report 1

How Drivers Communicate With Each Other by: Claudine Flores de La Cruz ******************************************************************************************************* Table of Contents Instructions for this report A Synopsis of Kristin Subia's Report A Synopsis of Andrew Shapiro's Report A Synopsis of Kristin Evert's Report A Synopsis of MaryElizabeth Pacheco's Report My Usenet and Web Searches References of Journals in Uncover My Reactions to Other Reports in My Generation and a Comparison Suggestions for Future Generations Navigation Table *******************************************************************************************************
A Synopsis of Kristin Subia's Report

Kristin Subia's report was on how drivers communicate. She gave six driving situations:

1: Making turns

2: Changing lanes

3: Yielding the way

4: Making room in one's lane for someone

5: Tailgating and overtaking

6: Racing Making Turns In Making turns, the most common situation is one that involves making a turn at an intersection or into a driveway. By turning on your blinkers you alert other drivers of your intentions and no one is made surprised. Also by doing this, approaching drivers are signaled and that may give you an opportunity, if the approaching car chooses, to make that turn. Changing Lanes Changing lanes is also an important part of driving that calls you to make use of your signals. It is an important form of communication for any street just as it is important when you are attempting to make changes in busy highways such as the freeways. By signaling you allow the cars around you to take notice of your plans and that may in turn alter his plan on attempting a similar move. If you do not turn on your signals, the other drivers are not aware of your plans and a collision may occur if two cars attempt at changing into the same lane. Yielding The Way Yielding the way does not mean you need to make a complete stop. What it does mean is that you have to yield to other vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists before you move any further.

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Making Room in One's Lane for Someone Making room in one's lane for someone can be a nuisance according to Kristin but I think that we all had our fair share of cutting in too. The situation is that you are on a given lane and suddenly someone from either side of the lane extends his/her arm out to signal you to let him/her in. And, so to avoid any trouble you let the person in only to discover that the light suddenly turns red on you and the person you allowed in made it through. I have experienced this numerous times both as the driver that allowed the other and also as the driver causing the other! Tailgating And Overtaking In Tailgating and overtaking describes an experience she had where in a driver behind her refused to pass her and instead insisted he have her made aware that she is driving too slow by tailgating her and then by making sudden stops. She remained quite collected and waved at him to pass her instead. I think that if you are indeed going at the flow of traffic and some driver still feels that you are going too slow, just move over and let him pass because this way you know you are safe. I know that it can be a big chunk to swallow but its better than dealing with bigger problems that can occur. Racing Racing is the last situation she presented with. She expressed having least knowledge in this area but described an experience she had observed with two cars revving their engines at each other perhaps as a signal for a challenge. Racing is very dangerous and it definitely doesn't just involve those taking part in the actual race. Every person, driver or not, pedestrian and cyclists are all in danger when this occurs. It is a very silly thing to do and it annoys me to death!

Kristin also gave us Methods of communications and their effectiveness. There are 3:

1: Vehicular communication

2: Verbal communication

3: Gestures and facial expressions

Vehicular Communication

There are a number of forms of Vehicular communication drivers have. There are formal and informal ones. Kristin reported having your immediate resources which are the blinkers, break lights, and the horn. The blinkers are used to alert drivers everywhere around you of your intentions so that they can prepare for your move by responding to it. Your break lights are used to warn drivers behind you that you are nearing a stop or that you are about to make one. The horn is used to draw the attention of those that you want to. Those were formal types of communication. The informal ones are like the revving of engines to signal the other driver that you are wanting of a challenge, or a race, or driving closely or even swerving which indicates that you want to change lanes or merge into a lane that the other driver is on and tailgating may indicate to the driver that he/she is driving too slow for the driver behind.

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Verbal Communication Verbal communication is a method according to Kristin that drivers rarely use. The only form of verbal communication that she had witnessed was for protest and cursing. I think that it's simply difficult to have any form of verbal communication. Also, verbal communication to me is a bit more of an intimate thing that people wouldn't just want to say something to you across the street. It's just easier to wave an arm, hand, and for some, a finger than to hassle yourself with talking.

