www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy21/409a-g21-report2.htm

Consider Tables 1, 2, 3, and 4 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 Tables were taken. Using your own words, describe the three behavioral domains and levels of a driver (nine cells). Illustrate each domain with your own driving behavior skills and errors, or that of another driver you know well, or a driver in a particular movie. Make up a "driving personality makeover" plan for yourself (or another driver you know well). Discuss the problems you anticipate in carrying out such a plan successfully.

The taxonomy of driving behavior can be broken down into a few distinct sections which all interact to create an intelligible image of a persons driving habits. It can initially be divided into three behavioral domains which consist of the following: affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor. Affective pertains to the internal feelings of the driver. Cognitive expresses the thoughts of the driver. Sensorimotor relates to the physical manifestations of the previous two. Each of them can now be divided into two sections; skills which is a plus sign and errors which is a minus sign. In combination they report on the appropriateness of ones affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor actions while driving. For example, to receive a high plus sign score under cognitive one would have to have supportive thoughts while driving such as, "Oh I bet he's in a hurry for a good reason, I'll let him in." Rather than, "Who does that guy think he is? No way I'm letting him in." To receive a high plus sign score for sensorimotor would have to wave someone in rather than speed up and give them a dirty look as they pass. Affective is very internal and relates to feelings, therefore to receive a high plus sign score for affective one would have to feel sympathetic inside rather than angry towards other drivers.

To complete the entire classification scheme we now have to include the different levels. Three levels exist; responsibility, safety, and proficiency. Level one is proficiency and when correlated with the three domains it represents a drivers ability to stay calm (affective), understand situations (cognitive), and coordinate their body properly in a driving situation (sensorimotor). The second level is safety and when correlated with the three domains it represents a drivers motivation to avoid trouble (affective), a driver problem-solving skills in avoiding trouble areas (cognitive), which leads to more reserved actions. The third level is responsibility and when correlated with the three domains it represents the motive to take responsibility for injuries you have caused to others (affective), therefore creating pro-social thoughts (cognitive), thus increasing the quality of the driving world regardless of stress levels (sensorimotor).

The entire taxonomy laid out looks like this:

Affective Responsibility Cognitive Responsibility Sensorimotor Responsibility

To make my own personal driver makeup it will take two crucial stages and three crucial steps. Step one is to acknowledge that I have bad driving habits. Step two is to witness myself habitually committing these negative acts. The third step is to modify the habit. As I progress through the levels I will see changes in two steps. First I'll have to force myself to stop committing such acts. Then in stage two I will mature to the point that the old habits have not only faded, but the new ones have become quite enjoyable. During the first stage I will work on three categories, the first being is affective. I will no longer debate whether or not other drivers are complete idiots or not. I will have a positive feeling towards all my driving situations. I will also overcome my minds resistance to change. The second category of focus for this stage will be cognitive. I will no longer allocate blame onto the other driver for traffic mishaps. I will no longer think so selfishly on the road and begin to analyze situations more rationally. The final category of this stage is sensorimotor. For this category I make it a point to act in a more civil manner. I will no longer cut people off or seek vengeance. I will only allow a smile to leave my vehicle. I am making it my goal to achieve all this and make it my new habit in one month. After that month I will witness myself again and decide whether I'm ready to move on to the next stage.

The next and final stage will train me to become a supportive driver. Being a supportive driver consists of many elements, thus this stage will be divided into three categories as well, and they are the same as in the previous step. For affective I will focus on my own understanding of situation and solutions to them. Such as feeling responsibility for traffic mistakes and following them up with some sort of apology to the other driver. This part of stage two will prime me to become a supportive driver. As for cognitive I will need to judge traffic situations objectively. By doing so I will then recognize my own error within. Lastly, for sensorimotor I must begin to anticipate the needs and desires of other, thus becoming more accommodating to other drivers. And to top it all off I will start relaxing while driving and begin perceiving it as enjoyable. The second stage should also be able to be completed in one month. Therefore in two months my driving will be made over and people will be mistaking me for Ms. Daisy, which in this context is a good thing.

I do anticipate to encounter many obstacles while attempting to makeover my driving. First and foremost the most difficult obstacle for one to tackle is the own inability to change. It’s tough replacing a habit and requires constant monitoring. I also feel that fighting the impulses to feel angry will be very difficult. But as I said I'm aware that it will be hard to change my driving habits initially, but in due time things will start to change, I'll see progress and we'll be on own way. I anticipate the entire make over to take approximately two months. Upon completion of my two month high intensity make over I will continue to moderately monitor my driving behavior as to not slip back into an bad old habits.

