A Review
of Dr. Leon James &Dr. Diane Nahl’s
Road Rage and Aggressive Driving
(Prometheus Books, 2000)
By Tyree Woodruff
Dec. 2002
1. The Book’s Overall Content
Topic 1:
Negative Thoughts Behind the Wheel (Chp.1, Pg. 28)
The first major topic of concern in this
book focuses on the negative thoughts people have while driving which breeds
hostile driving. People in today’s
society and culture have a growing disrespect for others because there has been
an increasing acceptance of aggressive behaviour. When people have negative thoughts behind the wheel, these
thoughts act like mental pollutants, which decreases the enjoyment of driving. Negativity and aggressive driving goes hand
in hand and it’s a shame that both of these are becoming driving norms.
Negative thoughts are breeding violent and
aggressive behaviours behind the wheel, and these behaviours are being
reinforced and rewarded by success and avoiding punishment. For example, one may be having a bad day, so
they have tons of negative thoughts circulating in their mind while they are
driving. If they are stuck behind a
really slow driver, their negative thoughts may build up and they may
aggressively cut off this driver, and since no cops were around they don’t
receive a ticket. This driver wasn’t
punished and instead was rewarded by successfully getting around the slow
driver. In the future, this driver will
more than likely continue to drive aggressively like this because doing so gave
him what he wanted, and made him feel better by letting out his negative
thoughts aggressively.
Because people have numerous hostile
encounters while driving, they get used to them and consider them normal. This is where aggressive driving is becoming
a driving norm because there is a growing culture of disrespect that is
accepted and tolerated nearly everywhere.
Negative thoughts can cloud one’s perception on what is actually going
on. For example, one may be in a bad
mood and running late for work, so they may attribute someone driving slow in
front of them as a way to prevent them from arriving on time, instead of
acknowledging the fact that they are just driving the speed limit. People need to learn to self-monitor
themselves and keep their emotions under control when they are behind the wheel
because these emotions and thoughts have a huge impact on their driving
behaviour.
Many of the things that happens to people
while driving, such as getting cut off by another driver, or by nearly missing
swerving into another car, greatly affects people’s feelings and emotions. These events and incidents are sources of
psychological forces that are capable of producing powerful feelings and
irrational thoughts. Since driving can
be highly unpredictable, this can create danger, stress, and crashes. People view driving as a source of freedom
to travel, but when they encounter restrictions such as regulations and
congestions, their freedom and independence is out of their control. The conflicts that people face while driving
act as stressors, and all these stressors have one common element in them, anger.
Immobility is an example of a conflicting
aspect of driving. Since the body
remains immobile and still while driving, tensions build up because the body is
physically constricted. Territoriality
is another conflicting aspect of driving.
Since one’s car is associated with one’s freedom and self-esteem, we
feel threatened when someone invades our territory and our personal space. This creates an emotional roller coaster
that one goes through while driving.
Denial is an important conflicting aspect of driving because no one ever
likes to admit that they are wrong.
Drivers tend to exaggerate their excellence and overlook many of their
mistakes. So, when other passengers or
other drivers complain or feel threatened by these mistakes, there is a strong
tendency to deny these errors. Overall,
denial causes drivers to feel indignant and self-righteous enough to wish to
punish and retaliate.
Multitasking behind the wheel causes people
to lose focus of the driving task at hand.
It challenges our ability to remain alert, and so we become irritated at
others when our attention is perceived to be lacking because of this
multitasking. Venting is another
important conflicting aspect of driving too.
When people’s emotions get built up inside of them, they tend to want to
release all these emotions whether they are negative or positive. Rather than keep negative emotions “bottled
up” inside, society encourages people to vent these emotions, but the feeling
of catharsis is short lived. Letting
all these negative emotions out can be a dangerous act and can also cause
serious physical consequences by weakening the immune system.
All of these driving stressors that drivers encounter everyday on the
highways are linked to anger. Anger and
aggressive behaviour is also very closely linked too. Since it’s common to relate aggressiveness to social and
environmental factors, as well as individual personality, it’s easy to see how
driving under certain critical conditions can produce aggressive traffic behaviour.
