Report 2:
My Understanding
of Driving Psychology
By Brigette Duclos
Instructions for
this report are at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy21/409a-g21-report2.htm
Question
2:
Give
a brief review of our two textbooks: Road Rage and Aggressive Driving
(James and Nahl), and Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make Traffic
Safer (Peter Rothe, Editor). The reviews should be between 3 and 6
paragraphs for each text. Select one Chapter from each text and give a summary
of it. Discuss in what way will these ideas contribute to society's driving
problems.
Road
Rage and Aggressive Driving, by Dr. Leon James and Dr. Diane Nahl is a book
focused to help guide and advise people on how to improve their driving skills
on a affective, cognitive and sensorimotor level. These are also defined as the drivers “threefold self”. The book takes a deeper look into the
psychological aspects of people while they drive. It discusses how road rage and aggressive driving have become a
social epidemic and are transforming our roads to a scary and unsafe place to
be. It provides steps that one must go
through in order to change their aggressive driving on the road to a more
positive and safe type of driving. The
main objective of this book is to help people acquire self-witnessing and
self-modification skills in respect to their driving behavior. It aims to
change and better drivers attitudes and behaviors while on the road.
The
three domains mentioned above, that make up the drivers “threefold self” can
define a persons driving behavior. The
diver’s “affective self” consists of a persons feelings and motivations while
driving. The “cognitive self” stands
for the thinking and reasoning we do behind the wheel. Lastly, the “sensorimotor self” presents the
sensations, perceptions, and motor acts we perform while operating a
vehicle. There are many factors that affect
and attribute to a driver “threefold self”.
Things such as society, biology, culture, personal characteristics etc.
all contribute to a drivers habits, attitude and behavior.
The
book suggests that in order for a person to change their objective attitude
while driving they must complete a three-step driver self-improvement program. The first step to this program is to
acknowledge. One needs to acknowledge
that they need help of how to deal with their own road rage. Every driver, including himself or herself
needs traffic emotions education. The
second step is to act as a witness or self-witness their actual behavior while
driving. They have to be conscious of
their thoughts, feelings and actions while driving. This serves to identify the type and degree of aggressive driving
and road rage by the individual. To
help, one may practice self-witnessing, which is the practice or act of
verbalizing thoughts and feelings during driving to help create a play-by-play
description. The third step is to
modify the certain behaviors that you want to change. This change should be one at a time, and continue throughout a
driver’s career.
Chapter
5, Emotional Intelligence for Drivers (pages, 111-132) describes in detail most
of what is discussed above. This
chapter explains how road rage is triggered, the transformation from “oppositional
thinking” to “supportive thinking”, and the idea of self-witnessing, along with
other helpful information.
Road
rage is developed from a series of escalating emotions. It occurs when a person attributes a
driver’s negative behavior and takes it personal. Road rage is determined by
rationalizations and self-righteous justifications. This is a problem and contributes to our societies driving
problems because when our beliefs or values are challenged, we tend to get
protective. This causes people to retaliate
and become aggressive.
This
chapter says that one must change ones oppositional driving mode that comes
from negative orientation or thoughts to a supportive driving mode that comes
from a positive orientation. Positive
orientation is (pro-social) when one focuses on oneself, the “me” and “my”
feelings. This is considered pro-social
because it takes on responsibility. It
is rational and objective and strays away from a positive orientation. Negative orientation is (antisocial) wants
to constantly blame, punish and retaliate.
On page 123 in the book, there is an example of how one should change
their thinking. It shows giving respect
for others vs. thinking only on oneself: when you think of saying “they’d
better stay out of my way!” Change that to- “I wish there was no traffic, but
these people have to get to their destinations too”. We have to change our attitudes while driving because when we are
in a bad mood it affects the way we drive and also the drivers around us.
The
idea of self-witnessing is to develop a dual perception of ourselves. A form of self-questioning yourself to
reduce intensity of aggressive emotions, it provides time for emotions to die
down. Self-witnessing allows us to
foresee consequences, reject the rage route, and restore order in your
domain. This idea also allows us to
observe our negative, aggressive feelings leaving the rational self to observe
the emotional self. Learning and trying
to use this concept is crucial to our society because if people aren’t aware of
their aggressive behavior, then they can’t change. People’s negative attitudes and aggressive behaviors are the
cause of so many crashes and driving problems.
We need to change!
The
book Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make Traffic Safer, edited
by J. Peter Rothe, would appeal to those interested in traffic or system
safety. The book provides information
on different systems developed in the approach to traffic safety. It’s written on the known facts that driving
recklessly may lead to injury, loss, or even death. The statistics are scary and the book seeks to encourage change
in the hope that we can make traffic and the roads safer. The book describes driving as a social act
that depends on our adherence to certain, if not all rules.