Gestures and Facial Expressions

Gesturing is perhaps the most common form of communication on the road. Whether it be the nodding of our heads, the waving of our hands, or in Hawaii, the "shaka" sign, these are all ways in which we communicate with our fellow drivers on the highways. These forms of communication are usually made to signal a "thanks for letting me in," or to signal the other driver that he/she is permitting him/her to go ahead and proceed. There are certainly other types that are also quite common such as the "bird" or finger. Even with this there are those that either choose to let the driver they are upset with see it, or withdraw and settle for the under-the-dashboard flick. Our facial expressions usually follow what are gestures are. When someone brightens my day and allows me to cut in during heavy traffic, I usually wave and smile at the driver. On the other hand, when I am not allowed in during heavy traffic, I don't give out the bird or anything like that, but I do stare at them viciously. Nevertheless, facial expressions are very much a part of our driving communication but perhaps for obvious reasons not the most obvious.

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A Synopsis of Andrew Shapiro's Report

Andrew Shapiro embarked on a mini observational study that focused on the non-verbal communications of motorists when held at intersections with a four way stop. His goal was also to determine which forms of gestures were most effective in requesting or yielding the right of way. The study was conducted over a 2 day period between the busy hours of 3 PM and 6 PM and a recording of twenty-eight episodes were made. Of the twenty-eight drivers, 13 were female and 15 were male. Interestingly enough, his findings indicate that less than 1% of the drivers provided an obvious sort of gesture. Most moved with "courtesy and common sense" or other non gesturing means. He did observe that the aggressive drivers that were more demanding of "their" right of way happened to be young males with customed cars/trucks. The most common gesture observed in this study was the "finger beckon" or "finger wave" that signaled the other driver that he/she is yielding to him/her. He also observed that not every driver understood such gesturing and that both cars because of it would begin inching their way out simultaneously.

One of the important notes that Mr. Shapiro wrote of was on mood awareness. He stated that, "Awareness of mood of other drivers can provide a greater level of road safety and avoid the possibility of confrontation with belligerent drivers." This is an important concept particularly as road rage is becoming an increasing problem with fatal consequences in the highways. The numbers are outrageous- with traffic incidences at a rise because of violent or aggressive driving, there is obvious need to deal with the issue in great form. According to this report, there were a total of 12, 828 people injured or killed as a result of aggressive driving (A.Shapiro in AAA,p.1). As drivers we are all counting on the judgments of other drivers for our safety, just as they do with us. I feel that in everything we do there are always going to be people that are going to be reckless, or simply people that choose defy the law with or without having educated them.

What I feel Andrew Shapiro is proposing is that we become more sensitive to the conditions of these drivers when on the highway. What we should do is anticipate, recognize, and avoid...not provoke. When we anticipate we can better deal with those losers because we can deal with our own moods more. We are then less surprised. And, once we've successfully anticipated their move we can recognize their inappropriate driving behaviors and acknowledge it through the way we feel about it. When we are able to acknowledge a behavior so upsetting, we can reflect upon our own driving behaviors and learn not to mimic their dangerous behavior, and modify negative behaviors to more appropriate ones. Dr. Driving termed this type of modification as being "self-awareness." In this a person takes notice of his/her driving behaviors and personalities by recording how they drive and how they respond to situations on the road. The point is to become aware of your driving and correct any dangerous driving patterns and attitudes that are negative. Most of us have this idea that we are all good drivers and never really become aware of the fact that we really aren't good drivers after all. This is an excellent way to discover our own monsters. So, it is quite important that we recognize our own driving behaviors, modify the bad driving to safe defensive driving, and also learn to avoid these drivers and not provoke them by challenging them or by teasing them into a game of road play.

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A Synopsis of Kristin Evert's Report

Kristin Evert did an interesting study where she would record the different forms of communication used by drivers. She took into account the type of car that was being driven, the gender of the driver, the location, and the time it was observed. She had predictions as to what her findings may be:

1) People in sports cars are more likely to exhibit "car communication" then people in non-sports cars
2) Females are more likely to use waving or pleasant facial expressions to communicate than men
3) Drivers in town (Honolulu) or near town are more likely to use "car communication" than drivers
on the Windward side
4) Drivers are less likely to wave, use pleasant facial expressions, or "physical driver communication" at
night; and more likely to use "car communication" at night versus during the day

Key terms for understanding her study:

1) "Car Communication" is communication made using your car and the way you drive. An
     example
     given was "tailgating".
2) "Physical Driver Communication" is used to describe facial expressions, hand gestures, and
     verbal
     forms of communication.

