Welcome to My Three Minute Oral Presentations Page
Caroline Agbayani
I try to summarize some of the main points presented in certain sections of Dr. James book Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warfare (reference located at the bottom of this page). I give my own thoughts about certain topics that were talked about in the book and in class. I wanted to upload these presentations because I felt they will be helpful to readers and drivers everywhere.
3 Minute Oral Presentation - March 19, 2001
We all know that road rage can happen at any time so it is up to us to be prepared. Safety experts studying road rage breakouts have found a common pattern. One driver is annoyed at another driver and shows it. So how does the target driver respond? The text says that the target driver has the power either to fan the first driver's angry flames or to help put them out. Taking out action in this kind of situation present high risks and we need to be aware that it could escalate out of control. It's also very common to see drivers overtly express disagreement or contempt. So what do we do in such an unpredictable world?
Well numerous websites have offered some driving tips which I found very helpful. Some of my favorites were:
Avoid eye contact
Don't take your eyes off the road
Understand that you can't control traffic, only your reaction to it
Stay cool - turn on your air conditioner
Driving is transportation, not competition. Want to compete? Find a racetrack.
Never assume that an apparently aggressive act was intended
Pretend other drivers are people you know.
Go with the flow, no matter how slow.
I really like all these tips because they are practical and anyone could do it. However, this is easier said than done. The text mentioned that the nation's collective wisdom expressed in these tips is in sharp contrast to our individual actions because millions of people are injured every year in collisions. I know that it won't happen overnight but I feel that if everyone changed their mentality about aggressive driving and actually practice these tips, drivers will be more efficient and emotionally intelligent. Also, it would be less likely to promote a culture of disrespect on the road. I propose that all car manufacturers include these tips in car manuals or somewhere that would be visible to the drive and passengers of the vehicle at all times.
Three Levels of Emotional Intelligence: Level Three - Supportive Driving - pgs. 118-120
This style of driving overcomes the disadvantages inherent in oppositional and defensive driving orientations. Supportive driving is a mental orientation that uses a positive approach that avoids the built-in negativity of oppositional and defensive driving. The key is to practice prosocial thought patterns that promote helpful actions. It also emphasizes positive bias which is the opposite of the automotive vigilante mentality. Overall, it encourages us to be prudent and safe as well as tolerant, friendly, and teaches us to enjoy driving while remaining unfased by its hassles. In the book, an example of what a supportive driver would say is: "Look at that airhead forgetting his blinkers on. Oh I take it back. Maybe he's really preoccupied, or confused. We all make mistakes, including me."
The book says that we should neutralize our negative statements with prosocial statements. I agree with this and I personally renamed this technique to the sandwich technique. It basically means that you should make positive-negative-positive comments forming a sentence like a sandwich. For example, when you are driving and someone cuts you off, you can say something like "Ok, that driver cut me off but I have to keep my cool (positive). He's a jerk for cutting me off (negative). He might be late or something so I shouldn't waste my time cussing him out. It's not worth it. Just keep driving. (positive). I also agree with the supportive driving mentality but I know that it will take a lot of practice to improve our own driving mentality because we weren't taught to act rationally on the road and how to be emotionally intelligent. We need to analyze our own behaviors before we make assumptions about other people's behavior because we get in the habit of blaming the other driver but excuse ourselves for the same mistake. If we took a few seconds on the road to revamp our own negative perspectives and reappraise the situation in a more positive light, we will be happier, friendly and considerate drivers.
3-Minute Oral Presentation - April 9, 2001
pages 175-178
The section I chose to report on is entitled "Come Out Swinging Positive" in Dr. James' book Road Rage and Aggressive Driving. The main point of this section is learning how to counteract angry interactions with motorists by using positive strategies to effectively disarm potential aggression on the road.
First, we must recognize the three driving philosophies that determine how people drive: oppositional, defensive, and supportive. Level one, oppositional driving, involves a culture of disrespect on highways, the trigger theory of anger, oversensitivity to social pressure, and intolerance of driver diversity just to name a few. Level two, defensive driving, involves the following: treating all drivers the same way, maintaining a competitive attitude, stereotypes of drivers and cars and retaining discriminatory beliefs about the diversity of drivers. The defensive driving orientation instills suspicion of other drivers and many in this orientation remain vulnerable to anger and opposition. Level three, the ideal driving style, is supportive driving. The supportive driving philosophy involves a supportive attitude toward other drivers, tolerance of pluralism, accommodation to diversity, shrinking one's emotional territory and many others. Once we recognize what driving philosophy characterizes us, we can learn how to change any maladaptive behavior if necessary, and move towards a supportive driving style or maintain it if we already are supportive drivers.
