My Proposal for Lifelong Driver Education

By Mark Corpuz

Instructions Click Here

• Preface

  • Report 2 is titled "My Driving Personality Makeover Project".  The purpose of Report 2 is to recognize your driving style and driving philosophies.  You are also required to make changes in any bad habits you discover by intervention.  You have to design an experiment to help make those changes.  By constructing a well thought out experiment you will be able to focus on the problems and make changes.

     

  • I kept a journal/diary of my observations when I was behind the wheel of a vehicle.  I recorded all of my feelings, attitudes, and behaviors.  I especially kept count on how many times my 3 focused bad habits occurred.  After about a weeks worth of driving I reviewed my notes and established that my Baseline.  The following 2 weeks I continued to keep a journal/diary of my observations when I was behind the wheel.  Although, this time I tried to intervene whenever I noticed a bad habit.  For example, I would try not to drive under the influence of alcohol, I would try to keep my cool and pull to the side every time somebody tailgated me, or I would role my tinted windows down to prevent my verbal road rage.

     

  • This assignment has helped me realize that I have bad driving habits.  That I need to change and can change these habits to become a better, safer driver.  This is useful to me because I can stop endangering the lives of others on the road.  I can also prevent situations from getting worse.  For example, what if I retaliated against the wrong tailgater?  This person could be high on drugs or just plain crazy.  He might just get so upset to the point of crashing into me.  Same goes with my bad habit of Verbal Road Rage.  I may just say the wrong thing to the wrong person and get my ass beat.  From the beginning of the semester I thought of myself as a good driver.  That there is nothing much I could learn from this course.  But now, I realize that I am not such a good driver and that there is room for me to change my driving habits.

     

  • The purpose of Report 3 is to create a lifelong driver education proposal.

     

• Introduction

  • Chapter 9 of Road Rage and Aggressive Driving by Leon James and Diane Nahl's is titled "Lifelong Driver Education".  This chapter is broken down into 6 sections:

    • Teenagers at Risk

    • Driver-Zed

    • Driving Psychology Curriculum

    • Post Licensing:  The QDC Approach

    • Roadrageous Video Course

    • Older Drivers at Risk

       

    •  Teenagers at Risk

      • This section mentions how car crashes kill more young people 15 to 20 years old.  According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a 16 year old is 42% more likely to be in a car accident compared with a 17 year old.  The reason why young teenagers have higher percentage to get into car crashes is because they are inexperience, immature, and practice risky driving.  Some states and countries have taken action to reduce the numbers by instituting a graduated licensing approach that has several licensing phases:  learner's permit, intermediate or provisional license, and then full license.  Again, only some states and countries have taken action.  Others rarely require it or fund such programs.

       

    •   Driver-Zed

      • This program, driver-Zed, was created by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.  It was developed in response to fact that 16 year olds have 20 times the number of crashes per mile as the average driver and that serious training is needed to reduce the numbers.  Driver-Zed is an interactive CD-ROM program that focuses on teaching appropriate risk management.  Under real driving conditions it has been shown improvements in the risk management skills of young teen drivers.  Dr. John Larson who is a consultant for driver-Zed believes road rage and aggressive driving practices is possible within the next 5 years if a program is instituted to teach 5 alternative beliefs to take the place of those currently held by aggressive drivers.  These beliefs that make drivers act aggressively are:

        • The fastest possible traveling time is the most desirable

        • Driving competitively, and not losing in incidents, is a self esteem issue

        • Rude drivers need to be opposed or thwarted in their forward progress

        • Drivers who don't fit the right profile are irritating and deserve to be ridiculed

        • Drivers who endanger us or insult us should be punished with some form of retaliation

      • Dr. Larson believes that aggressive driving can be cured if these faulty beliefs and their underlying attitudes are eliminated.  These negativities are fostered by culture so it is necessary to create a new set of positive beliefs.

         

    • Driving Psychology Curriculum

      • We acquire aggressive driving attitudes riding in our parents' cars, that is why a lifelong driver education should be instituted.  Lifelong driver education creates a K-12 curriculum that formalizes, augments, and transforms the current informal negative training to more positive concepts and standards.  This curriculum must employ findings from psychology about human development which is, development proceeds according to learning phases during which instruction can be effectively delivered.  There are 3 aspects of our driving personality that determine our driving behavior which is the affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor.  It is important to assess each of the 3 areas because the entire personality of an individual is involved in driving.  

       

    • Post Licensing:  The QDC Approach

      • In addition to the K-12 curriculum, adult drivers need continuing training through Quality Driving Circles (QDC).  These are volunteer groups that compose of 2-10 drivers who meet regularly to help and encourage each other to follow a driving self improvement program.  Groups like these increase the likelihood that change will be successful.  These groups are inexpensive and can be done both in private and commercial settings.  It can be face to face or virtual.  Face to face can be physically based in the family, neighborhood, or workplace.  Virtual can be through the phone, internat, or web based interactive experiences.  Prizes, diplomas, awards, and commendations are put in place to help keep members involved.  Currently, it only exists in experimental groups of traffic psychology students.  

