My Proposal for Lifelong Driver Education
by SAYO YOSHINO
A link to Instructions for Your Report 3
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy20/g20lecturenotes409a.htm
1. Preface
A link to Report 2: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409as2004/sayo/report2.htm
Brief review of Report 2:
In report 2,
several checklists and one driver self- modification exercise that are
introduced in Dr. James’s Road Rage book are presented. Specifically, two checklists which measure
driver’s road rage tendency and driver’s friendliness to a passenger, and one
modification method called partnership driving were described in the report
2. All of these are tools to modify a
driver’s behavior to a more supportive driving behavior.
Since I do not
drive a car, I tried to modify my driving partner’s driving behavior in my experiment. My driving partner acknowledged that he needs
to modify his driving style to become a more supportive driver. This was the most challenging part, yet it
was the very first step in the modification processes. Then, once he passed the acknowledging part,
the next step was witnessing his driving behavior. Lastly, modifying his driving behavior was
the step that will get you much closer to becoming a supportive driver. In report 2, both the two check lists and the
experiment cover the three steps “A W M” (Acknowledge, Witness, Modify)
differently but effectively.
Brief summary of the conclusion
section:
Use of the
checklists and the partnership driving exercise were very useful in identifying
and modifying my partner’s driving style and philosophy. Throughout the
modification process, I found several aggressive habits my driving partner did
such as off sight for more than 1 second, not making enough space between his
car and a car in front, making turns too fast and so on.
According to the
checklist result, my driving partner’s road tendency was moderate before doing
the partnership driving exercise. In
fact, he had overcome “A W M” (acknowledge, witness, and modify) one step at a
time and modified all his aggressive habits gradually. Throughout the exercise, my driving partner
not only changed his driving behavior but also changed his driving
philosophy. It was identifiable through
his improvement of his score on the checklist (How Passenger- friendly are You) he took every time before he drove.
Having done the
exercise, I truly admit the effectiveness of each attempt in report 2. Also, my image about driver self-
modification exercise has changed. I had
the image that the exercise was designed to teach supportive driving behavior
to a driver, but I found that my assumption was not true. The philosophy of the exercise is thinking of
the driving experience as a team. Unless
both a driver and a passenger cooperate, no better change will occur.
About
Report 3:
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. In addition to
these, based on what I have learned so far, proposing lifelong driver education
was the aim for this report. Since driving
education presented in this report covers the entire lifespan, many issues will
be looked at in a broader perspective rather than through individual cases.
2. Introduction
Review
of the Chapter on Lifelong Driver Education (Road
Rage and Aggressive Driving)
While most
teenagers are planning to have a driver’s license, many adolescents fifteen to
twenty years old die in car crashes. In
addition to their inexperience in driving, teenagers tend to engage in risky
behavior. Obviously, driving education
is necessary for adolescents. There are several
approaches to it. One is driving under
parental supervision. The other way is graduated
licensing in which newly drivers are allowed to drive under restricted
conditions such as prohibition of unnecessary nighttime drive.
Lifelong
driver education is necessary throughout our life. In fact, even infants build up driving
attitude through riding in their parents’ cars.
At any point in life concern for the three basic parts of the personality
(affective, cognitive and sensorimotor) are important. In Dr. James’s lifelong driver education,
kindergarten and elementary school children especially focus on affective
driving skills since they do not drive a car yet and their growth of cognitive
part of self is not yet mature. In
middle school, in addition to the affective, children can start focusing on the
cognitive part of driving behavior.
Then, by the time children enter high school, besides the affective and
cognitive self, the sensorimotor driving skills will
have become their main focus.
In
lifelong driver education, the day we get a driver’s license is NOT the end of our
driving education. Adults drivers also
need to keep updating their driving skills such as by using QDCs
(Quality Driving Circles) in which several drivers get together with the same
goal of improving their driving through new multi- task training. Furthermore, teenagers are not the only
population who engage in risky driving.
Elderly drivers are also at risk due to the physical change and old
fashioned personal philosophy and ideology.
previous reviews of this book in the
generational curriculum
After I reviewed
many generational curriculums on the web, I especially chose three people each
from different generation as I listed below.
Akira Sasabe, G7, Children’s Self- Witnessing Reports as Road
Users
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459f97/akira/home.html
Dina,
Takahashi, G6, Quality Driving Circles
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459ss97/dtakahas/home.html
Jason Nakasato, G2, My Driving Personality Makeover Plan
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/student2/p30/homepage.html
Three of
them mentioned about specific techniques to observe and improve driving
behavior which are Children’s Self- Witnessing Reports as Road Users, Quality
Driving Circles, and My Driving Personality Makeover Plan, but I could not find
the word “Lifelong Driving Education” in any of the web. In other words, none of the people mention
about the necessity of driving lesson throughout our life. All I could find was focus on just one or two
generations which are children and college students.
