Let's Start
DefiningMy
ExperiencesLooking Forward to
the FutureConclusion
Introduction
Let's begin by talking about this report. This report is to give those who do not know about Traffic Psychology a better understanding. Knowing this term could be a very important thing in life. It could change the behaviors of people who use the road as a mode of transportation. It could be drivers, passengers and pedestrians. Let's analyze some of the definitions that are associated with the term Traffic Psychology.
These are some of the definitions given by the students from previous generation :
He expressed the definitions of Traffic Psychology in three ways. The first is, that it deals with the affective, cognitive and sensory-motor aspects of people while they are on the road. Being on the road, you can encounter situations that can affect one's behavior. For example, being in traffic affect everyone. Even if you are the nicest person, you can easily become irritated and less tolerant of certain behaviors. When you are aware of certain feelings that affect our behaviors, you can change or modify those feelings which in turn change the way we think. This will help us change our behaviors. The second, is used as a tool. A tool to observe and analyze behaviors that can help change the way we behave on the road. Let us be aware of our behavior and how those behaviors affect those that are around us. The third is, it forces us to deal with the bad behaviors and try to find ways to modify that behavior to minimize the dangers we face on the road today.
Her definition of Traffic Psychology is the realization of negative actions while driving on the road. When you realize your negative driving, you can find out why you behave the way you behave. Is it due to the cognitive, the affective and the sensorimotor actions? After the reason is determined, the next step is to modify the bad behaviors.
Her definition deals with the fact that Traffic Psychology is an infant in the discipline of psychology. It is because of the starting point of Traffic Psychology began in the early 1980's. She said Traffic Psychology is not the thoughts and behaviors of automobiles and the cognition of buses and recreation vehicles. But it's the way we the people view things while we are in the car. A car gives a driver a sense of protection because the driver is surrounded by sheets of metal. This idea of being shielded changes how a person act or feel. So, the question comes down to, why do we act so differently when we are in a car? These behavioral changes are the focal point of Traffic Psychology.
Lisa said that Traffic Psychology is a way to heighten your awareness of driving. She said it is a
way to make you more aware of yourself on three level: Affective, Cognitive, and Sensorimotor.
These are the Three Domains of Driving Behaviors, which is also a technique in self-witnessing.
She said by using these three domain you can figure out what is the cause of certain problem and
knowing these problems can help to correct the bad behaviors.
What does Traffic Psychology mean? She said that it is a concept that is helpful in explaining why
people behave certain ways in traffic. Therefore, this explains why most accidents happen, instead
of what happen. She said knowing "why" can help to develop a safer society. Also, knowing
"why" certain things happen, you can get a better control knowing before hand. This awareness
allows us to see the negative behavior and then change it. This can result in the decreasing of
auto accidents and fatalities.
Sometimes it's really scary being a pedestrian because they have no control of the driving
condition of drivers. They are mostly the innocent victims of careless drivers. There are many
drivers that do not pay attention to pedestrians that are crossing the streets. I can remembered
that I had a couple of near misses just crossing the street. There are cars that do not pay attention
when they make a right turn at the stop light. There's a saying that says "Look before you leap".
I think that should be a motto for some drivers. They should slow down instead of being in such
a rush to make a turn when there are always ample opportunities to do so. Some drivers pay
more attention in making sure there are no cars around when they make a turn, that they neglect
to pay attention to pedestrians. Just because there are no other cars coming towards them, it
doesn't give them the right to make a turn. Just because there are no cars, it does not mean that
there are no people. Just remember to watch for the pedestrian. They might come out at you in
just a spilt second.
Sometimes, the pedestrian should be watching the road when they do cross the streets. Some
pedestrians are in such a rush that they would just dart out into the street without looking. I can
say you need to be careful crossing the street on green lights. There are incidents where I almost
got run over by cars that run the red lights. Just because the light is green, it doesn't mean it's
safe to cross. But the law says that green light means "go" so even if we don't watch the road,
it's the pedestrian's right to cross the street. We feel and know that green means "go" so
therefore, we don't hesitate to go. Nomatter what, I think pedestrian still needs to be aware of
their surrounding condition. Even if the light is green, one must still look before you actually go.
If I didn't look before I cross the street, I might not be here right now.
Being a passenger is not quite so easy, either. It's hard to watch how the driver drives and not
say anything about it. I know a lot of people think that they are really good drivers but they are
actually not. They put the passengers at risk when they drive recklessly. It is really hard for the
passenger to tell the driver what to do and not offend them at the same time. I really hate it when
people don't break until the last minute making you all tense and nervous. There are times when
I could actually see my whole life flash before me or close to burning a hole on the ground with
my automatic foot breaking action. I don't want to offend people by saying that they are driving
recklessly. But on the other hand, the drivers should consider the passengers feelings when they
do drive. It's a two way thing. To make a driver a better driver, one should open the possibility
that other people may be right about them. This is done by the Driving Buddy
method. By doing a Driving Buddy, the passenger can point out some of the areas the drivers
need to improve on.
The future will bring endless possibilities for road users. There may be other ways to increase the safety of driver, pedestrian, passenger, and cyclist. But for now, I think that one major improvement can be to change the way people think. We need to educate the people on how to be safe road users. If the people would learn to consider other's feeling and be curteous of other drivers.
What I learn from doing this report is that there are many factors in our life that affects the way
we drive. There are many levels of yourself that you need to be aware of. Each level affects the
way to react to certain things. The first is Affective, which is how feeling play a part in how you
behave. The second is Cognitive. What your thoughts and how you think affect the self on
driving. The third is Sensorimotor, that is what you do while you are driving on the road. These
three levels of self are also known as "The Three Domains of Driving Behaviors".
