e-mail me What others think of driving buddies?
What others think of driving buddies?
I went to the Site Index for Dr. James Home Page to find some information about "Driving Buddies" and "Makeover". I was able to find a few reports done by previouse generations on these topics. The first one that I found was done by Shane Cobb-Adams. This was his Report 4: Driving Personality Makovers. The next report I looked at was An Evaluation of the Generational Curriculum and Driving Personality Makeovers by Christy Forsythe. The last report I looked at was Report 4: What is a Driving Personality Make-over? by Shelly Secretario. These reports helped me get a better idea of what a "Driving Makover" is and also get a better understanding of being a "Driving Buddy".
What was it like searching?
I searched for previous research on the topics "Driving Buddy" and "Makeover" by looking at Dr. James Home Page. At his home page I visited the site called "Search & Indexes for this Site". From their I came to a page where you could choose from 5 different ways of searching for your topic. I choose to use the one called "List of Full Articles and Books". It was not too easy to find what I was looking for. I was able to locate some articles written by Dr. James' generation 4 students on Driving Make-over. I have to admit that using this search type was not that easy. You have to brows through a lot of topics until you find what you are looking for.
I was having trouble searching through these files so I decided to take a look at a fellow G7 student page (Ryan Shintani) to find out how he located some of his information. He found a "search" command on this page that you can use to find the topic that you are looking for. This method was very easy to use. You just type in the topics that you are looking for and it takes you to a list of articles that has what you are looking for.
It is a good idea to read through some of the other Generations' student pages to look for ideas to help you understand how things are set up and make your searching through web pages much easier. This is something I do and find that they have encountered many of the same problems that I have come across. Many of them list ideas and ways to overcome these problems and make searching through the web easier and fun.
Mini-Driving Personality Make-over
Day 1
Here is a little background on my client. I don't know if I want to give this information but here goes. He is my father. He is self taught in driving. He is very proud of this fact and feels that he is a pretty good driver. To his defense he is a good driver. However, he does have his moments when he is in a bad mood where he swears and gets angree at other drivers. He also doesn't like it when someone tells him how to drive or if he did something wrong. He takes things really personal when he drives and I think this assignment will be good for him as well as for my grade.
On October 11, my client, my father, and I went driving to the shopping center to pick up a few things and after that we went driving around so that I could observe his driving behavior. We got in the car and I reminded him what this whole thing about what a driving buddy is all about. I told him to be himself and that I will make comments on his driving whether good or bad. From the beggining he seemed uncomfortable with the idea that I was going to be observing his driving behavior, especially since he is the one who taught me how to drive. I told him to relax and just be himself, don't try to drive good because of the situation. I encouraged him to think aloud while he was driving. Any thoughts that he had I wanted to hear them.
We left the house and started to drive to the shopping center. We are in the Kaimuki area. This is a residential area and the speed limit is 25. He was going about 35mph. I mentioned that he was going over the speed limit and that since it is a residential area a child might run out on the street at anytime; this is something that he always tells me when I start going a little fast around this area. He slowed down for a little while and then started to speed up again. I then brought this to his attention, he told me that it is "OK" to go a little above the speed limit. Since this is only the first day I decided to let it go. This was only the beginning of what was to come.
As we reached the mall their was a car that was turning left into the mall infront of us. My client was getting a little mad and started to tell the driver infront that if they don't know how to drive then they shouldn't be on the road. He was saying, "hurry up already, GO!!" I have to admit that this guy was taking a long time and he had a couple of chances to go. I tried to tell my client to relax and maybe the guy just got into an accident a little while ago and he is a little gun shy. He replied, "then even more he should not be on the road."
We finally got into the mall and luckily we found a parking space really quickly. He seemed very happy and proud that he found the stall so quickly. He said that he found the parking because he is good.
When we got back to the car we pulled out of the parking area and got out on the street. He started going above the speed limit again and I again mentioned what he was doing. He seemed irritated but slowed down a little. We drove out by the University of Hawaii campus. Around this area their are a lot of moped riders. Their is a single streatch of road where their is only one lane. A moped was infront of us and it was going at the speed limit. My client got mad at it and started cussing at it. I told him that it wasn't the mopeds fault and that the moped rider has the same right to the road as a car does. He took this really well. He just replied, "I guess so, Mitch (my older brother) had one."