Topic 3: Defensive Driving (Chp.3, Pg. 69)
Another important topic in this book is
defensive driving. Many people think
that defensive driving is the way to combat road rage, but they are
mistaken. Before I took this class, I
also thought that this was the answer to highway hostilities and aggressive
driving. Defensive driving is when
drivers assume the worst of other drivers so as to be prepared for it
happening, rather be unprepared and ignore the worst and have it occur. While this mentality does prepare drivers
for other drivers’ aggressive driving behaviours, it doesn’t equip drivers with
emotional intelligence. There are
unintended consequences that can occur from defensive driving that increases
the risk in driving rather than decreases it.
Defensive driving can create suspicion and
encourage the tendency to view other drivers as opponents and enemies. Defensive driving techniques teaches drivers
to be permanently on guard against the mistakes of unpredictable drivers, but
research shows that this can become a form of offensive driving because it
promotes mutual suspicion. When drivers
are defensively driving, they form a competitive driving philosophy that makes
it harder for them to back out of getting negatively emotionally involved. A cycle of aggressiveness arises when
motorists drive defensively because one can easily take unpredictable mistakes
made by one driver as an insult, so this driver is more likely to respond with
hostility.
Topic 4: Levels of Emotional Intelligence (Chp.5, Pg. 117)
One of the most important topics that this
book covers is the three levels of emotional intelligence. It examines three levels of emotional
intelligence as it goes from the worst and lowest level, to the best and highest
one that results in driving more intelligently. Once a driver reaches the third level of emotional intelligence,
it allows them to drive smartly which results in positive feelings and right
thoughts coming together in effective actions.
The first level, which is the most irrational
and dangerous level, is called oppositional driving. At this level, we are unfit to drive because our feelings are
oppositional and negative and our thoughts are irrational. This results in reckless and hostile driving
because the oppositional driver interprets traffic incidents as personal
insults that encourages intolerant moods and produces negative
consequences. Surveys show that one in
three motorists are oppositional drivers on a daily basis and that two-thirds
are oppositional to a lesser degree.
This high number of oppositional drivers results in aggressive driving
and road rage that pollutes our highways.
Level two is the defensive driving level
that produces a logical sequence of thoughts.
This logical thought is good to some extent, but defensive driving can
make drivers become too wary and overly suspicious of other drivers that
creates a competitive environment on the road.
While being prepared for the worst helps reduce irrational decisions, it
doesn’t provide immunity from negative thoughts or to impatience and
intolerance of the mistakes of other drivers.
This emotional level of driving is better than the first level
mentioned, but it still leaves us in a state of competition or suspicion.
Supportive driving is the third and highest
level of emotional intelligence. This
level overcomes the disadvantages that exist in the first two levels. Supportive driving enables drivers to deal
with other motorists and traffic situations using a positive approach that
avoids negativity. The way to maintain
a supportive driving mentality is to practice pro-social thought patterns that
promote helpful and friendly actions.
This type of emotional intelligence style encourages us to be prudent
and safe as well as tolerant and friendly.
We do this by focusing on the enjoyment of driving and by
self-witnessing one’s own antisocial statements and by immediately neutralizing
them with pro-social statements.
Supportive driving breeds friendliness and optimism, which neutralizes
the negative aspects of driving and spreads the positive aspects.
Topic 5: Children Learning Road Rage (Chp.7, Pg. 151)
Road rage is tragic and needs to be
combated because of the escalating levels of highway fatalities and accidents
resulting from this. It’s a scary
thought to think that road rage is actually breeding and spreading constantly
in children who aren’t even capable of driving yet. Children witness their parents’ acts of aggression while driving
and they inturn mimic these actions and thoughts. Children’s emotional reactions are shaped by shadowing adult
feelings, so parents need to be careful of what they say and do in front of
their kids if they want them to learn to drive in a safe manner.