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.

To put it briefly I would have to say the main difference between these two websites is the intent they were written with. drdriving.org seems to be written as an aid to help people improve their driving or the driving of a loved one. It has a non-profit organization feel to as if it’s only motive is to inform and improve. It’s very welcoming in its simple yet friendly look. On the other hand www.drivers.com seems to have a different goal in mind. It looks more “professional” making it actually seem a little more fake. It has many ads and sells computer products as well. It deals with road driver and computer drivers, I guess they though that was clever. It focuses less on the safety of drivers and more on a wider scope, dealing with leases and refinancing. It doesn’t really outwardly address how to improve your driving, it just warns you will different article that explain driving horror stories.

In regards to articles, Dr. Driving focuses good driving and how to behave well in a car whether you are a driver or a passenger. It is out there to help and inform those who use automobiles. Driver.com has articles that are simply stories, it doesn’t inform so much on how to avoid such disasters, it merely tells us they are there, insinuating, watch out! Yet I feel there is very little value telling people of such disasters without offering some sort of guidance on how to avoid them.

The newsletter sent out by drivers is about new developments on the site www.drivers.com. The site doesn’t send out advice to drivers on how to improve there skills, only what’s new at drivers.com. I didn’t find anywhere on dr.driving where a subscription to a newsletter was being offered.

Although dr.driving does not offer a newsletter, the site does answer many letters which it then posts for others to read. The topics of these letters were across the board. From concerned mothers, to driving instructors, all walks of like refer to our very own dr.driving for driving advice. A strong point of dr.driving is the small and friendly feel that it gives off, it makes you want to trust it and refer back to it for some compassionate advice. The letter only helps to strengthen this compassionate and personalized feel. Drivers.com doesn’t post the letters it receives and their responses. This takes away from the friendly feel it could possibly have.

Dr.drivings style is very simple and direct. Although it could be a little more organized to allow access to its many resources much easier. It has a very family oriented style and it seems to be smiling. It is very humble in its intent and I feel that is its strong point, the fact that it’s here to help. Drivers.com is very different. It has a corporate style and seems like a business. I would expect to get a response from a letter to dr.driving, but I really wouldn’t expect a response from the people at drivers.com. Drivers.com seems to be a fully staffed business whereas dr.driving.com, like the guy behind the FTP server, is just a nice doctor who wants to help anyone with a concern.

The audience to the two websites would be very different but I feel at some point would overlap. Drivers.com would have an audience more concerned with non-driving aspects of driving. Also, this site had many articles, and seemed more geared towards the professional driver, such as a trucker. Dr.driving.com’s audience would be people who are more concerned with the act of driving and all the possible improvements and safety precautions.

The policies of these websites are very similar. They both have disclaimers basically stating that they are not liable for the content and that everything is posted with the best intent. Dr.driving.com has better public relations due to its responses and posting of letters.

Dr.driving.com doesn’t advertise much but safe and happy driving. Dr. Leon James advertises a link to buy his book but that’s about it. The website also advertises a few other books but nothing is directly from the website. Drivers.com has their own store that you can buy from directly. It contains shopping carts and a check out process. Drivers.com advertises a lot to truck drivers where dr.driving.com sends a general safety message to all drivers.

The size of the sites can be deceiving. From the more “advanced” look of drivers.com one would get the impression that it contains more material, but this just isn’t true. Dr.driving.com, has much more information and material than drivers.com. Dr.driving.com has an extensive archive of letters and what seems to be limitless information on every aspect of driving.

In conclusion these two websites are very different and come to the table with much different motivations. Dr.driving.com is simple yet informative, humble yet rich with ideas website. Whereas drivers.com looks more like a business and gives off a more professional vibe due to its more advanced web design. Drivers.com is more geared towards professional drivers where dr.driving.com is a tool for the layman. Both are wonderful websites who offer a terrific service to all us drivers out there, but if I had to give one the gold, you got it dr.driving.com.

Select six student reports on driving psychology from Generation 20, as listed in the Readings Section of the Lecture Notes. www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy21/409a-g21-lecture-notes.htm#g20-reports You must select any two students from Report 1, any two from Report 2, and any two from Report 3. Summarize each of the six reports. Add a General Conclusion Section in which you discuss your reactions to what they did – (a) their ideas, (b) their method, (c) their explanations. What did they gain from doing their reports? How do their ideas influence what you yourself think about these issues?

