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This report is an exercise for students to actually get out there and apply the information we have been learning about in class and via the internet. First I will review what the self witnessing method is, followed by my actual experiences while I was driving. I will then lead you to Cara Lucey's report one from G6 and see how her experience compared to my own with my six year old niece.
Learning about Dr. Driving and his principles of how to be a humane driver is very enlightening. The whole process involves learning about inner skills that can lead to better and safer driving skills. It really is dependent on common sense when you think about it! Dr. Driving emphasizes a simple three step program.
Would you like to see how you your driving reactions may be similar to other people? This is an exercise, produced by Dr. Driving, that can help you to understand what the process of self witnessing is all about. Self witnessing can be done in two basic ways. One is to use a tape recorder and record your thoughts as you drive. The second is via a notepad and pencil, after each driving experience you can write about your experience.
I, being stuborn as I am, decided to write things down after I completed each driving experience. Well, it was not that I was stuborn, it was more due to the fact that my tape recorder would not cooperate. So I wrote down each experience after I had reached my destination. This probably was not the greatest way of analyzing my behavior, but it will have to do.
As I drove around my home town of Kailua, I took note of the fact that I was just looking for various drivers to irritate me because I have stereotyped the holiday season to be that of the crazy driver. As you may conclude, this is the month of December that I am refering to. People are in a hurry to get anywhere and everywhere and I am ready for whatever crazy-ness they may pull on me. Funny thing was that at about 1:00 in the afternoon, there were not too many "crazy" drivers on the road, except for maybe myself because I was actually looking for them! I think this is a negative behavior that I go through, it is as if I am looking for someone to plunge my aggression on to. I thought that was pretty bad.
One day I was driving home from school, it was about 3:30 in the afternoon and traffic was starting to build. This is the time of day that my body has physically just had enough for the day, and I know it. My neck was cramping and the music on the radio was starting to irritate me. I was starting to brew inside and getting irritated at anyone who got in my way. As I went up the Pali Highway I began swerving in and out of traffic reaching 65 mph. I came to the point where I finally turned off the radio, because the music was irritating me, and I started to breathe to calm myself down. As I got closer to home I started to calm down but was ready for a nap by the time I got out of my car!
My experience on the Pali is one I often go through. Since taking Traffic Psychology I have tried to calm myself and be aware of what I am doing. I know that I can get just as obnoxious as the next driver, yet I can control it if I am aware of it.
I discovered that I am not the greatest driver, but I am capable of bringing myself to awareness of my bad driving behavior. I may be able to realize that I am driving aggressively. Sometimes I speed a little too much and find myself looking for the cops who I think are trying to be incospicuos so that they can stop me and give me a ticket. I must say that I really do think cops do this! Anyways. I learnded that by turning off the radio I am able to calm myself down. I hope it was not because of the exercise, but I did find myself telling myself that we are all going to get to where we are going at the same time.
I feel that my cognitive experience prompted me to say things like "c'mon granma" when I was driving behind someone who I thought was going too slow. It appears to me that it would be my sensory motor experience that actually leads me to the act of speeding. And it is through my affective experience that my body aches lead to aggression in my driving abilities.
In this report by Cara Lucey, one may find an amusing, yet serious account of experiencing what a child observes through being a passenger. She presents a well organized account of her driving experience with her nephew.
I ventured out with my niece Lauren, who is six years old. She needs some reminding and encouraging to put on her seat belt at times, but it was interesting when she reminded me to put on my seat belt. I aksed her why she thought I should wear it and she told me that if were to get into an accident, that I would not get hurt as bad. She also made note of the color of the traffic lights, she knew that red was stop and green was go, and yellow was just kind of in between. Another aspect of driving that Lauren made note of was when I was going too fast. She actually told me to slow down. I asked her why and she told me that she did not want to get into an accident or get stopped by a policeman, her other Aunty was stopped by a police man while she was in the car. I guess it is an experience she would not like to have again?
In general I found that Lauren can be aware of safety, even if at times I have to nag her to wear her seat belt. She picks up on things that we repeatedly ask her to do.
I would recommend, as did Ms. Lucey, to have questions prepared for the child that you will be observing. It can be difficult to keep their attention. Multiple excursions would probably also benefit your results, the mood of the child could affect the results greatly! If they are grouchy, chances are they will not cooperate. I caught Lauren on a good day, so she was paying attention for a short while.
As I mentioned earlier, multiple excursions would probably benefit your findings. Possibly having someone drive you while you observe the child could also help in your observations being more precise.
The steps of this assignment were very helpful on a personal level. This whole class really does try to touch you that way though. I have learned to calm myself before I actually even step into my car. I think about Dr. James often as I drive back and forth from school, work and home. Aggressive driving really is unnecessary and I am sure that most people could avoid it, if only they were more educated on the subject.
As for our children, I strongly feel that they watch us more closely than we think. At such young ages they are like sponges, absorbing everything we toss their way. It is us, as adults, who can shape the adults of tomorrow to be better people, and drivers!