Attitudes Driving Newsgroups:
The Endless Exploration in the World of Newsgroups
Table of Contents
Newgroup Topics:
Car Drivers ARE Reckless ||
Daily Grips: Cell Phones and Accidents
Relative Driving Skills ||
Brake Lights: Nemesis of the Highways ||
Old Drivers More Deadly Than Drunks
Hostile Drivers: We're Kidding, Right? ||
Left Lane Travelers
Aggressive Drivers...Women ||
Traffic Accident Statistics???
Road Rage ||
Speeding and Today's Police Cars
What City Has the Worst Drivers
Suggestions for Future Generations
Conclusion
Car Drivers ARE Reckless
Date: Monday,
February 16, 1998 3:18 PM
Subject: Re: Car Drivers ARE reckless!
What *I* hate is how people pretend they don't even see you, whether they are driving or walking. When I'm walking in a store, people just barge through like I am invisible and I usually end up stepping aside. When I'm crossing a street, drivers try to take the right of way even though I have the right of way. They barely slow down at all to avoid hitting me. When I drive I come to a full stop for pedestrians. When I walk, other people keep creeping their car forward and act like they're going to hit me if I'm not fast enough. Also they're very impatient when they're waiting for me to move and they honk their horns. I'd like to say that the safety of my $21,000 car is infinitely more important than a few seconds of your goddamn time.
On the other
hand sometimes someone will stop in the middle of traffic or double park for
an extremely long time, like several minutes or longer. I only stop if I'm
waiting for the coast to be clear. I personally haven't been in any accidents
and I don't have any tickets, although there were some close calls. People are
also pushy in grocery lines. They get as close to you as they can and they
shove your food to make room to put their food on the conveyor belt. They
really don't need to do this as they will have plenty of time, but people are
just always so pushy. I really hate it when they push my food and stand too
close to me. Sometimes they bump their shopping cart into my butt or I can
smell their stinking body odor.
My Comments
I think that there is some kind of "pushy" phenomenon that goes on inside of our brains that controls our way of doing things. If things don't go our way, we tend to want it more to go our way, but the fact that when it still doesn't go our way, we simple get more rushed and more rushed that we don't realize that we are not ourselves. I find that to be true inside of me and I tend to take that aggression out on someone else. Displacement of all that anger can turn into a sticky situation. In response to Mr. C, he seems to be the type of person with a great deal of patience and kindness. He points out that not even in vehicles where other people display unaccepted driving behavior, but also in grocery stores and in food lines.
This attitude can lead to a very dangerous situation and one of which I had experience myself. One incident where I acted as if I was in a rush or didn't care for much felt as if another person was inside of my brain trying to control me. I know I wasn't myself and still kept on speeding with my motorcycle weaving in and out of traffic with no car in the world. Somehow that was fun. But almost driving myself into another vehicle in front of me doing the same thing caused me to panic and I hit my brakes then I laid my motorcycle down on the road at speeds up to 60 mph. Today, I take my time with everything that I do and with more thinking involved.
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Daily Gripes: Cell Phones and Accidents
It has just been reported by "The New England Journal of Medicine" that a Canadian study concluded that cell phone users were 4 times more likely to have an accident, which is the same ratio for drunk drivers. Even using speakerphones did not change this statistic. Apparently, it was merely being in the act of conversing that was a serious enough diversion to increase the probability of an accident. The NHSTA plans to do a 2-year study of this.
Well don't that just beat all!
First, does this also mean that when 2 or more people are in a car that the driver is also 4 times more likely to have an accident? After all, most cell phone calls are relatively short due to the relatively high cost of making calls, while those in a car, not having any expense to bear, can talk freely for as long as they want. And it the latter is true, then you would think that perhaps multi-occupant car drivers could be as high as 10 times more likely to have an accident.
So what I want to know is this:
If they do what they do in Germany, outlaw their use except when you are pulled off the road and standing still, do we then outlaw occupancy of a car by more than one person (unless they are sitting on the side of the road going nowhere)?
And what about HOV? Does this mean that HOV drivers cause more deaths than single-occupant drivers? If so, lets ban HOV.
