Clickable Table of Contents

The Emergence of Traffic Sociology

Summary

In this final chapter, Rothe discusses what traffic sociology is, how it should be approached, and how it can be of use in the forming of new traffic laws. Traffic sociology looks at traffic as a socially created and maintained reality with individual drivers operating with respect to themselves, other people, immediate circumstances, and past experiences in combination with the role of law officers, government agents, traffic safety professionals, engineers, roadway workers, etc., contribute to traffic. Basically, traffic sociology is the study of what makes up traffic from the perspective of social/economic/political classes as related to government policy.

First, Rothe discusses the aspect of diversity in traffic, which is the presence of different classes of drivers (i.e. elderly and youth drivers) and how lawmakers try to control diversity by passing laws that will promote prototypical "safe" driving. Rothe also discusses social policy in the sense of lawmakers passing laws while ignoring how drivers will react to them. He suggests lawmakers try to understand the perspective of drivers when drafting traffic laws so that if a new law is passed, drivers will comply willingly. He also suggests that lawmakers try to pass along safety information in a simple way so drivers can understand what they?re being told to do for their own benefit. His reasoning is drivers will go along with proposals if they see the benefit in following along. Finally, Rothe discusses the future of traffic sociology, saying that it will be very useful to law makers in passing traffic laws as research looks at the drivers? perspective of things and uncovers what types of laws drivers are more or less likely to follow.

I think the biggest problem we face in driving today is that the number of drivers with their cars on the road is so great, there will be a great many problems arising from that (traffic congestion, potential for more conflict between drivers, more drivers means more incompetent drivers on the road). When Rothe mentions "diversity" he means the various classes of drivers on the road (i.e. elderly drivers, teen drivers, male/female drivers, suv drivers, sports car drivers, aggressive drivers, safe "prototype" drivers etc.). The implication of this is that the due to the great diversity of drivers on the road there will be a great potential for drivers of differing driving styles to get involved in conflicts on the road as they may disagree with each others? driving styles. Traffic sociology differs from driving psychology in that traffic sociology examines driving from the social standpoint (i.e. social, economical, political class of the driving population in relation to governme nt policy) while driving psychology examines how and why certain behaviors and habits are present, the cognitive aspect of driving in relation to driving performance.

I think this quote means that if we look at the origin of things, we can understand how things came to be in the present. In relation to the chapter, Rothe is saying that if we can understand what factors lead drivers to drive as they do, then we can figure out ways to educate drivers on driving safety effectively.

I think that creating profiles of drivers can lead to the judging of others if statistics of certain classes of drivers point to them behaving a certain way. However, I think that in reality, research would prove that class of drivers in and of itself doesn?t necessarily cause a particular behavior. It would have to be a combination of many factors. So class of a driver is not enough to do that.

I think there should always be some leeway in the enforcing of traffic regulations. I think situations like running a red light at 3:00 a.m. when no other cars are present, although against traffic regulations, isn?t going to get anyone hurt. Such situations should be granted flexibility. But running a red light in busy traffic is dangerous, thus, that action should be punished.

I don?t think it?s realistically possible to pass laws that allow for the judicious and prudent regulation of traffic. If there was too much flexibility in the law, then all punishments would lie in the subjective judgment of each individual law enforcer. If there is no standard, there is no equally objective way of determining punishment. So it wouldn?t be feasible to make the traffic laws too flexible just to accommodate the variations in drivers.

I think relaxation exercises such as breathing deeply and repeating a calming mantra such as "relax" would help to reduce such things. But that probably won?t work for everyone.

I basically agreed with everything that Rothe brought up and discussed in this chapter. His suggestions for the fair passing of traffic regulations and the common mistakes that lawmakers fall to in the passing of laws are all very valid. Also, his hope for the future of traffic sociology is very encouraging as it can lead to the better understanding of why different traffic conditions come about and how they can be alleviated to make driving a better experience for all of those who drive. My classmates all seemed to agree with every point Rothe made in this chapter like I did. This chapter really serves to close the subject well.

I think this report, like my other reports, is a succinct and thorough report that isn?t fancy but has all of the pertinent information present. I think my report is also easy to read and understand.

For future generations, I can?t stress enough that you shouldn?t procrastinate. Do all of your assignments according to the dates they are assigned to be completed by. The assignments are not difficult. You just have to do them. Keep this in mind and you will have a very enjoyable experience in this class as it is more fun and interesting than it is difficult.