Driving
Lessons was developed from a Mission Possible traffic-safety conference,
Traffic Safety Summit ’98. The book
contains articles that reflect a loose design-systems theory that served as the
original ideas for the conference. The
main point of the conference was to challenge traditional roles and thinking,
and to build knowledge by sampling other research done in multiple
disciplines. From this new
understanding, participants hoped to achieve a coordinated action plan.
This
book was created from a collection of messages from people around the world who
see the problems that we face today with driving. The book highly encourages intervention or prevention
strategies. It discusses how we can
improve issues and strategies that already exist and also proposes ways to
address new issues. The book is filled
with tables and figures that include charts, pictures, and models to help give
a better understanding of the issues discussed.
Chapter
16 “Geographic Information Systems, Case-Based Reasoning, and System Design,
touches on the issues of speed, traffic, complexity of accidents, and other
related topics. The chapter focuses on
speed management and traffic safety as well as the various other factors that
influence a driver’s behavior with respect to speed and speeding
accidents.
It is
argued that the faster the velocity a car is going before a crash, the more
intense the severity of the collision.
Research has proven that a reduction speed of 2-5 km/ph can reduce the
injury and fatal collision by 30%.
Other than the speed of a car, other factors come into play with reasons
for speed and speeding accidents. The
physical environment such as turns and bends in the road, construction, and
speed bumps can contribute to an accident.
The vehicle condition, type, and lack of safety devices can also
increase or decrease injury and fatality.
Ultimately, the driver is also a big factor. The driver’s age, gender, attitude at the moment, condition
(intoxicated), as well as other people in the car and the driver’s time
restrictions all are factors that contribute to speed and speeding accidents.
Speeding
is a dangerous and risky act while driving.
It is one of the biggest factors that lead to car crashes. People need to realize that going over the
speed limit by a couple mph won’t get them to their destination hours ahead of
time. The time saved is minimal, but
the risk of getting into a car crash is not.
Speeding has lead to many injuries and deaths over time. Speeding is something that will never
disappear, but we can and must make an attempt to reduce the amount of speeding
that goes on. I think that if people
new the statistics of accidents that resulted from speeding, they would be more
cautious and try to drive at a reasonable speed. This would contribute to improving society’s driving
problems.
Question
3:
Discuss these two Web sites: drivers.com vs. drdriving.org What are their main differences? Be sure to consider at least these areas: articles, newsletters, letters, style, probable audience, public relations or policy, advertising, size, ranking.
When I first took a look at each website I didn’t notice much of a difference on the first page. Both looked like informational websites and looked very professional. They had a brief overview of what the site contained and helpful links to get to your topic of interest. Both websites included topics that specified different ages, which invites any age group to browse through the articles. They both also included information on law enforcement and legislation. Also, they discussed aggression while driving, and staying in control along with many other articles that deal with driving. However, after going back and forth in a search for differences, I noticed many.
Deciding on which website is most informational depends on what you are actually looking for. The website: drivers.com is broader. It includes any topics that have to deal with cars or trucks including articles on: driving and trucking jobs, aggression, law, control, etc. This website also included information on computer drivers such as: printers, scanners and other computer drive technologies. The articles were in a way hidden. To read an article, one has to choose a heading that sounds interesting. However, one may also type in a key word and do a search. This website is useful to those who are looking for basic information on cars or trucks. The font on this site was a bit smaller than that of the drdriving.org website. It seemed that this site was made for general information and articles on several driving topics.
For myself, I find the drdriving.org website to be more appealing. It is more colorful, visual, and has more variety. This site uses a bigger font, includes more pictures, and is easier to use. The visuals such as the font, pictures and videos make it more interesting and caught my attention. It is easier to browse through because one just has to scroll down to look at the articles instead of clicking on each one to open. This site also includes facts, interviews, surveys and tests, books available to buy, stories from the news, and articles on pedestrians and bicyclists as well as drivers. This site is most likely to target or attract those who want to learn about and or fix their own attitudes on aggressive driving and road rage. Both websites are informational and can help educated people on various aspects of driving.
Question 5:
Consider
Table 5 in the Lecture Notes, in the Section on Driving Psychology Theory and
Charts at www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy21/409a-g21-lecture-notes.htm#Charts
Consult the article from which the Table was taken. Copy and paste the table
into your file. Now delete the examples in each cell and replace them with your
own examples that you make up. Discuss why driving is such a big problem in all
societies and why no effective solutions have yet been found for them. Discuss
the solutions offered by Dr. Leon James (DrDriving). What likelihood is there
that his approach will be adopted? Explain.