Does singing along with your favorite song on the radio mean accidents are far more likely to happen, and thus we ban radios, CDs, tapes, etc? Does tuning to those traffic report radio stations for traffic information cause accidents? Does picking your nose cause accidents? Does sighing heavily when breathing cause accidents? Does pressing on the gas to go anyway cause accidents?
No matter what the conclusion of the study by NHSTA is, there isn't anything practical or politically sound they can do. And in 1995 the rate of purchase of cell phone was higher than the birth rate.
You can see that the shear madness of the issues surrounding the causes of accidents is such that we should all do what is practical and politically sound to reduce death rates, but one has to live with a reasonable trade-off and accept some death-rate as inevitable, as in, if you don't want to risk dying on the highway, then walk (though as a pedestrian its not all that safe either; hit by car or killed by murderer on the street).
My Comments
In accordance to the article, I don't really have an opinion or a decision to make on who is right or wrong. What I do think is that both sides had something interesting to say. On the side of the NHSTA, they have points that are backed up by research and development. On the side of the commentator, he or she is speaking from an abstract and moral point of view. On the issue of talking on a cellular phone while driving, the NHSTA says that the chances of a driver getting into an accident is greater for a driver who is not. The commentator tries to pass a point that it's not talking on a cellular phone that may cause a driver to get into an accident.
What may cause a driver to
get
into any kind of accident is
the fact that the driver may be preoccupied with another activity that may
cause him or her to
not pay attention to the road and thus resulting in the accident. The
commentator
points out that what if a
driver was picking his or her noses? Or what if a driver was singing a
favorite
song. What the general public
don't know is the facts on other occurrences of automobile accidents. What we
do know is drivers do get into accidents while talking on a cellular phone.
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Relative Driving Skills
FWIW, from what little I know of Marc, he is
an autocrosser of some experience and success. Given that, it would be an
upset of the highest order for me to 'outdrive' him at this time. I'm still
learning, especially with regard to autocrossing.
We're talking about street driving where your life and the life of everyone
around you is in your hands, hence one's mental ability is far more important
than the physical ability. In spite of our differences there is no doubt in my
mind you are light years ahead of Marc in that regard.
Thank you. This is why I used 'outdrive' in quotation marks. The only situation I can understand outdriving someone is in competition. Street driving is not competitive, and I don't know of any way to measure who outdrove who.
This brings up another question I have for Earl, or anyone else who knows. Does the National Academy of Police Driving autocross school still exist down in Dallas? Has anyone here attended it? If any of the above are true, what was their impression?
n
"To be a serious automotive journalist, it is said, you must have owned an
Alfa Romeo." - [ John Simister ]
My
Comments
I think that the idea of out driving is a totally relevant term in describing how a lot of motorist on the street drive. Although the writer leads into another topic of driving schools, I would like to focus on how people think the public roads seem to be though of as a race track. Many of us think that when we get into an automobile, we think we're driving in the Daytona 500. Well, I've got news for you, we're not. The main purpose of the street and your personal automobile is for transportation. Not competition. This reason may seem irrelevant, but as children, we are brought up with many ideas one of which to be toy cars that resemble fast moving vehicles.
Through our entire lives,
we are
surrounded by the media and
other sources of fast moving vehicles. I just wonder how valid is the
idea that our
surrounding plays a role in how we react. Well, the idea of conditioning has
it's few good
points. Since we are brought
up by many of these fast machines whether it's in the media or we are
participants, we are
conditioned to want to go fast and break rules. Let alone compete against one
another, because some
of us live by the saying, "Only the Strong Will Survive!"
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Brake Lights: Nemesis of Highways
Have you ever pulled away from a stop sign in a stick shift car, and for some reason, either lack of skill or bad timing, the car repeatedly lurches forward, like a ball bouncing down the road. No doubt this is rough on the car as well as it's occupants, and isn't a very pretty sight. Now extend this to the freeways. Stop and go traffic. Lurching, accelerating, stopping, lurching again. Unlike a good start from pole position, there is no attempt for a smooth and steady, constant movement.
People run up on each other and then slam on the brakes. Like the previous example, this affects the car and it's riders. The car's brakes are worn, gas mileage is shot and the people inside just get more and more frustrated. Solution: Don't ride people asses on the freeway. Move at a steady constant speed and strive not to use your brakes EVER on the freeway. Besides reducing stress and wear, you are also allowing others to merge in the ample space you have now created between you and the car ahead.