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409as2004/arakaki/report1.htm

Jenny Arakaki seems to be a person who feels deeply about the topic of driving psychology. She opened her paper with two ideas she felt were very important. She wrote about the accordion effect we see in traffic and how it perpetuates the traffic itself. The other topic she chose, was introduced to her by Caroline Balatico. Balatico states that we live in a overly fast paced society, and we will get to a destination the quickest way nearly at all costs. She then went on to speak about how she witnessed the behaviors of other drivers and wishes very much for our community to rethink their driving habits. She later moved onto important definitions that pertain to driving. She spoke of phrases such as the driver’s threefold self, road rage, left lane bandits, and a few other driving related phrases. Her definitions were short and concise. In her autobiography she spoke of her own reckless driving habits and mentioned that she has a cause of road rage. She says they are mild but definitely something she would like to address. In her conclusion she sounded optimistic of her own driving, stating that, “This assignment helped me with my driving skills because now I am more aware of what kinds of bad habits I do.” Her advice to future generations was to not give up the fight and continue educating the public on supportive driving.

I like her ideas and felt they were very positive and productive. I liked how she was adamant about continuing the education process. Her methods were strong in that she always employed repetition, self witnessing, and continued education. Her explanations were valid yet her English doesn’t seem to be the strongest. From reading her report I gained a reinforcement of continuing your education and the education of others. Her strong desire to change really influenced my own desire to improve my driving.

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409as2004/fukushima/report1.htm

She opened the paper with a dialogue her boyfriend and a stranger had on the road. It was vulgar and seemed to reflect a classic case of road rage. She went on to discuss how the class was geared towards building a competence and understanding in the three domains: affective, cognitive, and sensor motor. She gave definitions to the same phrases but her definitions were much more complete. She included links and graphs. She divided road rage into three sections which I liked and gave a wonderful description of each. In her autobiography she noted an interesting point. She doesn’t have a drivers license. She failed the driving test three times in the past. Not for aggressive driving, but for not being able to drive. She reports being a little too shy while driving and that leading to her not being able to complete certain tasks, such as parallel parking. She says she is very influenced by the way other drivers drive and through her observation she has become a large advocate of supportive driving. After taking her driving personality she identified herself as a “supportive driver who is not good at driving yet." Her advice to future drivers was to get a drivers license then take the course because otherwise it’s hard to relate.

Although she didn’t have a drivers license I felt she had a good understanding of the road. Her ideas were sound and focused on being supportive on the road and not being influenced by media or other bad drivers. Her method was to approach driving in a relaxed manner with a good attitude. She explained herself and her ideas well. She really wanted to make a difference and this improved the strength of her explanations. From reading her report I gained a new understanding of the non-drivers perspective of driving. It influenced me by showing me just how much the passengers take in from other drivers.

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409as2004/fukushima/report2.htm

She opened her report with a summary of her report one and how this one ties into the last. Report two is a driver self assessment and since she doesn’t have a license she assessed her boyfriend. The assessment went as follows.

The first test she gave was a series of yes or no questions. The test was based on a point system and the number of points he received was indicative of his driving behavior. The second test tested his aggressive thoughts and feelings. She divided this test into three areas: fantasies of retaliation and revenge, high pressure driving and competition, and impulsive and reckless driving. The last test she gave him measured his threefold self. This test was also divided into three sections: witnessing your emotions, witnessing your thought, and witnessing your actions. Her boyfriend seemed to be a good driver from the outside but had an evil dark side from within that he only shared to whoever else shared the vehicle with him.

She then analyzed the results she had now gathered from all the tests she put her loving boyfriend through. In regards to his threefold self a few things need to be worked on. Affectively he needs to remove the anger from his driving behaviors. Cognitively he needs to think more positively of road events and stop thinking of others as below him. She didn’t mention the third fold in the threefold self.

This next part of her report focused on implementing a change in her boyfriends behavior. To do this more effectively she looked at past reports to find out which method is most effective. She then decided to take a two month time period to change his behavior. The first part involved recording his voice and writing down things he would say. This allowed him to become aware of exactly what he is saying and when. The next month is when the implementation comes into effect. She would snap him with a rubber band every time he used a negative word while driving.