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Table 5 |
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Driving is such a big problem in all societies and there haven’t been any quick solutions because the problems exist within each person. The reason there are so many accidents, injuries and fatalities is due to the fact that people have the mindset of, “It’s not going to happen to me.” People know that speeding is wrong and that not flowing rules could result in accidents, but they don’t picture it really happening to them. Everyone sees themselves as good drivers and blame others for problems on the road. We have to be aware that we too make mistakes and that our driving affects others. If we are in a hurry and decide to swerve in and out of lanes, that causes other drivers to slow down due to fear, which causes more back up because the cars behind also slow down. Driving is a social act. It involves everyone on the road.
People need to be aware of their contributing to the problem and they need to want to fix their attitudes and driving behaviors before they can actually do anything about it. Road rage has become a big problem in society causing car chasing, crashes, injuries, fatality, and so on. Sometimes we aren’t even aware of our road rage behavior. Something so simple as having passengers in your car can contribute to road rage. When people get behind the wheel they turn into a different person. Some people become more aggressive because they want to show their friends that they are good drivers and to most, a good driver is someone who gets you from point A to point B in the fastest time possible. Others become aggressive because they feel protected by the strong or tough car they are in. Some speak their mind because there is more room between them and another driver.
I agree with Dr. Leon James that we have to first acknowledge that we need to change our driving behaviors. Then we must witness our actual behaviors while driving to determine what exactly we need to change first. Finally we have to modify the behaviors we want to change and continue this process for the extent of our driving lives. The steps sound simple, but it takes time, practice, and above all, wanting to change. I think that this approach and others that deal with improving driving, not only the skills, but also the psychological mind change will be adopted. It might take awhile, but already there have been attempts to change driving on all levels.
Graduating licensing has been adopted in New Zealand and now other states have some type of graduating licensing due to the fact that it resulted in a decrease in injury and fatality among young drivers. A graduating licensing system supervises young drivers in progressively more difficult monitoring experiences at a controlled pace. Driver-Zed is also a new program on CD-ROM that focuses on teaching appropriate risk management. It hopes to shift the focus from only safety knowledge and expand into the affective or emotional skills. The Quality Driving Circles (QCD) are also being used by many people. They consist of voluntary groups of 2-10 people who meet at a regular basis to encourage positive driving behavior. It might take time and more awareness of these programs, but there have already been improvements.
Question
6:
Analyze
the Student Newsgroups Reports at www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499s2003/newsgroups to
characterize the threefold self of the drivers that wrote the messages. Find 10
brief quotes from the messages they posted, and analyze each one, showing the
character of their threefold self. Discuss the writer's philosophy or
psychology of driving. Comment in the light of what you know from driving
psychology in this course using the ideas and perspective from our two
textbooks.
1.
Traffic going home was backed up for miles. Must have been a bad accident.
NOPE! There was a bit of dust blowing from a farmer's field across the road.
NO, people were not blinded by the dust as visibly was just fine; they were
just rubbernecking to see what was causing the dust.
This
happens all the time. We tend to think
that when traffic is backed up its because there is a bad accident. However, it usually is because people are
rubbernecking to see a cop car pulled over or something that doesn’t concern
us. This person used sarcasm to reduce
negative feelings. This is learning to
inhibit the impulse to criticize by developing a sense of driving humor.
2. It's a jungle out there.
Well, not really: it's worse than a jungle. It's a stretch of roadway anywhere
in America, and in place of the ravenous tigers and stampeding rhinos and
slithery anacondas are your friends and neighbors and co-workers, that nice
lady from the church choir and the cheerful kid who bags your food at the local
Winn Dixie--even Mom and Dad and Buddy and Sis. They're in a hurry. And you're
in their way. So step on it! That light is not going to get any greener! Move
it or park it! Tarzan had it easy. Tarzan didn't have to drive to work.
This person has put the driving
of society into a quote! People act
like crazy wild animals on the road. It
doesn’t matter who you are, you have at one time or another contributed to road
rage. People always seem to be in a
hurry and blame others when they don’t get to their destination on desired time
instead of focusing on self.
3. Getting there was the only
thing that was important. If I met you in person, I might invite you for coffee
or something. But on the road, you were in my way."
This is similar to above; people
change their personalities when they get behind the wheel. This person was thinking only on him/herself
instead of showing respect for others.
We don’t stop to consider that others also have lives and places to go.
4. So many miles, so little
time.
This is the attitude that most
people have. We feel a need to speed
and hurry so that we can get to our location in the fastest time possible. When we don’t, we feel as if we have failed
a mission.
5. Bad
attitudes breed bad attitudes.
We
need to think more like this person.