My
Comments
The writer has a good strong point. Operating an automobile has many responsibilities and it takes a certain amount of skill. I find that the two main reasons for traffic to exist is that either there is some kind of accident by congesting the streets with people "rubber necking" or blocking passage ways or the people in the front of the line is pressing the wrong pedal. This brings me back to the idea of "outdriving" others on the street. If we all didn't try to cut and get in front of the line and simply drive in accordance in a smooth, but gradual speed, traffic wouldn't exist.
Everyday I drive to work
from the University of Hawaii to University Square with my moped. Although it
is a short distance, less than 5 minutes away, I think there is a pattern that
is developed. I wake up in the
my morning and do my daily
washing of the face, brushing the teeth, breakfast, change of clothes, etc.
and I get on moped and
leave almost at the same time and enter a little traffic about the same time
and
get to my office at almost
the same time overall. I don't find any problem with it. I think that
traffic is just
the over abundance of cars on
the street. If we all know how to develop our own patterns that we can
live with in our daily
driving lives, I think that we can alliviate the problem of rage.
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Old Drivers More Deadly Than Drunks
Did you know what group of drivers caused the most fatal accidents last year in Las Vegas? With all the free drinks served at Casinos you would think that it would be drunk driving. But that is NOT the case. Last year, the old, gray and senile drivers caused more accidents.
Why is gray driving as deadly as drunk driving? While alcohol impairs the body's ability to see, react and reason - age eventually does the same thing. When you get too old, you can't see, hear, react, or contain the same mental capacity as when you were young. You BECOME AN IMPAIRED DRIVER !
According to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police
Department Captain Carl Fruge "It is the senior drivers more than ANY OTHERS
that are dying." Fruge said, "Their numbers are climbing faster than anyone
else. We have had many cases when an officer, after an accident notices that
(an elderly driver) may not be coherent, aware of their surroundings or have
their complete mental capacities."
[ " Traffic especially deadly for seniors in '97,". http://www.lvrj.com 1/17/98 ]
According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, per 100 million miles traveled, drivers over 85 are 10 times more likely to be in a fatal accident than the population norm. Meanwhile, the blood alcohol limit is set at a rate that would make a normal driver twice as likely to be in a fatal accident. So, you have in effect a law that punishes people who statistically are 5 times less likely to be in a fatal accident than older people. I don't advocate drunk driving, but I see no reason to allow drivers that are 5 times more likely than drunks to cause fatalities to be on the road -- At least without frequent testing.
[ http://www.dontgrayanddrive.com ]
My
Comments
I find that really hard to
believe that there are elderly people out there in the world who would take a
chance at driving.
Once I have heard some dancer say that she'll dance until she is 90 years
old. But
having people say I'll drive
till I'm 100 years old or until I die is something really to think about. I
mean. Studies have
shown that the average person who reaches the age of sixty starts to lose a
large
aprt of their senses. One of
the first to go is the sense of hearing. Then the next thing to go is the
sense of taste and
smell. Commitment to some kind of activity is a good thing, but elderly
drivers
have to draw the line
somewhere. I mean times are a changing and moving rapidly. Most motorist on
the road don't want to
drive behind some old guy who is going 30 mph under the speed limit. This is
the age of speed and
technology and if you don't get out of the way, someone is just going to get
run
over.
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Hostile drivers: We're kidding, Right?
Wed, 14 Feb 1996 09:50:02 -0600
I think a variation on this idea really has merit. Substitute paint-balls for darts, and you've got it. Anybody driving like an A**hole gets paintballed. Cars with multiple "splats" are marked as obvious frequent offenders. It might make drivers a little more consciencious of how they are driving, warn other drivers (and cyclists) when they are dealing with an idiot, and ultimately draw police attention to unsafe drivers.
Ummmm...this _is
not_ a flame. I appreciate the humor of this thread. However from the lack of
smileys I am starting to fear that we are getting serious. I live in Northern
Florida...read high redneck titer...and if I pulled anything remotely
resembling a gun, I would be likely be shot. Further, if I anger a driver by
splatting their car, they would likely squash me flat (OK tire print
me...I wouldn't really be flat).