Adults need to model the appropriate
behaviors of driving to help children develop emotional intelligence as future
drivers. Not only do children need to
learn appropriate driving behaviors, but also appropriate passenger behaviors
as well. Rewarding children for
engaging in good passenger behaviors will influence them to continue to learn
and practice these good passenger skills.
Rewarding good behaviors should be in small increments that help shape
the child’s behaviour into a desire to be the best passenger possible.
Since children receive their first “driving
lessons” as an infant and toddler in their parents’ car, parents need to teach
their kids emotional intelligence at an early age. Children will value what their parents value, so if the parent
doesn’t wear their seat belt, the child will value that and not wear theirs,
and if the parent respects other drivers, then the child will value others as
well. Teaching children emotional
intelligence at an early age will help eliminate road rage and aggressive driving
in the future to come.
Here, I am bringing up supportive driving
again because it is the underlying remedy for combating road rage and
aggressive driving. By engaging in
supportive driving techniques, one can steer clear of the emotional entrapments
of road rage thinking. This style of
driving recognizes and accepts a diversity of drivers and styles and shows how
to adjust to these different types of driving styles. Since every driver is different from one another, supportive drivers
must recognize this and learn adaptive thinking to allow them to perceive the
differences.
Humans have a longing to feel accepted and
respected, so when another driver courteously allows you to cut in front of
them, you feel a sense of gratitude for their gracious behaviour. Here in Hawaii, there is the “Aloha spirit”
which symbolizes an attitude of mutual acceptance. This “spirit” is seen all the time as people allow others to
enter their lane and are graciously given the “shaka” wave as a show of
gratitude. This creates a more positive
driving experience and reduces the negative energy on the highways.
Supportive drivers observe their own
driving behaviors and their thoughts and emotions while driving. Doing this helps them monitor when their
negative and hostile feelings start to arise and they can recognize this and
learn to combat it by practicing tolerance and remaining positive and
friendly. Supportive drivers also build
up a wide latitude of what they are willing to tolerate, which in turn makes
them feel less coerced in routine traffic exchanges. “Cultivating this attitude of latitude toward other drivers helps
contain road rage, reduces stress, boosts the immunity system, fosters
community spirit, protects from emotional or physical injury, and protects from
financial liability” (pg. 169).
Topic 7: Lifelong Driver Education (Chp.9, Pg. 195)
Driver education is especially important
and needs to be remodified to teach drivers of safe, supportive driving
techniques at an early age.
Unfortunately, a lack of funds keeps us from successfully educating
everyone. The authors of this book
proposed a lifelong driver education framework in congressional hearings. This proposal involves implementing a K-12
curriculum that formalizes, augments, and transforms the current informal
negative training into positive concepts and standards. Driver education has to begin at an early
age since one can learn aggressive driving attitudes at an early age by observing
their parent’s aggressive attitudes.
Since development happens by going through
learning phases where appropriate instruction is effectively delivered, the new
driver education curriculum should be a driving psychology curriculum. The driving behaviour involves three basic
aspects of personality that are affective, cognitive and sensorimotor. The affective aspect is the driver’s
feelings, emotions, attitudes and values, while the cognitive aspect is the
driver’s thoughts, judgements and knowledge.
The last aspect, sensorimotor, is the driver’s vision, motor reactions,
fatigue, stress and pain. Together,
these three aspects determine our driving behaviour, so that’s why it’s
important to assess each of them.
In order for there to be a complete change of
driving habits, there has to be a lifetime involvement. Since there is an ever-increasing complexity
of congested driving and the development of new devices used in motor vehicles,
like cell phones and computers, driver education needs to be continuous and
lifelong to help people adapt to these changes. Every new generation needs to be taught the three aspects of a
driver’s personality according to the natural developmental order of human
growth, and at the appropriate age level where it can be comprehended
successfully.