This person has just mentioned indirectly how crashes occur. When we get into a car with a bad attitude,
we are going to stay in that mindset and drive with a bad attitude. This person has realized that anger is
something we choose. We have to change to positive thinking while we are
driving because our attitude will affect everyone. When drivers reason under negative emotions, they tend to
misinterpret the intentions of other drivers.
6. I am a European Living in the
USA, and have noticed that this is the only place in the world where assholes
speed up when you try to pass them. What is the matter with these people?
Why is this person trying to
pass others on the road anyways? What’s
the hurry? This person is thinking of himself
or herself, practicing negative models, blaming others and seeing the situation
as individual competition.
7. "They just don't know
how to drive!” "I am more skilled than most drivers, therefore I can get
away with riskier maneuvers."
This is blaming others as well
as being selfish. Most people have this
attitude that they are better drivers therefore can perform certain tricks or
maneuvers. This only causes traffic to
slow down behind them and can lead to an accident.
8. If there's one thing worse
than crawling along on a jam-packed Valley freeway at rush hour, it's watching
the clown behind you drive inches from your back bumper before swerving to the
shoulder to pass.
This shows anger, irritation,
and fear. This situation shows each
part a three-fold self. This person is on the affective and cognitive level of
their domain because they have thought about the situation and also display
frustrated feelings, about the other drivers’ actions. The other drivers’ actions would represent
the sensorimotor self.
9. I'm not the only car on the
road, so I make sure to be as courteous as allowed to other drivers. I don't
tailgate, I let people in when they signal, I stay right unless passing, and
don't impede other drivers. However, that courtesy ENDS when it is not extended
back to me. I have been known to tap brakes when 'gated, box in some asshole
who previously cut me off, told people they were idiots at stoplights after
pulling off some astoundingly stupid move, etc, etc.
This person may be nice outside
of the road, but on the road he would display hostile feelings
(affective-self), biased thoughts (cognitive-self) and aggressive actions
(sensorimotor-self). When people feel
attacked, they tend to act aggressively and have tendencies to retaliate.
10. "I like speed because
speed is cool, therefore I have a right to push it to the limit when I feel
like it."
This person is thinking only on
himself and his wants, excluding the safety of others on the road. He doesn’t realize how his negative thoughts
and feelings may result in tragic outcomes that may hurt others. Many people like the feeling they get when
they speed. They like the sensation, or
get some satisfaction from beating the red light. This person needs a personality makeover.
Question
7:
Our
textbook Road Rage and Aggressive Driving has exercises in several
chapters. Do the following four exercises: (a) Exercise on scenario analysis on
p. 205; (b) Exercise on acting as-if on p.128; (c) Exercise on self-assessment
on p. 134; and (d) Checklist of your road rage tendency on p. 40. What were
your reactions to the exercises? Discuss how these exercises help you to become
more aware of yourself as a driver. Do some of the exercises with another
driver you know. How do they help you understand some principles of driving
psychology?
I
thought the exercises were fairly simple.
The hardest one was the one on page 205 where we had to come up with our
own reasoning. These exercises were
very helpful in just realizing the things I don’t think of when I’m
driving. Being in this class makes me
realize what others do right or wrong and how they should change their
thinking, but it is hard to sometimes even recognize when your doing something
or thinking something wrong. I never
really thought of the things I do while I drive and the consequences that may
come with it. I think the hardest thing
for most people is to think of all the possible outcomes of a decision or
thinking of how something could have been prevented by doing things a little
different. When I did some of these
exercises with a friend, it made me realize that most people have the same
attitudes and thoughts.
We
develop our driving attitudes from others, our parents, friends, society
etc. We learn skills and behaviors from
day one and these same behaviors get reinforced everyday. Driving is a life long process that needs to
be modified and improved.
Advise
to Future Generations:
As I
tell everyone who decides to be in this course, save your work! I can’t stress
that enough. You might feel that this
class has a lot of work ahead and may be to demanding, but it’s not bad at
all. I even took this class twice, well
different sections of course. Yes there
are assignments that are time consuming and that may require some research, but
it doesn’t last for too long. Before you know it your done with your work. I was overwhelmed at first, but I got
through it when I started the assignments.
There is plenty of time to complete each task. The hardest part for me
was learning the FTP software, but you can always find help in the labs. You’ll be fine as long as you keep up with
the schedule.
This
course is very helpful because it deals with topics that we are faced with
everyday. You will learn what triggers
road rage and how to fix your own bad habits as a driver. This
class teaches you how to change your negative thinking to positive thinking. Hopefully you’ll come out a better driver
and a positive role model for others.
Class Home Page:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy21/classhome-g21.htm
My Home Page:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2004/duclos/home.htm