A Review Of
Dr. Leon James & Dr. Diane Nahl, Road Rage and Aggressive Driving, Prometheus Books, 2000
v
ÊÊIntroduction of Road Rage
This first section of
the book brings forth the identity of what road rage is.Ê They explain that it is found all over the
world and that there are ways of protecting yourself from it.
v
ÊÊThe
Mental Aspect of Aggressive Driving
Road Rage begins in
the mind.Ê This section discussed how
road rage is partly a result due to culture.Ê
Other factors that play a role are television and video games.
v
Reasons for Hostility
The hostility level of
the driver can determine Road Rage.Ê
Many unpredictable situations may arise while driving that can cause hostility,
which in turn can lead to road rage.Ê
This section talks about how outside elements play a major factor in the
disposition of the driver.
v
The Wide Range of Road Range
The three types of
Road Rage are discussed in this section. Also that peopleâs personality does
direct correlate with their driving style.Ê
Driving is said to have a Jekyll-Hyde syndrome.
v
Emotional Intelligence in Road Rage
Emotional Intelligence
is important in becoming a better driver.Ê
The role of being positive while driving is also important.Ê Being emotionally intelligent is suppose to
reduce the possibilities of having rage while driving.
v
A Technique for Drivers
This section focuses
on the three-step driver self-improvement program.Ê The program helps to improve your state of mind by changing the
way you address things.Ê The three steps
are acknowledge, witness and modify.
v
A Reflection of Parents Dealing with Road Rage
Children imitate what
their parents do behind the wheel.Ê If
you drive aggressively your child will drive aggressively.Ê Ways to reduce is by being aware of the way
you act.Ê Another thing was promoting
how to be a good passenger.
v
Encouraging the Driver to be Positive
Being a supportive
driver boosts the moral while driving.Ê
It is an effort that needs to be displayed by one or more persons.Ê Support can be displayed in many forms like
saying thank you to other drivers, or even having supportive passengers riding
with you.
v
Teen Drivers
This section entails information about teens and obtaining their license.Ê Ways of reducing the risk of teenage drivers is to put them in educational classes before they attempt to get their license.
v
Prevention Methods of Road Rage
With all of the accidents and injuries, some states have passed congressional laws that forbid aggressive driving.Ê The lives that will be saved and the money that will be saved is what these laws are hoping for.
v
Setting the Limit of Tolerance
Putting a halt to
aggressive driving with a little help is what this section is about.Ê They suggest traffic cameras, speed traps,
and other sorts of things.ÊÊ Anything
that will help to stop the road rage from happening is what they are trying to
do.ÊÊÊ
v
Getting With the Times
This section discusses
the possibilities of accessories that may be installed into your cars.Ê Things like sound system.Ê They realized the growing trend in the need
for music while driving.Ê There are all
sorts of accessories, but all of these lead to pride of your car.Ê Which in turn leads to more rage and
possessiveness towards your vehicle.
The Publicâs Concern w/ Road Rage on the Web:
I
definitely believe that the media plays as crucial of a role in aggressive
driving as parents do.Ê Since the public
condones aggressive driving it will only make sense that children will learn
from movies, television, and other forms of information.ÊÊ I myself like to drive aggressively and
feed off of movies like the ãFast and the Furiousä and ãGone in 60 Seconds.äÊ The 90âs are shaped by things being fast so
it is only natural that are driving styles and impatience with be shaped as
well also.Ê
The
web sites I used to formulated my opinion are as follows:
http://www.aloha.net/~dyc/articles/testimony.htm
http://www.aggressive.drivers.com/board/messages/25/47.html
http://www.stats.org/statswork/dfp-roadrage.htm
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/98aug/roadrage.htm
http://www.safeyoungdrivers.com/syd/news/post0898.htm
Getting the Word Out:
Problems and Solutions:
There
were several problems established in the book.Ê
The first that comes to my mind was dealing with aggression.Ê The wrong way to go about this is by
venting.Ê Venting is probably the
easiest way to deal with problems.Ê
However, as the book suggests controlling your outburst and nasty
gestures by turning them around is the ultimate way.Ê
Another
problem I found in this book deals with children and road rage.Ê The problems are teaching children to stop
their negative attitudes and learn to behave in and around cars.Ê Solutions for this are much simpler.Ê Positive reinforcement or rewards for good
behavior are essential.Ê We must reward
the positive and keep encouraging them to continue this good behavior.
