A
Review of:
Road
Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warfare
Dr.
Leon James and Dr. Diane Nahl
Prometheus
Books 2000
By
Tanja Nikolic (Dec. 9. 2002)
¶ The Book Overall Content
In the book Road Rage and Aggressive
Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warfare, the authors are interested in
educating the audience on the growing problem of road rage. This book promotes self-assessment and at
the same time offers guidelines that can help prevent drivers from becoming
victim of road rage. It provides an
opportunity to gain better education concerning road rage and it’s
dangers. The book is divided into 12
chapters that are:
-
Ch 1. Driving in
the Age of Rage
-
Ch 2. Aggressive
Driving and Mental Health
-
Ch 3. Causes of
Highway hostility
-
Ch 4. The Road Rage
Spectrum
-
Ch 5. Emotional
Intelligence for Drivers
-
Ch 6. Three-Step
Driver Self-Improvement Program
-
Ch 7. Children and
Road Rage
-
Ch 8. Supportive
Driving
-
Ch 9. Life Long
Drivers Education
-
Ch 10. The War Against Aggressive Driving
-
Ch 11. Speed Limits-The Great Motorist Rebellion
-
Ch 12. Dream Cars and Driving Realities
The
book is also divided into three major parts.
Part 1 is Conflict Mentality that covers chapters 1-4. Part two in Driving Psychology and covers
chapters 5-9. The Future of Driving is
part 3 and includes chapters 10-12.
Chapter
1.
k What is Road Rage?
This
chapter begins with Dr. Nahl and Dr. James giving actual examples of road rage
that immediately got my attention. One
of those examples is: “A man was shot at after he had honked at another car who
passed him” (Ch. 1, p. 22). These types
of road rage incidents are happening all around us every day and are
jeopardizing our safety on the roads.
The authors define road rage as “extreme state of anger that often
precipitates aggressive behavior, sometimes restricted to words and gestures,
sometimes as assault and battery.” Road
rage and aggressive driving are significant problems in our society. The emotions of rage and anger brought out
from those behaviors are learned.
In
this chapter, the section about Developing Emotional Literacy (p. 38) caught my
attention. This section states that we
need to become aware of what type of driver we really are. Are we aggressive, defensive or supportive
drivers? Many of drivers are in a state
of denial over being classified as aggressive driver and when confronted they
respond: “No way-I’m an excellent driver!” (p. 38). It is essential to learn how to monitor our thoughts while we are
driving and this self-awareness becomes essential in developing emotional
literacy.
Chapter
2.
k Denial of Aggressive Driving
k Defensive
Driving
“Supportive Driving is an accommodating style that emphasized adjusting
to the great DIVERSITY of highway users and steering clear of the emotional
entrapments of road rage thinking” (p. 167).
“The focus of Supportive Drivers is to facilitate safe passage for
everyone on the road” (p. 169).
Chapter 7
It is essential that parents realize that their children are learning negative driving behavior from observing their own actions while driving. “Kids do whatever parents do, they say things they hear older kids and adults saying, and their emotional reactions are shaped by mimicking adult feelings” (ch.7, p.152). Driver education for children starts at an early age and it is important to recognize that children will learn from watching others act and also, are greatly influenced by the media. We all know that TV and video games are very influential “toys.” However, at the same time, many cartoons, movies, music video and video games promote aggressive driving. We have to become aware that these exposures to aggression while driving will help shape negative driving habits when our children become licensed drivers.
Chapter 11.
When
I first started reading this book, I could not help but focus on the fact that
author Dr. James wrote from his own personal experience. At one time he was “the worse road rager”
and today he is a transformed man who is now called Dr. Driving and is his own
best example of a supportive. He is not
only an influential individual, but also an advocate and teacher of a
supportive driving system. Dr. Driving
and his wife Dr. Nahl presented problems of road rage in this fascinating book
and also offered us the essential solution to these problems. This book promotes self-assessment and at
the same time offers guidelines that can help prevent drivers from becoming
victim of road rage. It provides an
opportunity to gain better education concerning road rage and it’s dangers.
The
topics covered in this book are very relevant to everyday driving experiences
and encounters. Personally, I was very
interested in many topics introduced in this book because they offered me a
chance to assess and improve my own knowledge and habits on this rising problem
of road rage. The authors Nahl and
James offered many real life examples of road rage. As a reader, I found those examples to be not only relevant, but
of great importance because I can now see more clearly that roads are very
dangerous places and road rage can impact the lives of all of us, not just the
lives of the road ragers themselves.
Many
of the issues covered in this book were already familiar to me. I know what road rage is and that the media
has a negative influence on drivers, especially young drivers. I know differences between defensive and
aggressive driving, however, prior to taking this course I never really looked
closely into these issues nor did I ever take a look at what type of driver I
am. Like many, I was not consciously
aware that road accidents are one of the major causes of death in our
society. Also, I was not aware that our
society has poor driving education standards and due to that our roads have
become very dangerous.
Because
this book is a great guide to becoming a supportive driver, it should be of
interest to all present and future drivers, parents, students and
teachers. It is essential that parents
read this book because they have the greatest influence on their children’s
learning and behavior, and especially because children will do whatever their
parents do. “Children soak up the norms
of behavior in their environment, and that’s how the road rage tradition is
passed on the next generation” (Ch 7, p. 152).
Driving behavior is learned at a very early age, so while parents are
driving, they need to set good examples for their children. I think that this book should be required
reading in schools.
Students
like myself can benefit from reading this book because many of us are in fact,
already aggressive drivers and are not aware that while driving we actually are
a threat to people around us. Many of
us have to recognize and change our poor driving behavior and this book is the
place to start as it offers solutions.