The analysis of the data showed a decline in his negative driving behavior although it did take until the 5^th session to see any improvement at all. One of her after thoughts about the rubber band technique was that it was very easy to do as well as effective.

She concluded that this did in fact help her boyfriend to improve his driving and become more aware of himself. After listening to the tape recorder he realized just how rude he was. He saw how he put the blame on others and how this could be applied to his life in many areas.

Her advice to future generations was to take the class. She felt it was very beneficial to the aggressive driver. She also said the class was very fun and she enjoyed the discussions.

Personally I really liked her ideas I thought they were very positive and productive. She seemed to be very supportive to her boyfriend and did him a big favor. Her methods were sound in that she did lots of research before hand to make sure she would get optimal results. She explained herself well and thoroughly went through each step of her experiment. I’m sure she got a good grade. I really gained a new understanding of how influential one person can be over another, in such a positive way. This report gave me the courage to go out and help others in a respectful and positive way.

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409as2004/arakawa-longboy/report2.htm

This man gave some very good preliminary information. He thoroughly went through all the definitions and key words to allow a better understanding. The first self assessment he took was called “your road rage tendency”. This test gives you an idea of at what level your emotional intelligence is at. It covers four critical elements: anger theory, driving philosophy, compulsive driving, and over sensitivity. He scored the highest (worst) on anger and compulsive rushing. The next test he self administered was called “your verbal road rage tendency”. It was a checklist in which he answered yes to over 66% of the questions, not too good. The third test was called “witnessing your aggressive driving”. It was also a checklist and was divided into the threefold self. He scored the worst on affective and behavior.

In his attempt to remove the bad habits he recorded himself and made notes when he violated traffic laws. He then basically self-witnessed his way to being a better driver. He improved greatly, everything dropped by over half, especially his swearing and speeding.

He concluded that it was a great success and how much better he feels to be a better driver. Yet how he must also continue on day by day, to maintain his new driving behaviors. He noted that at first habits seem impossible to break, but once you get over that initial hump, things get a lot easier. He remarked that this is one is the best experiences he has ever had.

He seemed to be a man with heart. His ideas were driven by pure love for the game and respect for its potential. His method was simple yet demanding. He had to monitor his every behavior. Doing this would be very hard and I admire his success. As for his explanation, they were well written and thorough. He always clarified what he was saying and never lost me in jargon. I enjoyed reading this report and will take one major component from it. The fact that self witnessing is real and works. One can literally make themselves over by simply doing what they plan to, consistently. This concept applies to anything in life.

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409as2004/kubo/report3.htm

The purpose of report three was for Kubo to create a proposal of how to make driver education a lifelong process. Kubo introduced his paper with examples of others ideas on how to make driving education a lifelong process. He spoke of an idea of implementing driver education into grades K-12 and then continuing on with QDC’s or quality driving circles throughout ones life. Another idea on how to cure road rage was to eliminate peoples faulty beliefs. A part of the book, Road Rage and Aggressive Driving, by Dr. James, that Kubo felt was important is chapter 9. This chapter proposes the concept of lifelong driving education. He mentioned that many people overlook this section and hone in on the drivers threefold self, but the truth is that is we are educated for life, the threefold self would naturally occur. Kubo also drew knowledge and inspiration from class discussion and lecture notes. From these two sources Kubo discovered ideas such as road rage nursery, the gender effect, and teenage judgment effects. All three of these ideas are important in understanding exactly why we need a lifelong continued education system.

Kubo’s proposal for lifelong driver education is simple yet effective. It would be categorized into four sections: infancy through elementary, intermediate, high school, and post-high school. The first stage, infancy through 6^th grade, would focus on understanding the driving habits of others and the affective self would be introduced. The kids would recognize the driving habits of the caregivers and parents. From this they would be able to avoid developing their own aggression by recognizing aggression in the first place. His second phase from 7^th-8^th grade would focus on rational decision making and the cognitive self would be introduced. They would learn to discern, as objectively as possible, each situation. They would be taught self witnessing at this phase. In Kubo’s third phase, grades 9^th-12^th, the sensor motor self would be introduced. They would now be able to drive and experience it themselves. They would also be introduced to the three-step self improvement program at this point (acknowledge, witness and modify, rationalize and express.) In the final stage which covers all of adulthood everything would become voluntary. They would be able to teach others and continue on the small groups. They could use internet forums to discuss driving and what they learned through their lifelong training.