Evaluation of Exercises:
¯ The first exercise I will discuss is Acting As If.Ê This exercise works by always acting out positively.Ê While driving, you may start to feel upset.Ê With this exercise you must act out oppositely and smile.Ê It states that if you do this positive act it will internally start to cheer you up.Ê I learned that it is quite hard to stay mad when you are smiling.Ê I donât know what it was but I tried it and it made my disposition a little merrier.Ê As a reader shall learn, it will make your trips go a lot better when you stay in the positive side of the spin cycle.Ê The reader can follow a diagram given on page 128 to get them started.
¯ This exercise deals with changing the way you deal with situations that arise with driving.Ê This exercise works by taking a situation and analyzing it.Ê The important step is to weed out the negative thought and try to make an intelligent remedy instead.Ê I learned that with this strategy I will get less angry with the other person or situation after assessing how irrational my thinking error was.Ê The reader can also learn the same thing as they go through this exercise.ÊÊ
¯ In the child and road rage chapter, there was an emphasis on the part the passenger can play.Ê Here is an exercise for the passenger.Ê This exercise works by giving a passenger a list of two columns: one with good behaviors and the other with bad behaviors.Ê During a trip the passenger needs to mark down good and bad behaviors.Ê As a passenger I learned that I am quite a good passenger.Ê The only fault I may have is talking too much to the driver.Ê A reader can learn here that it is not only the responsibility of the driver but a passenger also plays a part in arriving to the destination safely.
¯ This exercise puts an emphasis on the passenger again.Ê The passenger becomes more aware of driving etiquette and safety.Ê The passenger is now to observe the mannerism of the driver.ÊÊ Here I learned that I am a aggressive driver.Ê The one comment that was given to me was that I needed to become more patient with the drivers around me.Ê As the reader, one will learn that it is inappropriate to be aggressive.Ê There are key points given in the checklist to work on as a start.
¯ The exercise on Partnership Driving is a perfect way of seeing yourself.Ê It works by having a partner to ride around with you and have them freely assess the way that you are driving at that moment.Ê There is no better way of seeing yourself than actually be doing at that time.Ê This procedure help a person who is in denial to see what things about their driving is wrong.Ê A reader can get a first hand look into the ways there are perceived upon.Ê
¯ This last exercise is probably the most difficult.Ê It is a scenario analysis of a Teenagerâs unrecognized road rage behavior.Ê This exercise works by giving a emotionally challenged behavior, then a situation.Ê Then on your part you have to figure out how each situation can lead to trouble and what would be smart behavior instead.Ê The reader can get a lot of information this way because they are forced to think things through.Ê Normally if they were in front of friends they would just do the wrong thing, but since they get the opportunity to think before hand maybe they can avoid the situation.Ê
Source of Information:
The
literature reviews that are given in the book do can in handy when dealing with
psychology.Ê After each chapter there is
a section referred to as notes.Ê In this
section is where you will find the bibliography used for the chapter.Ê Throughout the chapter there is endnotes,
which correspond with the bibliography.Ê
It is really well laid out and that makes it much easier to read.Ê Each source that is listed gives the title
and where and who published the works.Ê
In psychology there is so many sources out there that reliance is not
always a strong point.Ê However when you
read a book like this that clearly has a lot to do with psychology, the sources
reliability is much higher.Ê The index
of this book is what I like the most.Ê I
hate books that do not have detailed indexes.Ê
When a reader is trying to find a word they can remember it is much
easier to recall it in the index.Ê I
have looked it through and came to the conclusion that is was very well planned
out.Ê
Mental Health and Stress:
In
chapter two the book discuss mental health and the form of stress.Ê It is said that stressors comes in many ways
like: immobility, restriction, regulation, lack of personal control and so
on.Ê In all of these stressors anger is