On our way home we took the freeway. He was going about 60 miles per hour. This is about average speed and he was just trying to keep up with the traffic. Everything was going smoothly until a car behind him was speeding up and passing cars. I could tell this because he was looking in his rear view mirror. Everytime he gets this look on his face like their is no way you are going to get past me. He then started to speed up. We were in the far left lane and the guy merged over to try and pass us. My client started speeding up and boxed him in with a car on the side of us. The car that was trying to pass us had to slow down suddenly and merge back into our lane. My client then slowed down so that he and the other car were going at the same speed. I asked him why he was trying to keep that person from passing him. He then replied that he hates it when people speed and put others in danger. He tried to justify his action by saying that he is just protecting the other drivers by making the car slow down. I then suggested that the other car might have an emergency that it was trying to get to or maybe that person just had to use the bathroom very badly. I reminded him about how he drives when he needed to get somewhere or had to use the bathroom, and how he hated when others cut him off and drove slow when he was trying to get to something important. He acted very suprised and enlighted. He understood what I was trying to tell him and then merged over to let the other car pass. From there we just returned to the house.
Day 2
The next day my client and I went driving again. This time I explained to him that he had to drive the way I told him to. My client agreed and off we went.
We drove down Kapiolani Blvd. toward Ala Moana. Their was some traffic going down that way. My client was trying to weave in and out of the traffic to get their faster. I asked him if he was in a rush. He replied, "no". I then told him to stay in the lane and just go along with the flow of traffic. I turned on the radio and suggested that he relax a little. He was trying to but I could tell he was getting annoyed. I told him to talk aloud what he was thinking. He told me he wanted to go and try to get into the fastest lane. He didn't understand why he had to wait. I just told him that he needed to listen to how I wanted him to drive. He started grumbling about how the other drivers were moving in and out and how it was slowing traffic down. His facial expression was very impatient. He wanted to do something, anything just get moving.
Their was a line of cars waiting to get into the parking lot. I told him to wait patiently in the line until we could get in. As we were getting to the entrance, a car forced his way into the lane in front of my client. My client got very upset and started yelling at the car that cut infront of us. I told him to relax and try not to let it bother him. He didn't understand and asked why? I told him of all the road rage cases that started because of an argument and ended with a killing. Being a stubborn person he said that if someone ever got out a gun and shot him that they better make sure that he is dead or he will get them. I told him to try and relax and try to get over it.
After that incident we decided to head back home. He was a little fustrated and started reminding me who taught me how to drive and that it was his car that I drive around. At this point I realized that he was to upset to go along with the rest of this project.
The rest of the way home I tried to talk about other more pleasent things. He seemed to forget about what had happened and started to relax. As we were talking and relaxing I noticed without telling him that he was driving slower than normal. He was averaging 55mph and if a car was passing him he didn't seem to notice. As we got back to the house he apologized that it didn't go so well, but I reassured him that I got all the information I needed.
Discussion of day 1
When we got back to the house we discussed about what happened during the day. I mentioned to him that he has to try and be more understanding about how others feel. I suggested to try and put himself in the shoes of the other person. As for the going over the speed limit, I said that it was pretty good but he needed to try and make a concious effort not to speed to much. He told me that he understood what I was trying to say and said that he would keep this in mind the next day we went out driving.
I have drivin with him many times before and he doesn't usually drive this good. I asked him if knowing that I was observing his driving made him more self concious. He told me that it did and that it was hard if not impossible to drive normaly. Even things he was thinking, he said that he was making a concious effort to control his emotions even if he knew that he was supposed to drive normaly. I told him that it was OK but to try and drive normaly next time.
Discussion of day 2
When we got back to the house we discussed what happened that day. I asked why he had a harder time today then yesterday. He told me that yesterday I only suggested things for him to do but today he had to do what I told him. He said he didn't like not having control over what he wanted to do especially because he was driving. He felt as if I was taking away his power on the road.