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Her Observations and Evaluations
Session 1

She was driving on Kalaniana'ole highway when the lane she was on was about to merge. She signaled to make the merge when she noticed that the van that was approximately 3 car lengths sped up hoping to make that left merge impossible. But, Kristin after noticing this only began to speed up herself and made that left merge. The van approached her from behind quickly and turned off his headlights and instead turned on his bright fog lights. She noticed after turning into her road that driver switched back to his regular lights - but only after she had made her turn in.

Evaluation:

Kristin evaluated her experience and tried to be as objective as she could. She wondered if perhaps the driver thought his fog lights would be less annoying to her, or that maybe she could've signaled sooner to alert him of her intentions. It's difficult to say what his intentions were precisely but I feel that if someone approaches you that quickly and remains on your tail, the best thing to do is just get out of the way because obviously the driver behind you is upset and unless you want trouble, you should avoid it!

Session 2

She observed a female making the crosswalk when the light turned red on her before she could complete the cross and saw that a truck filled with young men began honking at her continuosly even as they drove by her.

Evaluation:

Kristin felt that the drivers should've been a little more courteous to the lady trying to complete her cross. She looked at reasons why the driver reacted the way he had and settled with the idea that perhaps he was running a little late and needed to release some tension. I don't know but that would really tick me off if I some driver started to honk at me when I am trying to finish the cross. Well, then again there are times when pedestrians themselves aren't courteous to drivers. I have had my fair share of being really courteous to pedestrians only to have them take their sweet time when I'm running late! It is possible that the lady in her observation was just like that--someone who isn't considerate of other people.

Session 3:

On the Pali she observed a woman attempting to make a switch from the right to the left when she hadn't realized that there was a car immediately on that lane. After noticing that she almost caused an accident she immediately swerved right back into where she was. The driver that was on the left lane was furious and sped up a little and swerved just a little into her lane so that he would cause her to move more to the right. The car that was on the left was a porshe, driven by a male. He sped up, cut right in front of her and then slammed on his brakes, causing everyone to do the same. He was reacting very aggressively with no care for himself and others on the highway.

Evaluation:

Kristin was really thrown off by this mans behavior. She couldn't even be objective - and I don't blame her. Personally, I feel that switching lanes is probably the scariest thing you have to do when on the highway. I mean, there are blind spots and that only makes it more dangerous for everyone. I've experienced this myself and boy was I scared off my pants. The driver shouldn't have reacted that way towards the other driver. Certainly she had nearly caused an accident and I am sure she was aware of that otherwise there would've been a collision, but to react so aggressively and then to nearly cause a potentially more serious accident is just being foolish! He's just a showoff!

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A Synopsis of MaryElizabeth Pacheco's Report

MaryElizabeth Pacheco did an observational course study where in she made recordings of actions, words, or gestures that she observed being used between drivers. Her predictions were:

1) Communication will often be misinterpreted
2) Communication influences our driving

Key terms for understanding her study: 1) "Overtaking" is when a driver driving behind a slow vehicle crosses the
dividing line to pass the slow driver on the left handside.

2) "Changing Lanes" is when a driver on a given lane moves away from the lane he/she is on to take on
another lane.

Session 1: Overtaking

A driver in a Mustang before completely passing a driver in a BMW looked over a gave him a smile and then continued on.

Session 2: Changing Lanes

A young female turned on her signal to indicate that she is attempting to make a switch from left to right lane. An on-coming car allowed the young driver to make her switch. The young driver acknoledging and appreciating the other drivers courtesy waved her hand, and the other driver that allowed her to make her switch responded also with a hand wave.

Recommendations for a UPC Code for Drivers A UPC code is a Universal Public Communication Code for drivers. This is a type of communication proposed so that there would some sort of communication universal enabling us to communicate more efficiently. Even though there are communications very evident through our own commutes, there are those that do not know how to interpret such gestures. By implementing some sort of UPC codes, drivers wouldn't have to guess into what is being communicated. MaryElizabeth suggests that gestures such as waves,etc should be taught by example. I still think that there still has to be some way drivers can learn these gestures besides learning them through driving. Tourists for example are hard enough to deal with because they do not know their way around town. By even having some sort of pamphlet that they can be reading in the planes showing what we gesture here in Hawaii can really be helpful and fun actually. Its just something that I too would be interested in reading when I do some traveling of my own.

