How Driver's Communicate with Each Other

How Drivers Communicate with Each Other
Brandi Ashby
Psychology 459
Generation 7

Table of Contents
Introductions and Predictions
Situations
Methods of Interaction and Effectiveness
Recommendations
Additional Research
Epilogue

INTRODUCTION

On two occasions I drove around the island acting as a driver witness. Whenever I saw something of interest taking place I spoke into a voice activated tape recorder. I used the recorder for assurance, so that I did not forget or embellish any details of the observations.

Before hitting the road, I pondered my own safety momentarily. Was I capable of all this extra observation while safely maintaining my composure behind the wheel? Soon I realized the task would not be easy. I did, however, manage to catch myself barely escaping an accident on several occasions. This was due to my deep engrossment into the observations.

I took my witnessing onto the freeway, downtown and on the back roads of Oahu as well. My prediction was that back road drivers would be more considerate and yielding to drivers and pedestrians than those in the city area. I will describe three different situations that commonly occur and methods of interaction for each.

SITUATIONS

-Making room in one's lane for another:

This is seen as a common courtesy here in Hawaii, but on the mainland it is not as common. Being born and reared in Kentucky the attitude there always seemed to be "every man for himself". Needless to say that meant driving etiquette was not exempt from this selfish attitude.

While driving on the H-1 freeway in the mid-afternoon rush this "making room for others" situation was a constant. The driver of the rust color Gremlin needs over to exit and the line of BMW's must consent or he will miss his exit. What do you think happened? I will say that I saw a couple of drivers pretend not to see the Gremlin and it's hopeful turn signal. However, the majority of drivers braked and made way. It's a warm feeling when someone lets you in and likewise when you let someone else in. This was a pleasurable observation because everyone seemed so willing to help.

Besides, after a long day of work and sitting in traffic one would think that people in Hawaii would be rushed to get home and ignore the pleading turn signals of those wishing for a chance to change lanes. This is not what I found.

-Yielding the way:

This situation was a very easy one to observe because my route home from school has me traveling through a yield sign. I always watch the driver in front of me, as well as the oncoming drivers too. Even before my observations began for this report I enjoyed watching the interactions at this spot daily.

Many days continuously I observed oncoming traffic stop and allow a few of the yielding cars to proceed across in front of them. The main flow of traffic was interrupted but the drivers in this case initialized the action by stopping their cars. A simple expression of kindness that took no more an 5-7 seconds.

Another observation I wanted to note was yielding the way to pedestrians . Drivers in Hawaii seem more willing to give space and yield to another car, than to a human being. If one really thinks about this it does not make good sense. A human being is vulnerable to harm by a car or even death. That is not to say that a car and its occupants are not vulnerable to harm, but please pick on someone your own size!

Many children on their way through a crosswalk to school are taken out by unyielding drivers. Not to mention the number of elderly people in Hawaii that are hit annually in Hawaii.

-Making turns

To me the ultimate upset on the road is when someone fails to signal for a turn. By my observations, I am not the only person in Hawaii who is perturbed by such a lack of consideration. All it takes is a little forethought. Generally, but not always, people will forgive the lost tourist who hasn't a clue when or where they are going to turn. It is the last second or absent blinker that will send one up the road on fire.

I saw what I described above all to many times in the Waikiki and downtown area of Honolulu. This is understandable due to the large amount of tourist in that area. The drivers behind them try to have patience but eventually they ended up overtaking them or just enduring.

METHODS OF INTERACTION AND EFFECTIVENESS

There are only so many ways one can communicate with another driver while in their car. Vehicular communication, gestures, facial expressions or the least likely used, verbal communication, are all widely used. The most common form of communication on Hawaii's roads is vehicular communication. From what I saw when driver's were really trying to holdback but at the same time wished to express dismay they did so with their cars. Whether it be by braking quickly, revving the engine, tailgating or flashing the headlights at another vehicle, the intentions were clear.

Gestures are also something commonly used in Hawaii. The shaka sign is a gesture of the hand flashed at another driver meaning "thanks man for letting me over" or whatever. The notorious 'flying of the bird', otherwise known as being 'flipped off' is also a regular gesture used by drivers. Men and women alike do it. The hardest part about this is getting a confession from a woman that yes, she actually 'flew the bird'. Not a confession one is likely to get from a woman; however, it should be noted that when I was observing I saw equality in the 'birds that were flown' from the two sexes. In addition to the gestures listed I saw two drivers throw their hands in the air as if to say, "what kinda #@!*# driver are you?" Gestures can get a driver into serious altercations on the road and should be well thought through beforehand.

Facial Expressions to me are the least controllable gesture we perform on the road. If someone cuts you off the face just expresses what the mind and body are feeling. Pleasure, pain, happiness or anger, the face is a book where the rest of the world reads our emotions. Those emotions are usually put out for the world to see before one even realizes. By that time the damage is already done.