In Kubo’s conclusion he hopes to end the road wars through this lifelong process. He spoke of how his views have changed dramatically from the beginning of the class until now. Kubo believes that with awareness will come the solutions to all our problems. Kubo’s advice to future generations was not to give up and allow yourself to dig deep down to find a solution, cause it’s there.

Personally, I like his ideas, but I would have changed one thing. I feel that his adult stage wouldn’t work. Very few would volunteer to teach or go on forums to discus their driving. We would need to think of a better way to continue the education. His methods were backed by a considerable amount of research and inspiration. His explanations were brief, but what was there was very well written and I found it interesting. From this report I gained a better understanding of driver education and its lifelong essence. I was influenced to not only understand these ideas but promote their implications. I do feel we should have a continued education, not only with driving but with how to use this brain you were given. That would cover not only driving but every other situation we face as humans and as a whole cannot seem to do with out altercations.

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409as2004/sayo/report3.htm

After a brief summary of report 2, Sayo introduced us to report 3 saying, “The purpose of Report 3 is to introduce Dr. James’s lifelong driver education, go over some previous generation’s report and my classmates presentations about driving psychology.” After a review of the chapter on lifelong driving Sayo concluded that lifelong driver education is definitely necessary throughout our life. Sayo also drew her information and inspiration from past reports and class presentations. Each leaving her at the same conclusion, that we must find a way to make driver education a lifelong process by teaching supportive driving. Sayo then refereed to the chapter on supportive driving to get some information from the source. Sayo found its roots are in having emotional intelligence.

Sayo’s proposal for lifelong drivers education is broken down as follows: infancy, toddler hood, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood, older adulthood. In infancy we would be exposed to positive driving atmospheres with our parents who understand the ideas of lifelong drivers education. As toddlers we would be exposed only to media and experiences that again reflect a supportive driving atmosphere. In early childhood we would be taught self control techniques that will be useful in the future. In middle childhood (6-12yrs) we would learn to write journals in which we would talk of our feelings on driving and then have them looked at by a parent. In these last stages we have been focusing only on the affective self but in the next stage things would take a turn. In the adolescence stage from 12-21yrs old we would be focusing on the cognitive self. They would take video of their parents driving and analyze it to find the positives and negatives. Once they receive their license then they would be filmed and their behavior could be analyzed. Sayo recommended teaching breathing techniques to help control anger. In the young and middle adult stage from 21-65yrs old we would focus on the sensor motor skills. We would attend group driving lessons. In the older adulthood stage, 65-death, we would focus on all the elements of the threefold self and work with new drivers.

In her conclusion she stated that this project has opened her eyes to our society in a whole new way. She feels overjoyed to now be educated about the threefold self. She also made a prediction regardless, driving will move towards the more supportive end of the spectrum in the future. Her advice to future generations was simple, don’t worry. She said it’s a great class and all your questions will be answered.

I felt like her ideas were a little radical. If her plan were implemented our society would revolve around driving. We’d either be going to a drivers ed class or signing up for one or teaching one. I feel like her approach wasn’t at all feasible or practical and I doubt she would want to live in a society like the one she designed. Her methods were sound. She gathered much information to devise her plan, yet I feel she took it too far. She explained her plan very well, so well that I became fearful that she actually has the intentions to take over our world and implement it. I feel she gained a deep understanding of ways to implement driving psychology and supportive driving into our society. In reading her report I was very influenced to make my ideas of continued drivers education more practical. This world has so many aspects, and to revolve it around just one would lead to a very unstable imbalance.

The first thing they did was to take up both lanes of the second freeway. All this would do is further ignite the already road raged person in the black SUV. This contributed to the initial anger directed towards the two boys. By obviously blocking the black SUV that was sort of a declaration of battle. They could have easily just taking up one lane, letting the black SUV pass them would have gotten them out of the dangerous situation. The next dangerous act these boys committed was slowing down. This would cause not only a blockade but a roadblock imitating traffic. All this would do is anger the black SUV. They could have backed out of the situation by allowing the black SUV to pass and getting it out of their hair. The next thought created a few more dangerous steps. The fact that they did everything to get away created a big problem. The third step is driving 90 miles per hour. Driving this fast can cause a variety of accidents. Instead of driving so fast they could have taken the nearest exit straight to a police station or avoided him at a safe speed. He did say the guy was behind him therefore the speeding seemed to be avoidable. The fourth dangerous step was flashing their lights on the freeway. Which could not only impair the vision of others but also alarm them as well. Instead of attempting to get the other cars attention in this manner they could have simply pulled up beside them. The fifth dangerous step in their driving was honking. Hocking is a very aggressive act while driving, and would have made many feel very alarmed. Just the simple act of honking would cause heads to turn which can lead to accidents due to negligence. Rather than honking they could have simply pulled up beside them.