One natural tendency when challenged is to defend ourselves. If we practice the "attitude of latitude" which essentially means that we acknowledge that driving is an inherently dangerous activity performed by fallible people and it’s reasonable to expect incidents and near misses, we can reverse the escalation of hostilities. In this case, we need to come out swinging positive and should not deny, defend, make excuses, or give reasons for our aggressive behavior or another motorist's aggressiveness or hostility. We need to adopt an empathetic frame of mind. The less we defend ourselves and the more we defend the other's ego, the more control we can exercise to defuse the situation. We shouldn't let our aggressive tendencies, anger and hostility be the default mechanism in a threatening situation.
Psychotherapist Todd Berger believes that drivers need to free their minds of "egotism and the false notion of separateness" by using the mind's "Zen power" for self-calming in traffic. In Zen driving, we need to fight against our "conditioned automatic response patterns" such as resorting to anger. He also believes that real change as a driver comes when "we begin to feel compassion, the stuff of acceptance." According to the text, the purpose of Zen driving is to achieve an "inner equilibrium" with "car-driver-road ecosystem," giving us the ability to synchronize with each other's rhythm, "interconnected with the Whole without losing our individuality."
I chose this section because I agree that the less we defend and justify our own actions and the more we defend the other motorist's ego, we are acknowledging to ourselves that we have the ability to defuse and take control of a situation. It's easier to deal with unfavorable interactions on the road when one takes personal responsibility and makes the decision to defuse rather than infuse the situation. Positive self talk behind the wheel helps preserve one's self-esteem and self-image especially during times when drivers feel insulted by other drivers' hostile or aggressive behaviors. I believe that the bigger person is always the one who gives in and drivers can feel better about themselves by handling impending situations on the road with rational, positive and emotionally intelligent techniques. I also found "Zen driving" interesting because it incorporates a collective mentality of drivers on the road. I think that Zen driving is similar to supportive driving because it's similar to the ideals of tolerance of pluralism and accommodation to diversity. Supportive driving is idealistic but it's not entirely out of reach. People should exercise "Zen driving" and being supportive because it's a practical technique that can apply to any kind of situation, whether it's on the road or not.
3 minute Oral Presentation - April 16, 2001
Chapter 9 – Lifelong Driver Education
Car crashes kill more young people 15-20 years old than any other cause. About 14 percent of drivers involved in fatal crashes in 1996 were in that age group. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a sixteen-year-old driver is 42 percent more likely to be involved in a crash than a seventeen-year-old. In 1996, the crash rate for seventeen-year-olds was two-thirds less than for sixteen-year-olds. Nearly half of the sixteen-year-olds in the United States are licensed drivers and parents need to take heed of these alarming statistics to prevent further fatalities from happening among this particular age group.
Another reason why young drivers are more prone to crashes is because they lack experience in handling emergencies and engage in more risky behaviors. Research shows that a combination of inexperience, immaturity and risky driving practices increases the fatal crashes of sixteen-year-old drivers in California between 1989-1994. The research data demonstrated that the crashes of sixteen-year-olds are more often single-vehicle events, more likely to result from driver error, and involve speeding and higher passenger occupancy rates.
Many states and some countries have instituted a graduated licensing program in response to the alarming statistics of crashes among teenage drivers. A graduated licensing approach provides for several licensing phases: learner’s permit, intermediate or provisional license, and then full license. Supervision under these circumstances can contribute to a decrease in crashes because of the experience they gain and it helps instill safer driving attitudes among teenage drivers.
The first part of the graduated licensing system is the permit stage. At age 15 or 16, drivers need to be supervised by an adult, pass a driver education course, and remain citation-free to proceed to the next level. The provisional or intermediate license includes on-road testing and a requirement to remain citation-free for the license period. Finally, the third stage involves full licensing only after successful completion of the first two stages and includes a zero-tolerance alcohol law. New Zealand adopted a graduated licensing system and research shows that the injury and fatality rate among young drivers decreased. As of 1999, twenty states have established a graduated licensing system.