3. Class
Discussions and Lecture Notes
3
class presentations
1.
Road Rage Nursery
Road rage nursery
means kids copy parents and older people’s behavior such as swearing at other
drivers.
I agree with this
idea. If children
frequently hear their parents swearing at other drivers while they are driving,
then the child would be conditioned by such situation and think such behavior
is normal part of driving habit.
2. Rewards for
good passengers
Psychological
studies have shown that kids who learn in positive environment and get positive
rewards have better understanding of what their parents’ value are than kids
who learn in negative environment and get negative rewards. Thus, parents should emphasize on positive
aspects of driving when they give driver’s education to kids.
I agree with
the idea. I think what the psychological
studies have shown can apply in teaching kids appropriate driving manner. By using positive aspects of driving such as
telling kids “Thank you for being good passengers and helping me concentrate on
driving,” surely kids feel satisfied with right actions they made and gain
their self- confidence.
03/29/04,
Supportive Driving (Chapter 8)
1.
Benefits of Supportive Driving (pg. 167- 171)
Supportive
driving like slow a car speed to avoid tailgating, make space for other car to
enter the lane to assist flow the road condition is also emotionally
intelligence because drivers can eliminate unnecessary car accidents and
produce positive relation to other drivers.
I agree
with this idea. Supportive driving and
emotionally intelligent are very simple and costless that all drivers need to
do it to change how they think and react in a situation. By doing so, drivers can eliminate incidents
and evoking anger feeling.
2.
Motorist- to- motorist communication (pg. 171- 173)
Motorist-
to- motorist communication means a system of communication like motor signals
is one way to reduce incidents.
I do not
think motor signals are useful way to minimize incidents. Like my presenter mentioned, people
interpreting the signals differently.
Use of motor signals is additional burden for drivers. One of the reasons is in order to use motor
signals, all drivers need to study for it.
Another reason is motor signals can be another potentially dangerous
multi- tasking for drivers because in order to show their hand gestures, they
need to hold steering wheel in one hand for while.
04/25/04,
Musings of a Traffic Psychologist
(Reference
9: www.driving.org/articles/ musings.htm.)
1.
Masculine and Feminine Modes of Driving
The definition of
masculine and feminine modes of driving is that male and female drivers use
either masculine modes (view car as speedy and light) or feminine modes of
driving (view car as solid and big, drive safer and slower pace than masculine
mode drivers).
My presenter
stated that introducing feminine modes of driving is hard for teenage
males. I disagree with my presenter’s
assumption about male teenagers. Since
they have adequate level of affection, cognition, and sensorimotor
by then, they would understand the importance of feminine mode driving, if
driver’s education taught benefits and technique of such driving style.
2. Traffic
Relationships
Traffic
Relationships is that each day, millions of drivers interact with other drivers
for very short period of time, and during the interaction, people perceive
other people’s action as either positively or negatively. In such environment, each driver to have
sense of community and understanding is important to gain positive perception.
I agree
with this idea. Even though drivers
interact with somebody they do not know, we know that all of them are living in
a state, a country or the earth. Having
sense of community and understanding is important for drivers to have broader
perspective of this world. You never
know that a man who interacts one second while you are driving is the person
who delivered your package to your friend.
Thus, having positive perception (i.e. show appreciation) of others is
always a good thing.
3ideas
mentioned in the Chapter on Lifelong Driver Education.
1.
Driver- Zed
Due to the
fact that 16 years old drivers have 20 times higher crashes per mile compare to
average driver, the driver- ZED program was created by the AAA (American
Automobile Association). The program
emphasize on a lesson about adequate risk management.
The
content of the program is noteworthy for me because teaching how to manage
risks seems concrete approach than just showing risky situations to teenage
drivers.
The information above came from
Road Rage and Aggressive Driving by Dr. Leon James & Dr. Diane Nahl: CH9 Lifelong Driver Education, P193
2.
Post Licensing: The QDC Approach
Quality
Driving Circles (QDCs) consist of 2 to 10 drivers who
get together frequently by face- to face or virtual meeting (telephone,
internet) to help each other to be supportive drivers. There are many trainings drivers can do. One of the examples is a safe multitasking
training such as dashboard dining and cell phone use.
The QDC
approach is noteworthy for me because any people (drivers, passengers,
bicyclists, pedestrians) and generations (infant to elderly) can form groups
and focus on what they wish to improve in traffic environment. Also, unlike try to pursue one’s goal alone,
members in a QDC group can pursue the same goal by encouraging each other.