This was an interesting exercise in that it made me truly examine a traffic situation. I feel that just doing these exercises alone would help ones driving skills. It would fire back into your head when you got in similar traffic situation and you would then refrain from those actions.

Last night coming home from work I did the “as if” exercise. I found it difficult and almost fake at first, but as the car ride went on the effectiveness of it began to reveal itself. When I pulled out of my work no one would let me in. There was heavy traffic and I wasn’t being let into the what seemed to be never ending line of cars. I became frustrated but then intercepting my feelings by telling myself, “It’s Friday and everyone else wants to get home as bad as me, its nothing against me they all just miss their loved ones.” In a short time I was let into the line and began my journey home. Within minutes the person in front of me slammed on his brakes at the yellow light. I repressed the negative thoughts and replaced them with, “What a good person for being safe rather than sorry.” At this point I was feeling like this was all a joke and wanted to stop the silly game, but luckily I continued on. I got onto the freeway and was driving happily until some person had to get over to the fast lane and did it by cutting straight in front of me and ripping over to the next lane. I once again refrained from negativity and thought, “ Oh no, I hope everything is ok, maybe he just got a call that his mother was in the hospital.” At this point I thought to myself, “wow, how great would the world be if we all thought like this all the time. No fighting, no anger, we’d really all be much happier whether it’s a game or not.” On the final leg of my journey I had to be supportive one more time. As I was getting ready to pull into my spot another car was pulling out and was going so slow. I then thought, “ What a safe person, doesn’t want to hit anyone’s car.” That not only allowed me to refrain from getting mad but it also gave me a sense of happiness in the behaviors of that person.

This exercise takes a few tries. The first few times you say something supportive it feels very unnatural and you almost laugh at yourself. But this is good. Keep laughing cause that’s all its trying to get you to do. Instead of getting mad its amazing how feeling of understanding can bring about whole new ray of light on any situation.

MY ASSESSMENT OF MYSELF

1. Slow driver 1. Don’t always pay attention

MY GIRLFRIENDS ASSESSMENT OF ME

1. Mellow 1. slow

Our opinions of my driving were very similar. They all seem to revolve around me being negligent to the whole driving experience. I thought it was interesting how she put slow as my worst and I put it as my best. I guess everything has good and bad characteristics to it. My best driving traits are good. I am a cautious and mellow driver, I live that. I thought it was funny that she put parallel parking and reversing. I would have to agree just because I work for a valet company and have to perform those maneuvers all the time, one becomes a pro.

THE CHECKLIST:

1. I swear a lot more in traffic than I do elsewhere.

No

2. I normally have critical thoughts about other drivers.

Yes

3. When a driver in a parking lot tries to steal the space I've been waiting for, I get furious.

Yes

4. I fantasize about doing violence to other drivers (e.g., using guns or blowing them up or sweeping them aside). But it's just fantasy.

No

5. When drivers do something really "stupid" that endangers me or my car, I get furious, even aggressive.

No

6. It's good to get your anger out because we all have aggressive feelings inside that naturally come out under stressful situations.

No

7. When I'm very upset about something, it's a relief to step on the gas to give my feelings an outlet.

No

8. I feel that it's important to force certain drivers to behave appropriately on the highway.

Yes

9. Pedestrians shouldn't have the right to walk slowly in crosswalks when cars are waiting.

No

10. Pushy drivers really annoy me so I bad-mouth them to feel better.

No

11. I tailgate when someone drives too slow for conditions or in the passing lane.

No

12. I try to get to my destination in the shortest time possible, or else it doesn't feel right.

No

13. If I stopped driving aggressively others would take advantage of my passivity.

No

14. I feel unpleasant emotions when someone beats me to the light or when someone gets through and I'm stuck on red.

No

15. I feel energized by the sense of power and competition I experience while driving aggressively.

No

16. I hate speed bumps and speed limits that are set too low.

No

17. Once in a while I get so frustrated in traffic that I begin to drive somewhat recklessly.

Yes

18. I hate large trucks and I refuse to drive differently around them.

No

19. Sometimes I feel that I'm holding up traffic so I start driving faster than I feel comfortable.

No

20. I would feel embarrassed to "get stuck" behind a large vehicle on a steep road.

No

I reported a yes answer four times which means my aggressive driving is manageable. I will not take this as I am a perfect driver and everyone should driver like me. Cause that could possibly get my into a habit of negativity which then would turn into my very own case of road rage.

