGE NURSERY (chapter 7 pages
151-152) is the name given to how we unknowingly (hopefully) teach our young
bad habits and actions when driving our vehicles. They also explain that road rage is a feeling
of hostility that is inherited through the culture of disrespect condoned on
highways.
Kids do what their parents do, they
say the things that they hear older kids and adults say, and their emotional
reactions are shaped by mimicking adult feelings. Children soak up the norms of behavior that
is in their environment, and this is how road rage tradition is passed on to
the next generation.
This is a terrible circle of hostility
that is simply passed on to the next driver of a 2000 pound piece of machinery
that can travel 150+ miles per hour. We
need to help children develop emotional intelligence as future drivers by
modeling appropriate behaviors.
These topics that I covered above have
become familiar to me since taking Dr. James Psych. 409 class at the University
of Hawaii at Manoa. I have come to
realize many of my own, as well as loved ones, bad driving habits that are
dangerous. These topics are of interest
to me because they deal with teaching drivers to better themselves behind the
wheel which could save my own life and or others that I care about. This book covers many other topics that are
of great importance in teaching drivers emotional literacy, which is very
important to what actions people make while driving. I think that all drivers
should have to read this book before getting their licenses.
2. THE
BOOK’S IMPORTANCE
This
book is important because of its relevance to so many problems that effect
people on a daily basis. We must learn
how to become better drivers mentally and this book is a good guideline for
doing so.
The topics that are covered in this book are those that
teach us to understand that any behavior that puts anyone at risk is
aggressive. We need to recognize that
the way we feel emotionally behind the wheel effects others as well as ourselves. This book does a good job of attacking this
point and providing solutions through change and education.
I think that their should be psychologist hired for driver
education as well as the driving instructors.
We must implement the psychological training into our driving because
the mental side of driving is very complex.
I think that this book is just going to be the beginning of the movement
for real driving safety. It may open up
a whole new field for psychologists to be employed by driver education
programs.
3. THE BOOK’S STRUCTURE
This book has some good exercises and test to get an idea
of your own driving habits. One exercise
is called “Are you an automotive vigilante?” which asks the reader to put a
check next to statements that reflect their own driving attitude. Some of the statements are: “You should
retaliate against aggressive drivers to retain law and order”, and “Aggressive
driving can’t be cured. It’s just part
of human nature.” I took this test and
scored pretty well, but their were a few statements that did sound like
something that I would say.
Another test that is in the book is “Are You A Rushing
Maniac?” I didn’t score quite as well on
this one because I am a person who tends to rush. Some of the statements that fit my driving
attitude were; “I always find the fastest lanes”, “I see other cars as
obstacles in my way”, and “My schedule makes me rush in traffic”. As you can see, I need to change my way of
thinking when it comes to rushing while driving.
I think that these tests and exercises are good for self-witnessing
our own driving problems. We may not
realize that we constantly do something wrong until we somehow recognize it,
and this is a good tool for just that.
There are a few tables but no diagrams in this book. I think that more of both of these could help
enhance some of the important stats and estimates that are mentioned in the
book.
The book doesn’t have an actual bibliography page but if
does offer some references in the notes page in the back of the book. The index is a very detailed and easy source
for finding information in this book.
The choice of titles for the chapters are relevant to the
content of what is actually in the chapters.
The layout of the book is good because the chapters aren’t painfully
long and the pages aren’t too big along with print that is bold enough to see.
4. CRITIQUE OF THE BOOK
This book has many
interesting topics, but the one that I found most enjoyable was on page 163
where there is an exercise for children to rate the driving that they see while
watching shows like; Tiny Toon Adventures, The Dukes
of Hazzard, and 101 Dalmations. I think that this is a good way to teach
children what is right from wrong when it comes to driving behavior.
The strength of this book lies in the acknowledgement of the
need for change. It is made clear in
this book that the only way for improvement is for drivers to change their
behaviors through emotional training.
This is the backbone to how we can save thousands of lives per year.
The only weakness of this book is that there aren’t any
pictures of the results of road rage. I
think that some graphic pictures would perhaps scare people into bettering
their driving safety. This would be much
like setting up cars alongside a busy road or at a school to discourage
drinking and driving.
Here are some other review of this book that I found on the
web:
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409as2002/erin/
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2001/yamane/bookreview.htm
5. ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS
I
believe that this book is an outstanding tool for people who are wanting to
make our roadways safer and become better drivers for the safety of themselves
and their loved ones. Hopefully, information like this will reach
millions of people so that a big impact will be made. Until then, good
luck.