The information above came from Road Rage and Aggressive Driving by Dr.
Leon James & Dr. Diane Nahl: CH9 Lifelong Driver Education, P199- 202
3.
Roadrageous Video
Course
The Roadrageous Video Course includes teaching of behavioral
self- modification techniques for drivers.
More in depth, this course focus on three things which are solving
problems, gaining emotional self- control and a sense of community. Since this course introduces how to make good
intention in driving, drivers learn differently from traditional driving course,
but effectively.
The roadrageous video course is noteworthy for me because these
dense teachings are already formed as a video, unlike teaching by each
individual, the producer can present what they intend to present. Also, it is convenient for viewers, too. This is because they can watch more than one
times, anywhere they want (if there is a VCR).
Furthermore, teaching of emotional control techniques is definitely useful
for any drivers in real driving situations.
The information above came from Road Rage and Aggressive Driving by Dr.
Leon James & Dr. Diane Nahl: CH9 Lifelong Driver Education, P202- 203
4. My Proposal
for Lifelong Driver Education
Infancy -
Birth to 18- 24 months of age
Toddlerhood - 12- 15 months to 2- 3 years of age
Early Childhood - 2-
3 years to 5- 6 years of age
Middle Childhood - 6
years to about 12 years of age
Adolescence -
about 12 years to 18- 21 years of age
Young Adulthood - 18-
21 years to 40 years of age
Middle Adulthood - 40
years to 60- 65 years of age
Older adulthood - 60-
65 years of age to death
A word of caution:
The list above is
conventionally divided the infant to older adulthood. Since there are other ways to show people’s
age, for instance, biological, social and psychological age, the above list
does not necessarily fit to everyone.
Biological age: a
person’s position with regard to his or her expected lifespan.
Social age: an
individual’s current status as compared with cultural norms
Psychological
age: an individual’s current ability to cope with and adapt to social and
environmental demands.
The information above came from Human Development by Grace J. Craig and
Don Baucum: CH13 Young Adulthood, P440
Infancy - Birth to 18- 24 months of age
Infants have not
reached mature level of threefold self (affective, cognitive, sensorimotor) compare to adults’ threefold self. Above all, the development of affective part
of self is the fastest. Thus, during
infancy, my proposal of lifelong driving education mainly focuses on affective
part of development in infants. At this
stage, infants are not fully capable of controlling themselves, so the way
parents interact with infants
is a key. There are 2 things what
parents should do, when they take infants a drive. One is try to use positive language while
they drive (avoid using swear words).
This is because if infants hear more positive language than swear words,
they catch positive one more than the other one. Second is to try to drive as safe as possible
in order for infants to have positive impression about driving. This is because driving experience as either
drivers or passengers are necessary part of life in our car culture.
Toddlerhood - 12- 15
months to 2- 3 years of age
Like infants,
toddlers have not reached mature level of threefold self (affective, cognitive,
sensorimotor), yet.
Hence, as infants, toddlerhood emphasizes on
affective part of self in my proposal of lifelong driving education. At this period, toddlers are both passengers
and pedestrians in traffic environment.
Parents continuously need to use positive language and drive safe. In addition to these, providing positive
media exposure is another key. It is
better for toddlers to watch cartoon and other mass media (TV programs,
commercials, movies) that include supportive driving than aggressive driving
behavior. In order to make this happen,
cooperation from media industries is necessary.
Early Childhood - 2- 3 years to 5- 6 years of age
Like toddlers,
children in early childhood have not reached mature level of threefold self
(affective, cognitive, sensorimotor), still. Thus, like toddlers, children in early
childhood mainly focus on affective part of self in my proposal of lifelong
driving education. However, it does not
mean that children at this period do not have cognitive and sensorimotor
skill. In fact, children in this age can
think before they act, and they can walk and run freely. Therefore, proving a traffic park, which have traffic light, cross walk,
road for bicycles and skate boards instead of vehicles, could be a positive
exposure for children to experience since they can learn about traffic rules
while they are playing. Also, inside the
park, children see presence of other children, so they can help and encourage
each other for right behavior.
In addition to
all the approaches presented in previous periods, introducing a self- control
technique to children is another key. During the early childhood, children are
involved in traffic environment as passengers, pedestrians, and
bicyclists. Like drivers, children
encounter some stressful situations like sitting inside a car for several
hours, waiting for a signal to turn green.
In order to overcome such situations, introducing little meditation like
closing their eyes (if it is possible) and counting to ten is useful.
