Report On How Drivers Communicate
Unspoken Signals
Table of Contents
As we drive on the road today we are all communicating with each other in a dance. Most of the time we are unaware that we are doing it but other drivers will be able to pick it up. The way we drive is like a moving billboard to our personality. We can make snap judgments about people just by how they move in and out of lanes. We all do this. We get angry at the person in front of us who is moving too slow and is holding you back in traffic. We feel unnatural rage toward that person without having said one word to them. So what kind of signals do we send. I have broken them down into two categories. Signals that we send by example ( the way we drive) and those that we relate to other drivers (ex. a wave of the hand).
The signals that we send while on the road is probably the most important communication that we do with other drivers. Though we may like to believe it we are not in our own little universe when we step into our car. Our vehicles are extensions of us. Our personality translates into the machinery and therefore it is a direct reflection of ourselves. What we do in our car, truck or motorcycle depends on a large part of what our emotional state is at the time. If we are angry it is reflect in our driving behavior. If we are in a rush we make a risk assessment and probably take more chances to gain the precious few second that our risk taking might afford. If we are depressed or self absorbed in our own sadness we might not notice the car in front suddenly braking or the pedestrian crossing the street. These are all generalizations that I am making but at one point in time everyone has witnessed or participated in this kind of behavior.
Tailgating is a major issue in today's driving world. Clearly it is unsafe and rude. So why do we do it? Maybe we were taught this way. Or maybe we were reinforced that other drivers respond to this sort of driving behavior in a positive way for our purposes. Most people get out of our way and let us pass or they tend to speed up. This is driver communication. By tailgating we are sending signals to other drivers that we want to move ahead. It is a signals that plays on driver emotion. The driver in front can become irritated and slam on their brakes or speed up and then tailgate you back. Or they can be gracious and let you pass by moving into the adjacent lane or speed up to help you go faster. And sometimes they might just ignore your signal all together and first rate you even more. The fact is that tailgating can be the cause of accidents. It is a behavior that other drivers deem aggressive. Therefore you are sending the signal that you are an aggressive driver.
Switching lanes is a practice that everyone who drives on the roads must do at one point in their lives. The way in which we switch lanes is a signal to other drives on our personality and driving behavior. When we use our turn signal we are telling other drivers that we intend to switch lanes. Sometimes it may be like asking permission and other times it could be a statement. In either case we are letting those around us know that we are moving to another lane.
Honking is an audible form of driver communication. We use the horn on our car too show many different things to other drivers. It could be an announcement that you are coming around a blind corner, a signal to the driver ahead that the light has turned green, or a protest to another driver that their actions are not appreciated. One may also choose to use this to call out friends they see on the freeway or walking on the street. This last action also has the effect of alerting the drivers around you to some action that they are not aware of. No one likes to admit that someone honked their horn at them. The same also hold true for people tooting their horn. It is a practice that here in Hawaii, goes largely avoided. Honking here is reserved for only the most dire of circumstances and is not served out in generous proportions. Yet it is a tool that is used by drivers to help them communicate with other drivers. There was once a comedian that said that there should be more than one button the horn. It should be able to make different noises. One should be like a throat clearing (Uhmmm) and another should be a little more forceful and then there should be a button that swaps out your headlights for 10mm chain-fed machine guns.
Racing on the highways is a new development that is fueled by the numerous magazines, web sites, and products that advertise to turn your everyday driver into the beast of the road. This is the ultimate vanity on the road. When one accentuates his or her car to the point that it becomes a challenge to other drivers. We have all driven down the street and saw the large exhaust pipe or the cars that are too low to the ground. If not we have heard their effects with their rumbling revs. This is a communication to other drivers. It is telling them that this car is a creation of my own. And often times these modification also mean speed. There is a new trend that has to do with speeding on the freeways and roads of Hawaii. Law enforcement has done their part by passing laws so that those who are caught racing on the roads are sent to jail and even may have their licenses revoked. But this has come too little too late. We have seen numerous accidents in the past few years due to racing. It was not more than a year ago that we saw a fatal crash in which all the passengers of an Acura Integra were killed by Moanalua. It was revealed that they were racing with a friend.
Today we find those that race are growing in number. But what kind of communication do people who race exhibit. The answer is that they must just catch the attention of the other driver. They do this by revving their engine or blinking their headlights or calling them out at a stop. Then there is the matter of butting heads and proving who is the better driver. Most times safety goes out the window and unnecessary risks are taken. Bystanders are often incorporated as the two or more participants of the race speed down the strip of road.
These are a few of the communication issues that I felt were not addressed in previous generations. I hope that as time goes on the knowledge of these types of behaviors grow. I found that driver communication is an intricate web of emotion, personality, and social skills. Our emotion dictates how our personality is portrayed by ourselves and other drivers. Our social skills come into play when we are either cuteous or discurteous. We must ask ourselves if we really mean to send out these signals or not. Driving has become an automatic process for most of us. We don't think much about it anymore. We habitually drive our way through life. We must stop this. Sometimes it takes a speeding ticket or a serious accident to change our ways. But in any case there need to be a realization at the source. One must have a turning point in their lives in order to affect change.