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My Usenet and Web Searches

Selection Number 1

Re:                     tailgating/aggressive driving [devil's advocate]
From:               "Brent A. Peterson" <"\\peterson\\"@armour.iit.edu\\>
Organization:
Date:                Tue, 16 Dec 1997 07:48:58 -0600
Newsgroups:    rec.autos.driving
Message-ID:    <6760si$oc1$1@trotsky.cig.mot.com>
References:      1 2 3

H. Andy Chi wrote:

P.J. Hartman wrote:

> Andy, if I'm in the left lane and someone is on my tail, it's usually
because I can't move right, because of traffic considerations, and > > can't speed up much, because of traffic considerations. Tailgating someone when there's no room for him to move
accomplishes nothing and pisses people off.

When someone tailgates me and I am boxed in I just put my
hand(s) in the air so they can see em in a
"What do you expect me to do" way. Most everytime that gets
them to look at more than my tail lights, figure out what's
going on and back off.

> Go to AZ sometime, you'll be amazed. It's amazing what 75mph speed limit
can do to improve lane discipline. Absolutely incerdible.

I find that in rural areas lane discipline is better, doesn't
really matter where.

> 1. I'm actually going to take a rare left-hand exit and am thus
in the left lane.

You guys have THOSE? What were those traffic engineers smoking?
Left hand exits are typically the result of fiting an
expressway into an existing city.

--
-Bp Email:\peterson\@armour.iit.edu\ (remove anti-spam \'s)
Maverick & Comet: http://mmae.iit.edu/~peterson/maverick/

My Reaction: The person in this news is expressing anger towards drivers that persistently tailgate when the driver up front is obviously unable to go any faster because of traffic reasons. So, to signal the driver behind, he extends his arms in a "What? Can't you see that I can't do anything about it?" type of communication. Drivers usually understand what is being conveyed when gestures such as these are used. I think that the reason why is because they are being cued by the situation. But, if a driver was going about his/her own business and suddenly someone gestures similarly, chances are the driver wouldn't have a clue as to what is being communicated. The manner in which different gestures are used really is influenced by the situation. There aren't that many forms of traffic communication that are used for precisely one message. For instance, I am from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and there we too have our own sort of traffic communication outside what is formal, like signaling to indicate the direction you are about to make. There, when we wish to signal the other driver that we are allowing them to cut through we turn on our brights. When we want to thank the other driver for being courteous for allowing us in through traffic we turn on our hazards, or tap on our brakes lightly. So there are limited forms but used for a variety of messages-all understood depending on the situation.

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Selection Number 2

Re:                    tailgating/aggressive driving [devil's advocate]
From:               "H. Andy Chi" <flyfish@ibm.net>
Organization:    IBM.NET
Date:                Fri, 12 Dec 1997 16:40:11 -0800
Newsgroups:    rec.autos.driving
Message-ID:    <3491D96B.75E2@ibm.net>
References:      1 2

John F. Carr wrote:

In article <34919A3C.732A@ibm.net>, H. Andy Chi <flyfish@ibm.net> wrote:

>If someone is tailgating you then most of the time you are going too
damn slow.

Yes, I am. So is the car 100 feet in front of me, and the car 100 feet
in front of him, and so on as far as I can see. Moving over won't help
either of us when the road is full.

>Did I just like, totally miss something? Usually tailgating does not
happen in that kind of traffic unless the tailgator is either an asshole
or an even bigger asshole, in which case anything is fair game. But that
is most M3 drivers' biggest nightmare. We'll be able to make the next
"sudden" dead stop, while the tailgators will be making our trunks.

>Do you really think you'll live thru a 75mph rear end accident unscratched
and able to enjoy your "settlement?"

I don't expect to survive hitting a large stationary object at my typical
cruising speed but I do expect to survive being rear ended at 15 MPH
relative speed even if I am doing 70 at the time.

>You are not telling me that you are one of those guys who, even when
there's no car in front and to their right, would still not move over
and would cheerfully display your brake lights at anyone who "dare"
reminding you of your geezing speed? Say it ain't so.

Besides, a lot can happen when you get rear ended on the freeway. Like
say, wiping out, or bumped into the next lane, hit (or got hit) by
another car/cars. All this because you feel that the guy behind you has
no business driving faster than you? This sounds like good woad wage
inducing materials.