We have to learn how to become supportive drivers instead of defensive
or aggressive drivers and like the authors said we need to drive with
Aloha. According to the book
“Supportive driving is an accommodating style that emphasizes adjusting to road
rage diversity of highway users and steering clear of the emotional entrapments
of road rage thinking” (Ch. 8, p.167).
· The Book’s Importance
The book Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of
Highway Warfare has a great importance because it is relevant to major
public concerns. Those concerns are
road rage and aggressive driving which are some of the main fatality causes in
the U.S. and they affect all of us from pedestrians, passengers and
drivers. Because road rage and
aggressive driving are major social problems, a change is needed. This book should be a first step toward a
solution of this problem. Due to lack
of driver’s education and knowledge, the aggressive actions and behavior is on
the rise.
In
our driving environment, we all have to share the roads and work together in
achieving safety. The emotions and
feelings cannot be ignored and we have to become aware of our
surroundings. Our society lacks of
awareness, self-control and emotional intelligence in the driving
environment. Road Rage promotes
self-awareness that is the first important step in avoiding aggressive actions
while driving. The solutions that the
authors Dr. Nahl and Dr. James offer in this book are very important and
essential. Some of the solutions
offered are self-awareness exercises, alternatives to emotional thinking and
also information about behaviors that jeopardize our physical and mental help
are available.
It
is of a great importance that a proper driver’s education is available to all,
especially children. We need to enforce
good habits into our children’s behavior starting at early age, because our
children are future drivers and they do learn from us. We need to set a good example by following
road rules and promoting supportive driving.
Also, we need to discuss with our children both positive and negative
issues concerning driving. The reward
for proper behavior, such as wearing a seat belt, should always be
encouraged.
Being a psychology major student, I can see that
there are many connections linking this book and psychology. The first would be a link through emotional
psychology, since the emotional concerns affects driver’s performance. Furthermore, we should encourage
psychological training for all drivers because mental training is important in
driver’s functioning. One day soon, I
would like to see driving psychology as a new discipline in a psychology field
because it is of a great importance to keep our roads safe.
¸ The Books Structure
Every chapter of this book offers numerous
exercises and tests that help the readers to identify their own driving
behavior, habits and actions. The tests
used in the book are good way of self-witnessing our own driving
performance. Many of us are not aware
that we are actually aggressive drivers that are endangering people around
us. These exercises and tests can help
us recognize what type of drivers we really are. The examples of exercises are checking of items, checklists,
observation forms and “yes” or “no” questions.
One of the first checklists I came across while reading first chapter
was “Your Road Rage Tendency Checklist.”
I had 8 “yes” answers that indicated that I have moderate road rage
habits.
Another exercise I looked at while reading Chapter
8 was “Random Act of Kindness.” “By
performing random act of kindness as drivers you’re helping to usher in the new
age of the supportive driving” (Ch. 8, p.178). I read this exercise a couple of
weeks ago and I decided to do it. I
have chosen to make a space for all drivers that are trying to get into my lane
while driving. Believe it or not, I am
still practicing this act today because it may help other drivers while on the
road and at the same time I feel good about it.
Both diagrams and tables are used through out the
book and they give statistical information or just help us to understand main
points discussed. One of tables I found
was on the page 117 and it describes “Levels of Emotional Intelligence.” The table covers three different emotional
intelligence levels, state of feelings, sequence of thoughts and type of actions. Looking into this table, I found myself
fitting in between defensive and supportive driver.
End of every chapter has a “Notes” section that
includes mini bibliography and cited works of each chapter. I found that “Notes” being at the end of
each chapter is more beneficial then having them all together at the end of the
book. This is easier way of finding
additional information that was used to support the author’s writing. The titles of and inside the chapters are
perfect fit for the topics discussed.
They were clear and easy to understand.
They language used in the book was easy to understand and overall
structure of the book is very good. All
aspects of book structure mentioned above, made this book enjoyable to read.
¹ Critique of the Book
I enjoyed
reading this fascinating book because it helps me realize that road rage and
aggressive driving are important issues concerning our society, my loved once
and myself. This reading is
self-improvement driving manual that can benefit all of us and everyone should
have easy access to it. The most
interesting and I believe the most important topic in this book is supportive
driving. Supportive driving was a topic
of my presentation and I found it being very essential. The goal of every driver should be to become
a supportive driver. Supportive driving
gives importance to recognizing and accepting diversity of drivers and styles
of driving.
-
tolerance of pluralism
-
accommodation to diversity
-
shrinking one’s emotional territory
-
transforming frustrating traffic into a
community-building opportunity
One of the definition of supportive driving is: “Supportive
Driving is an accommodating style that emphasized adjusting to the great
DIVERSITY of highway users and steering clear of the emotional entrapments of
road rage thinking”
These are some additional reviews of this book and
topic:
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409as2002/cupp/bookreview.htm
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409as2002/namihira/bookreview.html
http://www.drivers.com/Top_Behavior_Road_Rage.html
http://www.aaafoundation.org/resources/index.cfm?button=roadrage
Additional
Observation
Furthermore, from this book I learned that I have to become
gain better understanding of my emotions that will help my driving and also
will help me not to judge and blame other drivers. I became more familiar with great diversity we face on the roads
and I am working on becoming a good supportive driver. This book offers education and sends out the
message that change is needed. We need
to change our behaviors and habits through emotional training.
This book is an outstanding tool that could be of use to every
driver, parent and teacher. It is
important to create safe driving environment on our roads and this book offers
promising change.