Topic 8: Car Phones (Chp.12, Pg. 260)
The last topic I will discuss is the
increasing use of cellular phones while driving. In recent years, there has been some alarming statistics arise
that has caused for proposals to ban the use of hand held cell phones while
driving. So far, only one state in the
US, New York, has approved the ban and only permits the use of hands free cell
phones. It was calculated that in the
year 2000, there would be 1% of traffic accidents due to car phone use, at a
national cost of $3 billion. Car phone
use is definitely on the rise due to the vast improvements in technology that
enables people to access the Internet through their phone. Everyone I know owns a cell phone, and
nowadays, it’s virtually unheard of for someone not to own one.
Talking on the phone while driving causes
drivers to be distracted and can hinder their driving performance. One way to combat this is to train drivers
to multitask while driving. This book
talks about some results of data that showed that motorists who get involved in
“complex conversations” have slower reactions to routine events. Drivers must train themselves with
appropriate exercises to safely carry out multitasking while driving. Since technology is improving daily, it is
unlikely that telecommuting in the car will be banned, so instead drivers
should follow a self-training program that enables them to be competent and use
their phones safely.
Ways to reduce getting distracted while
talking on the phone and driving is by familiarizing oneself with their cell
phone. One should know how to hold the
phone, answer it, dial it and give other commands like speed dial and listening
to voicemail. One should also know how
to stay alert when driving and talking on the phone, and also they should know
how to give the appearance of being alert so as not to scare or annoy other
drivers by looking distracted. All of
this multitasking requires appropriate training so that drivers won’t disrupt
the orderly flow of traffic and evoke hostility.
There is a definite progression in all of
the major topics of the book I reviewed, however since I could not list all the
topics, I just chose to discuss the ones that I found to be most interesting
and relevant. Throughout the book, the
topics are separated into three parts. These are the conflict mentality,
driving psychology and the future of driving.
The first three topics I discussed all fall under the first part of the
book that focuses on the conflict mentality that drivers have. The next four topics I discussed were all a
part of the second section of the book that emphasized driving psychology,
emotional intelligence while driving, and education and training procedures to
combat road rage. The last topic I
discussed fell into the last section of the book that focused more on the
future of driving and where technology is leading us and how to successfully
manage multitasking.
All of these topics are related because in
order for one to learn appropriate driving behaviors, they have to acknowledge
all driving behaviors and styles, and then learn to self witness their own
behaviors. They can do all this by
receiving lifelong driver education that doesn’t just focus on learning
supportive driving, but also focuses on acknowledgement of hostile drivers and
how to deal with them and not let their negativity rub off on them. All of these topics are relevant to those
who wish to combat road rage and aggressive driving.
In order for our nation to successfully rid
our roadways of aggressive driving, we need to all put in the effort to train
ourselves to be supportive drivers and learn self-witnessing techniques so that
one can recognize when there feelings and emotions may be getting roused up
because of another hostile driver on the road.
Some of these topics were familiar to me already, like the ones that
talked about the characteristics of hostile and aggressive drivers, and the
ones that talked about the advancements in technology and cars and all the
distractions they may pose. However, I
had no idea that the statistics were so high in driver fatalities and accidents
due to aggressive driving. I assumed
that the root of most accidents and fatalities was drunk driving.
I think that anyone who is interested in
learning ways to reduce their risk of becoming a statistic should read this
book. It’s unfortunate that the media
doesn’t cover this subject more because I don’t think that many people realize
that this is a major epidemic in our nation.
Driver education courses should involve reading this book so that people
can learn about the causes and effects of road rage, and ways to successful
train oneself to drive supportively rather than hostilely.
2. The Book’s Importance
Not only does this book cover
specific problems that keep our roadway fatality and accident statistics at an
alarmingly high number, but it also offers solutions to these problems. One problem that this book discusses
extensively is the problem with our current driver education curriculum. Most driver education programs ignore
teaching supportive driving techniques, and just teach the basic rule and
regulations of driving. Not only do
people have to be equipped with the knowledge of how to drive a car safely and
be aware of the many rules and laws to abide by, but also they need to learn
emotional intelligence while driving so that they can adapt to other people’s
driving styles and steer themselves clear from danger or causing any highway
hostility in themselves or others.