The final method of interaction, as well, the least likely to be used, is verbal communication. Again I will stress the difference of Hawaii from most places. The climate is mild year around here therefore, more windows are rolled down, more convertibles or jeeps-like vehicles are driven and more people ride in the back of trucks. Obviously there are more opportunities to make verbal expressions to other drivers here than in most places on the mainland. The nice thing is that I did not observe one incident of negative communication between drivers on either of my outings.

RECOMMENDATIONS

This part required long thought. The only recommendation that I have is similar to what the psychology 459 class discussed and that is small group meetings. From these small groups they could form other small break-off groups to arouse the curiosity of other. The next step would be to go on television morning or talk shows to help with the awareness. Even the internet would be a great place to post information on official methods that are new to the public.

ADDITIONAL RESEARCH

Web Search

I started my Internet seach by going to the Excite search engine. I tried many different combinations of words, looking for a website that would give me more information. These are the results that I found using Excite. The words that are in bold are the words that I entered to search.

Driver and Communication

Turned up a lot of information about computer software.
Driving and Cars and Communication

Turned up a link to Josephine Allen's homepage. She was a student in one of the earlier generations of this class. Also another link to former student Laura Izutsu.

Since I wasn't having too much luck in Excite, I decided to switch over to AltaVista. Here are my results:

Driving and cars and communication

No useful results
Drivers and cars and communication
No useful results
Driver and communication
A lot of information on computer software, just like my Excite search.
Automobile and communication and drivers
No results
Driving and honking
No useful results
Changing lanes and driving
No useful results
Turning and driving
Finally!! The Arizona State Drivers Manual
Talking and driving
One man's pet peeves about the way people drive on the road.

I was a little disappointed at the results that I was getting, but wasn't sure what other words I could use to help me find more information. Then, I was looking at Andrew Shapiro's page and I saw the word courtesy. I thought it would be a good idea to try searching using this word, because so many aspects of this report relate to driver courtesy. So back I went....

Results from the Yahoo search engine:

Driver and courtesy

The Death of the Courtesy DriverYou can read how one man interprets the decline of courtesy on American highways.
This next site goes along perfectly with the idea of driver safety. The people who run this website have a product called Signal2000. The signal is supposed to allow you to inform other drivers that it is okay for them to merge into your lane. There are graphics here to make the idea easier to understand.

Results from the AltaVista Search engine:

Driver and courtesy

Dr. Leon James' congressional testimony about road rage and aggressive driving.

One man's rants about "Stupid Drivers".

Library Search

After finding some areas of interest on the Internet, I decided to move over to the library databases. I used the UHCARL database from the University of Hawaii. The first things I looked for were books.

Driver and courtesy

No results
Driver and communication
No results
Driving and communication
No results
Driving I searched this broad topic and imposed a 1985 date limit
Marsh, Peter. "Driving Passion: The Psychology of the Car". 1986

"Safe Driving; Local Style" a video about "Hawaii's unique driving situations and habits are identified and portrayed using local humor by Karen Keawehawaii. Includes a welcome segment and 7 lesson units. "Human performance and safety in highway traffic and ITS systems" Transportation Research Board 1995

These are results were found in the Uncover journal article search.

Driver courtesy

Farrar, Foss. "Champion truck driver urges highway users to practice courtesy."Modern Bulk TransporterNov 01, 1997, v60 n5 p22.

Driver communication

Luong, J. et al. "Rapid communication: Effects of driver side mirror type on lane change accidents"Ergonomics: The Official Publication. Oct 01. 1995 v38 n10 p1973

Related Articles

Kristin Subia, How Drivers Communicate with Each Other. Ms. Subia's report was an extremely helpful guide to get me understanding exactly what driver communication is. Although, I disliked her recommendation section, overall, I enjoyed the report. Her idea of telephone use to improve driver communication seemed far-fetched to me. This method would probably be too time consuming to and people would not be encouraged to use it.

Andrew Shapiro, The Effectiveness of the Gestural Communications Involving Drivers Requesting the Right-of-Way. Mr. Shapiro's report is one of great detail and observation. After reading about the things he witnessed, I am glad that I don't live in Stockton!

EPILOGUE

Future generations could improve on this project by starting new types of driver communication methods within the quality driving circles(QDC's) they have started. By doing this they could get input from the QDC about which methods of communication were effective and ineffective on the road. Also, it's very likely that someone within the group could devise a new and unique way of driver communication.

Initially, my goal for this project was to complete it as swiftly and painlessly as possible. Once I began my observations I actually began enjoying the "work" that I was performing. Still, I am considering new methods of communication while behind the wheel. Although, as of yet, they have not become part of my driving habit. My message to future generations of traffic and driving psychology students is to go into your work with an open mind. But, most importantly utilize what you learn from Dr. Drivings class to make yourself and those around you better and safer drivers.
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