Middle Childhood - 6 years to about 12 years of age
Children in
middle childhood have been close to mature level of threefold self (affective,
cognitive, sensorimotor), but not fully. Thus, children in middle childhood mainly
focus on affective part of self in my proposal of lifelong driving
education. Writing journals which
include traffic report and their feeling is a useful way to be aware of
happenings around them and their emotion.
Then, teachers or parents read children’s journals and write positive
comments, and give back to the children.
After that, children read the comments about their journals, and try
modifying their behavior and feeling next time.
Adolescence - about 12 years to 18- 21 years of age
It has been 12
years focusing on affective part of self, now is the time start mainly focusing
on cognitive part of self. In the beginning
of adolescence, taking a video of their parents’ driving behavior is a good
start to analyze driving behavior objectively.
It is also fun experience for adolescents to making an original video. Once adolescents have received drivers’
licenses, parents can take a video of their children while they are
driving. After that, children and
parents can analyze their behavior by watching the video. It is also useful to compare the video of
their parents and children.
Teaching of immobility
and management techniques by either school teachers or parents is also helpful
for adolescents. Immobility means that
during driving, most of the body remains still and such condition leads to
tension. The possible management
technique for immobility is use of breathing in which people inhale as much as
they can, then exhale at once. By having
understanding of body mechanism and management technique, adolescents do not
need to stay in unhappy state of mind.
Young and Middle Adulthood - 18- 21 years to 40 & 40 years to 60- 65 years of age
In addition to
affective and cognitive part of self, people in young and middle adulthood
mainly focus on sensorimotor. Continuation of driving education is
important for them due to increase in multi- tasking while people are
driving. In order to learn new skills in
driving, attending a group driving lesson is useful. Since they have chance to meet new people, in
addition to gaining skill, they can expand their network with other
people. Besides the driving lesson,
people try to avoid risky driving and show concern for other drivers regularly
is a path to supportive driving.
Older adulthood - 60- 65 years of age to death
Older adults who
have been driving for more than 40 years must be expert in driving, but they
need to inspect threefold self (affective, cognitive, sensorimotor)
once again. Having discussion
about driving with newly licensed drivers is one way to review older adults’
threefold self. Also, mind preparation
before they drive is one strategy to remain calm in any situations. For instance, checking vision, hearing,
destination, driving schedule before they drive gain their confidence that they
are capable of driving behavior.
4. Conclusion
This assignment
help me identify social and cultural attitudes in our society regarding driving
by getting various information from the text book (chapter 9 Lifelong Driver
Education in Road Rage and
Aggressive Driving by Dr. Leon James & Dr. Diane Nahl),
prior generations reports, articles written by Dr. James and my classmates’
presentation. Since driver education
starts from infancy, an understanding of driving psychology is important for
parents to raise their children in a socially acceptable way. Parents’ responsibility of their children
continues even after their children have received a driver’s license. Parents themselves need to be supportive
drivers in order to do all the things presented above. In the near future we may see that our
society is not fully ready to support the growing number of drivers in the older
population.
Nobody knows the absolute right way to
handle all the situations regarding driving that we have in this society. However, people concerned about driving should
understand that an aggressive driving style creates more risky situations than a
supportive driving style. All the
knowledge I have gained throughout this semester is definitely useful for me to
be a supportive driver in the near future.
Also, I can tell other people about the many issues surrounding driving,
and I can guide them to how they can better themselves.
In the beginning of this semester, I
did not even know driving psychology existed.
Also, I was surprised that driving psychology actually involves driving
cars. Furthermore, I was thinking that
all that matters in driving cars is the drivers’ driving skill. As the semester went on, all my assumptions
about driving psychology were broken down.
Now, I do have an understanding that driving is a complex behavior that
involves the threefold self (affective, cognitive and sensorimotor). Unless drivers have a balanced threefold
self, their driving behavior becomes risky and harmful to themselves and
others. I predict that driving behavior
will take a more supportive driving direction in our society over the next few
years because each year more and more people are learning about driving
psychology and how it concerns every individual’s driving situations.
5. Future Generations
Being a
generation 20 student was a precious experience. In the beginning, I had several worries
about this course. One was my
lack of knowledge about making and uploading web pages. Second was the lack of knowledge about driving itself
because I have never driven before. However, I
could solve my worries one by one by getting help from many people (Dr. James,
friends, classmates, people at computer room), and resources (Road Rage and
Aggressive Driving book and articles by Dr. Leon James, prior generations work
on web). Therefore,
there is nothing to worry about for future generation students except for the
dead line for each report. Like
previous students stated, doing assignments ahead of time was necessary in this
course.