e. My Interpretation of the Exercises

I reacted very positively to the exercises. I feel they really expanded my mind in the realm of driving psychology. I saw myself in a light I never previously did and was pleasantly surprised. Yet as I stated before I will not allow myself to become relaxed about my own driving behaviors. I have to maintain my good habits and slowly work on the bad ones I possess. These exercises helped me to understand not only the principles of driving psychology but the need for it. You never really realize things until a light is clearly shined upon them. Of my friends whom I had do the exercises, many didn’t do so well. And most of them I drive with on a regular basis but just never notice their bad habits because I have become so numb to them. After doing these exercises on myself and others I have come to a conclusion. I conclude that we as a culture are truly numb to bad driving habits. They are now more common then good driving habits so we expect them. We as a society don’t seem much harm in bad driving behaviors such as road rage and speeding. Due to this conclusion I feel it will be extra hard to implement some sort of a driving makeover to the nation. Simply because no one thinks anything is wrong.

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.

In all societies driving is problem. We all get road rage regardless of race, age, nationality, or creed. It has become apart of our lives. One reason that it’s not changing is because it has been accepted and nearly embraced by society. Due to all the movies depicting driving in a competitive, king of the road manner. No wonder 42 thousand people die a year just in our country alone. We glorify the fast driver, the guy who will get you there in under five. But much danger comes along in that little speed package and when things don’t go their way, anger and frustration enters the picture which in turn increases the danger another notch. It’s all a snowball effect we are seeing, things are getting worse and worse. Cars also offer another obstacle which makes them prone to driving problems. They are like a big protective cage. It’s your castle and its metal body is all your guards. So the way you act in your car is not indicative of all of your table manners. With this added feeling of protection, people act extra aggressive in the cars due to a feeling of being protected and the feeling of being able to evade any situation that arises. If you flip someone off in the bank line they can knock you out right there. But in your car you are protected by doors, bumpers, and many other structures. You also can step on the gas and try to loose the person. The main reason we have not found a solution is because we haven’t identified a problem. No one seems to feel like anything is wrong. With the terrible statistics one may wonder why and it goes back to our culture masking it by making it cool. People laugh when you tell them you got 5 tickets last year, it’s almost worthy of a high five. But if you didn’t get any, what is there to talk about?

So who has a solution you ask. Well, Dr. James has one. Dr. James suggests, after many years of research, that we do a few simple things. He feels that driving is something we must continually monitor and no one can be educated for life after a few hours of driving school at age 16. Therefore Dr. James proposes that we have driving circles. In these driving circles we would discuss driving and all that comes along with it. We would work to improve our threefold self and use one another as support. Since the foundation of his thought is continuing education, Dr. James feels these meetings should be required to renew your license. He proposes that we log a certain number of hours at driving circles and turn the paperwork into the government in order to renew our license. This would ensure a more conscious driving community that would be continually be improving.

The likelihood of Dr. James’ idea being adopted is not impossible but not to all that likely. Due to the fact that people are lazy, no one is going to want to commit themselves to this. And people would just lie so much that it wouldn’t be seen as worth it. I do feel his idea may someday be seen as a jumping off point in creating a more people friendly, non-intrusive way off improving our driving and saving lives. The basic structure of his idea is very adoptable and I feel would be taken to after a quick look at the statistics. Yet there needs to be a less intrusive way of employing it. I do have faith that Dr. James will soon find that less intrusive way of implementing continued driver education and I’m happy to have taken part in his journey.

Advice for future generations

My advice to future generations would be simple. I would just tell them to enjoy the class and apply it to their life. This is a very applicable class and the best thing a student could get from it is not an A, but a new driving personality which would trickle through the rest of his or her life. In this class you not only learn about driving, but life. These crucial lessons should not be over looked in the efforts for the almighty A.

CLASS HOME PAGE: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy21/classhome-g21.htm

MY HOME PAGE: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409af2004/pickren/home