A solution to the lack of good driver
education that fully prepares drivers for driving safely and supportively is to
implement a lifelong driver education curriculum. This type of curriculum employs teaching the emotional
intelligence level of supportive driving.
Another problem the book discusses is the use of oppositional and
defensive driving skills. A lifelong
driver education curriculum is an answer to this problem as well because when
learning to become a supportive driver, one must also learn about the other
levels of emotional intelligence so that they can familiarize themselves with
the ways that other people drive.
It seems that all the problems that are
presented in this book can only be combated and eliminated by teaching the
right kind of driver education so that people can self-witness their own
behaviors and learn to omit the negative and hostile ones. Road rage and aggressive driving is the
underlying problem that this book discusses, and the only way to decrease these
styles and demeanours while driving is to teach people how to acknowledge,
witness and modify their own behaviors while driving so that they can then
practice safe and supportive driving.
All the topics that I mentioned as well as
others that the book discusses are relevant to society and public concern today
because road rage is a major epidemic that is killing and injuring thousands of
people, and also costing the nation billions of dollars. These topics are also relevant to psychology
as a field because psychology examines why people act the way they do, and what
causes their behaviors and choices. We
need to understand and study why people react in hostile and dangerous ways in
certain situations in order to come up with solutions to these driving
styles. Self-witnessing employs
psychological techniques because it allows the driver to be aware of the
behaviors and emotions they may be experiencing while driving in different
situations.
I think that there needs to be more media
involvement and coverage on this topic of road rage and aggressive driving
because there aren’t many people who realize just how dangerous this is causing
our highways to be. I wasn’t aware of
the 425,000 fatalities and 35 million accidents per decade due to aggressive
driving. It was especially alarming to
hear Dr. James say in class that almost all of us would be subject to an
aggressive driving accident. Aggressive
driving is extremely dangerous and it’s scary to think of how children are
learning these hostile driving styles from witnessing their parents.
Not only does this book address the problem
and concern of aggressive driving, but it also addresses the problem of
negative and hostile behaviors that are growing to be norms while driving. People in society today are generally
growing to be more and more disrespectful and hostile towards others because
everyone is too concerned with themselves.
This book answers these problems adequately by showing proof that supportive
driving and lifelong driver education can combat hostile feelings while
driving, but it’s unfortunate that there aren’t enough funds to support
teaching and educating others about these driving styles.
3. The Book’s Structure
Dr. James’ and Dr. Nahl’s book provides
informative tests and exercises that help the readers self evaluate their
emotions while driving. There are many
checklists throughout the chapters that cover everything from road rage
tendencies to ranges of hostility to determining how passenger-friendly one
is. There are also nine exercises
throughout the book that ask you try putting yourself in a certain scenario to
see how you will react, and to try reacting in a way that is calm and
friendly. These exercises allow the
reader to self witness how they would act in certain situations, and to also
try and react in a different way.
I did all the exercises and checklists, and
I really was shocked at some of the results.
The exercises took a bit more time than the checklists, but I enjoyed
doing the checklists more. I liked how
at the end of the checklists, there was certain degrees or zones that you were
placed in depending on what you checked.
I did reasonable well because it’s always easier to say something rather
than actually do it. For example, the
checklist asking me to check off my ranges of hostility was easier said than
done because nobody wants to admit that would engage in acts of violence and
extremely hostile behaviour. The
results of what I checked and what I would actually do if placed in a certain
situation that made me angry are probably different though. Sometimes people let their emotions get way
out of control and don’t realize they are engaging in reckless and violent acts
of behaviour until it’s too late.
These exercises and checklists are extremely
useful to the readers because it helps them learn to self witness their
emotions and behaviors in certain situations.
Also, throughout the book there were many tables that ranged from
showing different percentages, to levels of emotions to laws in different
states. At the very end of every
chapter is a notes section that displays where the authors got their various
statistics or quotes.
