Children's Self-Witnessing Reports as Road Users

Tami Hashimoto Report 2, Traffic Psychology, University of Hawaii

Index

Introduction: Are You a Dangerous Driver

Are You a Dangerous Driver

Are you a dangerous driver? Do You feel like your attitude affects your driving while on the road? If you didn?t have these questions in your mind it?s a good time to start because I promise you, it will make a difference in your driving. How will it make a difference? It would make a difference by making you aware of what you are feeling while on the road and how you would percieve yourself as a driver. This brings me to the term self ? witnessing. What exactly is self - witnessing? Self - witnessing is a method in which you can monitor your feeling while driving. During self-witnessing, you verbalize what you are seeing by doing a very detailed description of what?s going on in terms of your feelings, thoughts, and actions while driving.

There are two different ways to accomplish self ? witnessing while driving. The first way is to use a tape recorder. While you are driving, record your comments and thoughts about the stiuations on the road.

The next way would be to bring a notepad and pencil into the car. After your driving session, write down what you experienced and your feelings on how your driving session went.

My Experiences with Self-Witnessing

My self ? witnessing experience was very shocking to me because I thought that I had more patience and a more clam personality while driving. Boy was I wrong. I showed a lot of hostility and became very irritated t the little things that other drivers were doing.

The method I used for my self- witnessing was a tape recorder. As I was driving, I taped the comments I was expressing. I t was very obvious that I didn?t have a very hard time say things out loud or expressing what I was feeling due to being a very open person. The funny thing was I never really noticed that comments that I make until I took Dr. James? class.

My first experience with self ? witnessing was a pretty funny one. As I listened to the tape recorder, I found myself sing a lot. I wonder if it is an unconcious way for me to relax on the freeway. As I listened further, I noticed that I used a lot of bad words when drivers did things to me that inflicted danger on my personal well being. I was shocked that I was able to say so many bad words in so little time. It was like once I have started, there was no way I cold stop. The remarks I was making made me more anger and more anger every time another driver did something that I didn?t appreciate on the road. This is when I?ve noticed that I had to stop this because it was becoming very unsafe for my passengers, other drivers, as well as for my self. This is why I made sure that the second time I went out to do self ? witnessing, I convinced myself to be more careful to what I was saying. I also try to make the unsafe things that the other drivers were doing not bother me as much. It was a success! As I listened to the tape the second time, I was amazed at the difference it made. When drivers cut me off, I didn?t take what they were doing to me personally; therefore, as it was happening I was more clam and made a comment like " Wow they must be in a rush to go some where." After driving that day, I noticed that I was a lot happier and less tense. The last comment I made on the recorder was," Boy do I feel great! Driving today was fun and relaxing. That?s a first."

I benefited a lot from this self witnessing activity because now driving for me is fun and relaxing. Being from another island, driving here is a big step. I used to be scared to drive around, by after this self witnessing activity I feel more confident and better about my driving. Because of self ? witnessing, I?m a safer and alert driver.

I suggest that everyone go out and practice self ? witnessing. They will also benefit from it and make our community a better and safer place to drive.

Self ?Witnessing: Child?s Point of View

Before I began my assignment, I read Cara Lucey from Generation 6 self ? witnessing report. Because of her report was on the exact same thing as mine , I got some insightful ideas on how to write and interview the child for this section of the report. She wrote a very organized and through report on her experience of self ? witnessing. I like the idea that she asked questions that the kid (her nephew) could relate to. I also found it interesting that her nephew knew more information on driving safety then she had expected. Her report got me very excited and motivated to start on mine. I wanted to know what my results would be like with my child.

Training a Child to Self-Witness

Who ws I going to use for my training of a child self witnessing? This was the first thing that popped in my mind before starting this report. After long hours of contemplating, I decided I would do it on my seven year old cousin named Nikki.

To my surprise, Nikki was really smart for her age; therefore, she made it easy for me to make up questions to ask her. I decided that I would take her to watch a movie as a reward for doing this project with me. I also asked my younger sister to drive us there, that way I could concentrate on the questions that I would be asking and get to watch her expressions while she answered them.

When my younger sister and I went to pick her up, the first thing I noticed was she went straight to open the backseat door of my car and after that, she put on her seatbelt immediately. I asked her, "Why she went straight to the back door"

She responded with a serious face, "It was much safer and if we should get into an accident that she won?t get hurt as bad."
Then I asked her," why she put her seat belt on?".

Nikki told me,"It was the law and everyone should put their seatbelt on?" She also said, "If we didn?t put our seat belts on then we could also get hurt real bad if we got hit by another car." As I watched her responding, I was real impressed with the way she answered those question. She really sounded like an adult.

The next question I asked her was, "What does the speed limit mean?"

She thought for a moment and then said, "That it has something to do with how fast the car is going."

Wow! I told her, "That was a good answer and explained what it exactly meant."

After I explained it, she asked my sister, "If we were going the speed limit." My sister laughed and said yeah.

The next question I asked her was, " If she could explain what an accident is?"

She responded," That an accident was when cars hit each other." She didn?t really specify what happens to the people because she never experienced one.
Overall, I was very impressed with the way that my cousin answered these questions. She knew a lot about driving safety on the road, but she could still learn a few more tips.

Future Recommendations

For future generations, I feel that they should do this child self ? witnessing on more than one child. That way they will have more information and see what other children feel about driving. Besides getting more information, they are passing on a very important information for them to be aware of in the future.

I also suggest that future generations should make up questions before going on a self-witnessing ride with children; therefore, they cam save time and keep the child?s attention.

I would also recommend that they should take the child out on more than one self ? witnessing exercise. That way, you can see if they understand what you are emphasizing and why self ? witnessing is very important now and will be more important for them later.

The last thing that I would suggest you do, is to use a tape recorder while doing the children?s self ? witnessing. When doing this, you will have an easier time remembering what the child says, but make sure that they don?t get distracted because they are getting recorded. In other words, I would hide the recorder some where in the car so they don?t know that it is there. That way, the child will answer the questions truthfully and not become silly.

Epilogue

This assignment was very useful for me because it made me aware of how my feeling and thoughts were on the road.

This assignment also made me enjoy driving more because it made me realize that swearing and letting the other drivers? carelessness get to me will only make me more unhappy and cause me more stress. When I drive with a more clam attitude, I feel much happier and have a lot more fun driving. I don?t have the get from point A to point B attitude whenever I drive now. I want to get into the car and drive all over the place now that I?m aware of my thoughts and feelings and the results that the awareness has help me to see.

As for the children self - witnessing, I feel that this will be very helpful for them in the future because they will know how to be aware of their thoughts and feelings and also aware of the things around them.

I feel that they should have required drivers education on road rage for little kids as well as for teenagers. They should teach them things while they are young so the can have it planted in their head. They should teach them that driving is not a toy and that it is a ver serious thing. We should also teach the children about road rage and how this is very unsafe act in the community.

I?m really glad that I had a chance to do this project. I can now be a happier driver on the roads. Remember: "The unwitness ride is not worth having" Dr. James
Instructor's Home Page Back to My PageOther Student Pages