I explaned to him that a car shouldn't be seen as power but a privelege. Too many people go out on the road and see it as an equilizer when it shouldn't be seen that way. I explained to him what road rage is. After I told him he understood why I tried to make him do the things he did. He said that it would take some time to adjust to this new driving style but he would try.
Description of the two days
These past two days turned out to be a good experience, not only for my client but for me. The first day my client was fine with listening to my suggestions. He felt no pressure to do what I said and even if he had to listen to my comments he still had overall control. This is very interesting because I thought that he would have a tougher time with this part. I thought that listening to my comments would get on his nerve and he would get fed up with me talking. It turned out that he had no problem with this as long as he had control.
The second day he had to listen to what I had to say and drive the way I tell him to. He had a problem with this because he felt as if he did not have control. He not only had to listen to what I said but he also had to do what I said even if he did not want to or understand why. I think this is what fustrated him and caused him to lose patience. It was interesting that at the end when I stopped telling him what to do he started driving better. I feel that he felt as if he was in control so he didn't have to try and get it. When he lost control he was trying to get control by speeding and yelling at others. This was interesting.
I went to
Prof. James' articles Three Domains of Driving Behavior and List of Irrational Ideas During Driving. These articles gave me some insight to why some people have a hard time taking orders from others and why they drive the way they do. The reports from generation 6 on driving buddies by Gary Uno,Jennifer Kaneshiro, Kristy Kato, Chris Murakami helped me to see the different ways that clients resisted.My client was defensive when he didn't have control of the way he was driving. Once that control was given back to him he didn't have to be defensive. Also he became hostile to other drivers when he felt that he didn't have control over the situation. In his mind by being hostile he regained some control. My client was very cooperative throughout the first day but the second day he started getting irritated because he didn't understand why he had to do certain things or why he couldn't drive the way he wanted. He didn't see anything wrong with the way he was driving. This resistance came about because of the lack of control he had on everything. Once I took away his control he was unable to deal with the situations in his way so he became less cooperative. Once I saw him getting fustrated and less cooperative I tried to relax him by playing soft music and talking to him about other more pleasent things but it really did not help. The idea that he was not in control was overwhelming to him. I tried to make him feel comfortable and relax but was unable to and that made me feel a little resentful.
Recommendations on this activity
I had a hard time getting my client to drive in his normal manner. He knew about the situation so he drove better. He was not trying to drive differently but because of the situation he had a hard time driving normally. My suggestions to future generations is if possible, observe your client without telling him that you are observing him. I feel that in this way you will get a more true take on their driving. After the first day then you can tell your client what you are doing and why.
The second day should be gone over very carefully before you go out on the road. You should go over what road rage is and its views and ideas. This will give the client a better understanding of the situation and I feel will make him be more cooperative simply because he is not left in the dark about why things are being done. Also explain to him that you are their to try and make the driving experience more enjoyable for him. This way he will come into this with an open mind and will be more accepting to your ideas about driving.
This is to the future generations or anyone else who might be interested in doing something like this. This was definitely a learning experience. My feelings and goals (affective domain)about driving have changed a bit from taking this class. I am trying to enjoy driving more now. I really didn't know that I didn't enjoy driving and how upset I would get while driving until I took this class. It really opened my eyes to a lot of different aspects of driving. Now I try to relax and be much more passive while driving. I still get upset once in a while but in general I think I am getting better.
I have much more knowledge about this subject (cognitive domain). Learning about road rage has opened my eyes to what is going on out their on the road. It is a very big problem and it is growing. Now that I know about these problems I try to be a driving buddy to everyone I know. Not to the extent of this project but I try to make suggestions and explain the reason for it to my friends and family. I also try to incorperate what I have learned in my own driving. Their are alot of usful tips at Dr. Drivings home page. My actions (sensorimotor domain) have changed slightly for the better in my opinion. I am less agressive and more understanding of other drivers. I don't take things they do personally and it makes it easier to deal with their actions. I really enjoy driving a little more now that I have a greater knowledge of road rage.
I hope that this information can help you change your driving habits or help change the driving habits of someone you know. Their is a lot more information out their and one of the best places to get it is at at Dr. Drivings' home page. Take a look at it and I am sure you will find some useful information that will help make the driving experience more enjoyable for you.