Andy

97 M3 black/black

My Reaction:
This I thought was an excellent finding because the person clearly states that the reason why you would be tailgated is because you are going too slow. He also questions the other in disbelief as to whether or not he would or wouldn't speed up or move right when there are no cars ahead or to the right of him? Why does he expect you to move is my question? If there are no cars ahead of him or to the right of him, then why doesn't he move instead? Afterall, he's the one complaining! My attitude has been (but I have changed somewhat, I guess) that if I am driving at the speed that I am supposed to and the driver behind feels that I am going too slow, and starts tailgating me then hey, too bad! I would just go about my driving for a little while longer just to have him wait, but ofcourse to avoid trouble I would either speed up a little or switch lanes and allow him to take off. I really hate doing that because at the end I feel I have allowed him/her to have their way with me. But lately I just don't care about it anymore. I would just move to the other lane and not hassle myself with that kind of B.S.

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Selection Number 3

Re:                     Waving at other riders
From:                 sba@gangofsteves.uk
Organization:      The Gang of Steves
Date:                  Sun, 11 Jan 1998 13:49:54 -0600
Newsgroups:      rec.motorcycles,ba.motorcycles
Message-ID:      <34B92262.C44726A4@gangofsteves.uk>
References:        1 2

Jim Thomson wrote:

> HD riders have a definite problem, they have severe inferiority complexs
sport riders are happy to see people just riding (the majority any way
myself included). a nod is very acceptable when turning most riders
understand that you are jsut practising safe riding technique .

> Duc Tran <dtran@cup.hp.com> wrote in article
<68rs2o$c23$1@ocean.cup.hp.com>...

> Many times, other riders waved (greeted) at me while
I was in a turn. I couldn't really wave back for
safety reason, instead I tried to nod. Few times
I wondered whether they saw my nod, and knew that
I couldn't wave back since my left hand was tied up.

> What's the correct etiquette of return greeting
from other riders?

> I ride sport bike, and notice that only sport bike
riders wave at me or return my wave, why cruiser HD
riders never return greeting?

> Duc

I actually wave at every riders except sportbikes. Most of the immature
goofballs who ride on those bikes don't need my distracting them even more.

Steve

My Reactions: I found this news to be quite amusing because there I was searching for something related to how drivers communicate and suddenly I come across this news that implies that bikers should wave or nod to one another as a sign of etiquette! Oh well, I guess this only further supports the idea that our gestures are cued into the situation and are used for a variety of reasons. One biker also stated that most bikers understand a nod to indicate that you are practising safe driving. I guess taking your hand off would be dangerous so a nod is a sufficient to indicate that you are acknowledging the other biker.

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References of Journals in Uncover

Hargett, James. (1989). Riding Technique: Keeping drivers friendly: Eight
Common Sense Tips for Sharing the Road, v30n7,58.

Prashker, Joseph N. (1989). The Relationship between and option space and
driver's indecision at signalized intersection approaches, v23n6,401.

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My Reactions to Other Reports in My Generation and a
Comparison

There were a number of students in our generation that reported on how drivers communicate and I feel that each one did a wonderful and informative job. Writing this report was not particularly easy. I know I came across some difficulties in the process and I know others within the generation feel similarly...But we've all pulled through fantastically and learned a whole lot in the process. Afterall, that is what matters! It is always helpful to stroll through the reports of others to get a collective feel on the topic and I suggest exactly that for all the readers. I assure you - you will learn a lot!

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Suggestions for Future Generations

I feel that this is an excellent way of gathering minds together to find universal ties that we have when encountering traffic "mania" and also learn about traffic safety and psychology. Together we can collectively discover ways to help solve the everyday stressors we have because of our driving experiences. Future generations can maybe arrive at questionaires and conduct surveys that gear toward discovering what other people might have as ideas for traffic safety and as a way to combat driving aggressions. By doing this they could also discover, through their surveys, how others feel they communicate to other drivers.

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Navigation Table ******************** Mining the Generational Curriculum My Report on the Psychology of Newsgroups My Report 1 on How Drivers Communicate My Report 2 on Definitions of Traffic Psychology Our G8 Index of All Reports Our G8 Class Home Page My Home Page My Icons File My Bookmarks File Dr. Leon Jame's Home Page Table of Contents

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