found in all of them.Ê Anger is linked
with aggressive driving.Ê There were
fifteen total stressors discussed in this section which all are related to
driving and the drivers.Ê
Relevance to Psychology/ & People Who Fit This Description:
With
my background in psychology I would best describe this book as learning to
become emotionally intelligent.Ê I would
categorize this book as being open to all groups.Ê The topics discussed relate to cognitive, developmental, behavioral,
and social psychology. I think that this book deals with people and their cognitive
scripts.Ê We need to find a new way of
thinking for the better.Ê Developmental
psychology is also involved because learning to become a safe and good
driver/passenger begins from infancy and continues throughout life.Ê Behavioral and Social psychology deals with
the social aspects of the world that deal with people learning from their
environment.Ê It is like a self-help
book but in the other end of the spectrum it can also be a way for a parent to
teach a child about responsible driving.Ê
This book definitely has no age restriction or limitation.Ê It is widely useful for drivers and
passengers.Ê After reading this book I
think that I would be a wise decision for everyone who drives or rides to read
this book or something similar.Ê Even
though not everyone will transform into better drivers it will definitely get
them thinking about the way they drive and act as passengers.
Famous Quotations:
ãThese
kids were playing this dangerous game of throwing small rocks at cars.Ê I felt pangs of danger!Ê Danger!Ê
My heart started beating very fast.Ê
I honked loudly at them and glared as I screamed, ãStop that!äÊ when I drove by.Ê They kept throwing rocks as I passed by.Ê I was angry that their parents could let
them do that.Ê I decided to talk it over
with my own kids that night to ask them what they would do if their friends
wanted to throw things at cars.Ê I
really believe that kids who think its okay to do little violent acts will
later think itâs OK to do more violence.Ê
It shows that they do not value life and property, which I want my kids
to value.ä
In
this passage I found it very interesting that instead of taking out her
frustration and negativity on those children she turned her energy into a more
positive manner.Ê I truly believe that if
she did stop and talk to those children they would not have listened.Ê I think that it was commendable that she
looked at that behavior and
realized that she should address them with her own children.Ê Many parents criticize others children
without realizing that their children do the same acts.Ê This act from a mother is very noteworthy in
my own opinion.
ãThe
Virginia state police came up behind me doing 85-plus, I moved over, and then
they stop dead and pull into one of those emergency vehicle only lanes to set
up a speed trap.Ê Admit it, you never
drive the speed limit, and you probably donât even have to when not on duty,
since the cop who pulled you over would recognize you and let you go.Ê As a police officer you should not only be
enforcing the laws but also setting an example for others to follow.ä
This
example is very true.Ê The book states
that it is a complaint from drivers about why police speed even when they do
not have to.Ê Everywhere this is true.Ê I personally had seen a cop turn on his lights
to get through a busy intersection.Ê
Once he made it through he turned the lights off and went on his merry
way.Ê It is quite disappointing when you
see officers in your own community abusing power like this.Ê
Knowledge I Gained From the Book:
From
this book I gained a lot of insight about my driving and myself.Ê In many ways I did not realize that I was an
aggressive driver.Ê I learned that it is
not an easy step to make but more a necessary one.Ê With good driving habits I will be making the roads that much
safer to ride.Ê When I have children I
will want them to be safe and to become safe drivers also.Ê This book has taught me that with emotional
intelligence and a lot of practice I can improve on my aggression and help the
aggression of others as well.
Strength and Weakness:
I
think that the strength of this book is the index.Ê While I was reading through the book I found myself wanting to
refer back to a particular topic.Ê If I were
halfway into the book it would be quite hard distinguish which page it was
on.Ê With the use of the very detailed
index it makes it all the more possible of getting the full message that this
book has to offer.Ê