       

    • Roadrageous Video Course

      • This is the first driver education course designed to teach drivers the behavioral self modification techniques that is needed to implement a lifelong driver self improvement program.  Prior driver education courses stressed the importance of attitude, but this new program focuses on problem solving and developing emotional self control and a sense of community.  The video course teaches the 3 step program which is a behavioral method for "learning to learn" new driving skills.  This is still a prototype course that involves learners in activating their "driving conscience", teaches them how to think analytically while driving, how to develop greater awareness of thoughts and emotions behind the wheel, and how to monitor actions.  This course can be done in a few hours, but there are follow up exercises and activities useful for an entire driving career.  This course is also suitable for law enforcement and commercial drivers because they also need to understand driving psychology of motorists as well as themselves as professional drivers.

       

    • Older Drivers at Risk

      • Elderly drivers because of their physical and mental state have to make adjustments that challenge their personal philosophies and ideologies.  Elderly woman have a double handicap because they need to learn how to mangage people's hostility toward both older drivers and female drivers.  Elderly drivers need to train to be alert to problems like cruising in the passing lane, and how to monitor and facilitate the activity of vehicles around them.  Especially because of their delayed reaction times.  People 65 years old and older make up 13% of the population and 17% of all motor vehicle deaths.  Few organizations have been developed to train special courses for older drivers.  American Automobile Association (AAA), AARP, and the National Safety Council offer refresher courses for seniors and there are other states that require reexamination if a driver is determined unsafe or mentally or physically unfit.  

     

  • Pause for a second, here's a few passages to think about

    • "...a sixteen year old driver is 42% more likely to be involved in a crash then a seventeen year old..." --Road Rage and Aggressive Driving by Leon James and Diane Nahl pg. 190

      • This quote I can relate to very well.  I remember how anxious I was to get my license when I was sixteen.  I didn't care if my parents thought I wasn't ready yet because at that time I felt I was and that I was the PERFECT driver.  I remember there was that minimum amount of days you have to wait after you receive your permit until you can go for your license...I made sure I took the minimum no matter how little practice I had.  So, I got on my parents case to let me get my license until they gave in.  I felt like the MAN getting my license.  I could give people rides and look cool driving.  That is until I got into an accident.  Although it wasn't really my fault, I knew it was because I wasn't even supposed to be driving in the first place.  I was already grounded from driving because I proved how irresponsible I was by coming home late one day.  Because I took the car and crashed it, I couldn't drive without my parents for a whole YEAR.  When that time came when I could drive...I knew I was more mature and a better driver.  When I think about it, the only reason why I was so anxious to get my license was to be COOL.  At that age, you'll do anything to be cool.  That is why so many teenagers get into car crashes because of the maturity level.  

         

    • "...parents can take steps to help prevent or reduce the number of crashes involving teen drivers..." --Road Rage and Aggressive Driving by Leon James and Diane Nahl pg. 192

      • This quote I would have to agree with.  With everything in life, such as driving skills, I feel parents have the greatest influence on their children's personality.  Like what the book also says, people learn their driving skills watching their parents from the back seat of the car.  With that in mind, parents can help shape their children's driving personality.  They can begin by looking closely on what they say or do while their kids are in the car with them.  And when it is time for their kids to be driving, they should be there for their kids when they are driving.  They should be willing to teach their kids how to drive, because if they don't they will not learn the right way to drive.  They will also pick up bad driving habits from others such as their friends.  And picking up habits from friends their age is definitely not good because they sill have the maturity level of teenagers.  And stats show teenagers have higher risk to get into car crashes.  So, parents are the key to good driving habits for up and coming drivers.

         

    • "People sixty five and older represent 13% of the population and 17% of all motor vehicle deaths.  The aging process reduces the driver's ability to deal with traffic incidents both physically and mentally, and increases the seriousness of injuries" --Road Rage and Aggressive Driving by Leon James and Diane Nahl

      • I chose this quote because of the statistics.  I can't believe that the elderly make up 17% of motor vehicle deaths.  But then again I can understand why those numbers are the way they are.  Older people's ability to drive decrease a lot.  The most important ability that the elderly begin to lose is reaction time.  You need good reaction time to avoid accidents.  That is why I think it is a good idea to have reexaminations for drivers who are determined to be unsafe or mentally or physically unfit.  I know that sounds unfair if you are one of the elderly, but it is just to ensure the safety of others.  When that day comes for me, I will accept it if I am deemed unfit to drive because I would understand what is at stake...the lives of others on the road.

       

  • Previous Generations

    • I went back to previous generations and landed on Tyree Woodruff from generation 17 and Heather Piper from generation 18.  I noticed they both mention the same things.  They both mention how there is lack of funds to support programs for driving education.  They also mention the K-12 curriculum that should be instilled.  Another discussion similar in both reports is the 3 basic concepts of personality; affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor.  

       

    • After reviewing both reports as well as others it is obvious that majority feel lifelong driver education is very important and also needed.  That people need to change their driving habits to make the roads safer.  The thing I didn't notice is the concern of elderly drivers.  I would think that would be a great concern but I guess their main concern is trying to start change from the new generations.  So the up and coming generations would have safer roads in the future.  

     

• Class Discussions and Lecture Notes

• My Proposal for Lifelong Driver Education

• Conclusion

• Future Generations