At the very end of the book is an index
section that is completely comprehensive and extensive in all the subjects that
were mentioned throughout the book.
This index is extremely detailed yet easy to use and look up certain
topics because it is in alphabetical order and the page numbers are clearly
displayed beside the topic of choice.
All of the chapter titles in the book are relevant to what the chapter
would be covering, so I wouldn’t change any of them. I especially like the layout of the book because it was divided
into three sections and then the chapters were little sub-sections within
them. All of the statistic information
was strategically placed throughout the book to emphasize certain points and
concepts the authors wanted to convey.
The print
size of the book was perfect, not too big, not too little, and I liked how the
sections of each chapter were used in bold letters to make them stand out. I also liked the use of the bullets
throughout each of the chapters as well.
4. Critique of the Book
I enjoyed reading this book more than any
other book I’ve been required to read for a class lately because it wasn’t
overwhelmingly informational to make it too boring and hard to follow. The statistics provided in the book were
alarming to me because before taking this class, I had no idea that road rage
and aggressive driving was creating so much turmoil on our highways. This book also was enjoyable and easy to
read because it many different real life examples and passages of instances
where road rage has occurred. It’s not
often that you read about aggressive driving, so it was refreshing to see that
the authors recognize the impact of aggressive driving and use this book as a
guide to explain the causes and effects of it, and ways to overcome it.
The passages I liked best in this book are
in the preface, where it discusses how Dr. James came to realize that he was an
aggressive driver when his wife’s mother finally confronted him about her
anxieties and fears when driving with him.
“Grandma’s need to feel safe and
comfortable was perfectly normal and reasonable, especially since she had arthritis
pain. Yet as far as Leon was concerned
she was simply a backseat driver, so her complaints could be dismissed. I was confronted with the harshness of this
reality when Leon refused to slow down around turns even after he knew she
wanted him to. It became a power
struggle between them.” (Preface, pg. 16)
I liked these passages the best because
it’s funny to hear how Dr. James was once an aggressive driver whose driving
style struck fear in his passengers. He
must be completely reformed because after hearing all his talks about the
dangers of aggressive driving, I would’ve never have guessed him to be one
once. The strengths of the book are all
the statistics that are given because they give readers an actual number to
look at which makes the dangers of aggressive driving seem more real. Also, the exercises and checklists
throughout the chapters are other strengths the book has because it allows the
reader to involve themselves by learning to self-witness their own behaviors
and actions in certain situations.
The only weakness I could find throughout
the entire book is that it would’ve been helpful if there were the chapter
numbers on the pages. I often lost
track of where I was and would have to go to table of contents every time to
find out if I was in the right chapter.
But other than that, this book was a pleasurable experience as well as
was the class. All of the reviews of
this book that I found supported this book and it’s proposal and need to
implement a lifelong driver education curriculum. All the reviews I read agreed with the book’s backing up of
supportive driving techniques as the safest way to drive. Some links to reviews of this book are:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409as2002/namihira/bookreview.html
www.drivers.com/Top_Behaviour_Road_Rage.html
www.drnerenberg.com/roadrage.html
5. Additional Observations
Overall, I feel exhilarated that this class
is over and that I survived it. I feel
that I accomplished a lot in all of the work I submitted and I have to admit
that I never thought that I would be able to complete everything. I am proud of all of us who stuck it out and
remained in class throughout the semester because we are now part of Dr. James’
generational curriculum and future students can look at the work we produced
and use ours as reviews and guidelines for completing their tasks.
I don’t think I’ve ever put so much effort
into a single class before, even though it only met once a week, but I always
got a sense of relief and pride whenever I completed one of the assignments
because of all the time and effort I put into it. The only thing I think would’ve been good to have in class is
either an actual video of Dr. James while he is driving so that students can
see how his driving is rational and supportive, or I think that Dr. James
should have his wife visit the class as a guest speaker and tell the class
about his dangerous antics and driving styles in the past. I hope my review gives justice to this book
because it is a wonderful masterpiece that documents the very important issue
of aggressive driving.