Driver education courses are seldom available in school states rarely require it or fund it at insufficient levels. As a result, teenage drivers greatly lack knowledge in handling themselves effectively and properly on the road. In the 1970s, 90 percent of people took driver education courses, in contrast with 35 percent today. The American Driver and Traffic Safety Association believes that the majority of drivers are rude, simply ignoring traffic rules. Some driving instructors also believe that teaching proper driving is difficult because so few practice it.
So to make up for the lack of adequate driver education, parents need to get involved and teach their kids to drive skillfully and appropriately. For example, parents can supervise teens’ driving time, give teens supervised sufficient practice, put a limit on the number of passengers allowed, establish a curfew, insist that they wear safety belts, restrict teens from driving during holidays and weekends of increased risk such as New Year’s eve and so forth. I chose this section because when I first got my license at 16 years old I was involved in situations where I almost caused a crash. It happened several times and I felt scared and frustrated each time. I also realized how scared my passengers were because of all the times I almost got into crashes and put their lives at risk also. At 16, I had the bad habit of talking with my passengers, getting distracted and not paying attention to the road. One time, I remember running a red light because I was pre-occupied by a conversation with my passengers. I could have been in an accident but fortunately, there weren’t any other cars around at the time that happened.
I agree that the potential for a crash can heighten with aggressive driving, driver inexperience and inappropriate interaction with passengers. Parent supervision and graduated licensing is a good measure to help decrease crash and fatality rates amongst teenagers. In today’s more complex driving situations, driver education needs to be redesigned to incorporate judgement, self-control, and a greater awareness of the rules of the road and handling techniques.
3 minute Oral Presentation - April 30, 2001
Dream Cars and Driving Realities – Chapter 12
A 1986 report describes an experiment to discover hidden or unconscious motives for buying certain kinds of cars. Researchers compared what people liked about cars in the normal state and then the hypnotized state. In the normal state, people were more concerned about price, reliability, comfort and appearance. In the hypnotized state, people talked about the exhilarating sense of freedom and liberation that come from driving rapidly. Some perceived themselves as "beings of power" that controlled the machines they drove in. They also felt that demonstrating certain precautions such as wearing seat belts were unnecessary. Their imaginations revealed their desires of owning dream cars that were ultrafast, powerful and had luxury features. In reality, the people never actually drove these kinds of cars. This has some psychiatrists believing that our fantasies are driven by unfulfilled desires. The text says, "An idealized image of ourselves in cars "improves" the unsatisfactory reality."
On television, car commercials appeal to fantasies of distinction, uniqueness, independence, and superiority. These commercials imply that if you have this kind of car, you’ll have these desired qualities. What I also found striking is that according to self-witnessing reports, drivers frequently reveal that they correlate the car’s appearance with its driver. Many attribute luxury cars with rich, stylish, competent, and educated owners while old, unattractive cars are attributed to dirty, lazy and unreliable owners. Even though this does not hold true a lot of the times, drivers continue to think this way.
This section also talks about how ego and self-image are intertwined with a sense of control and power expressed in the names manufacturers give to their models: Jaguar, Cougar, Eagle, Mustang and Blazer to name a few. These names evoke emotions like impulse, free-spirited, partying, dream, and passion. The marketing involved in car commercials appeal to our sense of attainment and is not just simply a male preoccupation with power and dominance. There are also many songs that talk about cars and imply taking pride in your vehicle, superiority, and independence. Another point was that a new car is sold as a status symbol, an extension of the self, competitive and exclusive.
But there is a downside that comes with the way we feel about our enthusiasm for dream cars because these mental images can be internalized and used as symbols of how we should be driving and how we perceive ourselves in relation to other cars and their drivers. I chose this selection because I agree that car commercials imply that one can have desirable qualities if one has a certain type of car. I also feel that it contributes to the current negative culture of disrespect on the highways because drivers have an exaggerated sense of superiority when driving certain cars. Car commercials have a way of pitting drivers against the rest of the world by boosting the viewer’s self-image with words such as "beyond unique", "supra-distinctive" or "ultra-knockout". In essence, these commercials can be like self-fulfilling prophecies. I agree with the book that motorists should not take their image of being right and turning it into being righteous. Motorists should love their cars, take pride in doing the right thing especially when it comes to buying, maintenance, or handling on the road. This section relates to the course topic because we focus on lifelong driver self-improvement and with that, more people can make their love for cars be more compatible with supportive driving.
Reference
James, Leon and Nahl, Diane. Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warfare. New York: Prometheus Books, 2000.
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