I will (and have done so) report hostile drivers to the police. If I can identify them, I will (and have done so) write them a note informing them of their lack of courtesy. I have considered using some of the Zip Code/address software available to send a mass mailing to their neighborhood, informing their neighbors of the driver's lack of courtesy. I have fantasized about damaging their cars, cussing them out, and otherwise seeking revenge.
However, frightening or angering someone in a 1500 pound, 300 horsepowered weapon strikes me as unwise. Therefore, I will continue with relatively passive resistance. I hope that none of us are inspired to attack an automobile in a rage...as Sancho Panza said...whether the rock hits the plate or the plate hits the rock...the outcome is bad for the plate...Smile and wave (in a way that cannot possibly be construed to an obscene gesture), call the cops.
I am a sizable person, served in the US Army Special Forces in Viet Nam and am afraid of little (or at least like to think so). However, when we cycle, we are very alone (usually) on a very small vehicle...our opponent isn't alone...and his/her car is very big... I hope none of us take this thread seriously.
If, on the other hand, this has all been in jest, and all understand that, Accept my solemn apology...ya fooled me! Carry on.
My
Comments
I guess you could say that Jim Harper has a point. I agree with him dealing with things in a passive way. In the beginning of his article, he talked about marking people by shooting them with paintballs and your problem is solved of trying to avoid people who drive without common courtesy. Though a more effective way is just to take their licences away from them for good so people wouldn't have to look out for "a**hole" drivers.
But I thought his passive idea that he had mentioned about sending them letters to inform inconsiderate drivers was a really good idea. Though I think that people who may receive such mail would be offended kinda like a chain letter. People would just either ignore it or do something about it. I think that I would think twice about it. I mean, if I were to receive a letter saying that I acted inconsiderate to another motorist I would probably do nothing and simply try to think about how I drive the next time.
Jim's other idea of
notifying the proper authorities was a more effective way in dealing with
inconsiderate
motorists. I think that
would be the best way in catching or informing bad drivers or dangerous
drivers for
that matter. It's almost a
crime to be driving dangerous on the streets and risking the lives of others.
Something simple as
cutting inbetween lanes can cause harm to another. I think that if someone
was
driving really terrible, I
would pick up that cell or car phone and call 911 and inform the cops that, "a
driver
at this location is driving
like this" Maybe it will work and maybe it won't. It's a free call, so why
don't we
make this world a better and
safer place to travel in.
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Left Lane Travelers
November 21, 1996 at 19:20:53:
I was in Germany last year and was astonished to find out that the single biggest offense one can commit on the highway is to pass on the right. This isn't usually a problem, however, since it is very acceptable to flash brights, etc. in order to get the left-lane driver out of the lane so you can pass. I think there are more than a few Americans that can take this lesson. What do you think?
September 24, 1997 at 17:16:55:
I also was in Germany in May of last year for approximately 3 weeks. My wife and in-laws are all German. I was informed by them that flashing of headlights or the honking of your horn are considered aggressive driving and is a ticketable offense. I have lived in Texas for the past 30 years and am still at awe at the number of people who will not move to the right after passing a car.
Texas law states "Slower traffic move right".
Some (not all) of the drivers think that since they are going the legal speed
limit, anyone driving faster are breaking the law and therefore have no right
to pass. I believe this to be aggressive driving as do many other Texans.
However the Texas Department of Public Safety ( Our State Troopers ) will do
nothing to curb the problem. I firmly believe that this has led to cases of
"Road Rage". I hope to open my own web site in the near furture to address
this problem and hopefully get the attention of Texas Legislators to change
the law to state "Keep right except to pass." Then hopefully enforce the law.
I was in Germany last year and was astonished
to find out that the single biggest offense one can commit on the highway is
to pass on the right. This isn't usually a problem, however, since it is very
acceptable to flash brights, etc. in order to get the left-lane driver out of
the lane so you can pass. I think there are more than a few Americans that can
take this lesson. What do you think?
January 18, 1998 at 17:22:13:
It is my understanding that Arkansas has passed a law that requires drivers to use the left lane for passing only. I would like to see a similar law here in Wisconsin. Although highway signs here say "slower traffic keep right," the definition of "slower" is subjective. The driver driving at the speed limit does not identify himself as a "slower" driver, even though others are going 5 to 10 mph faster. I believe these "left lane lunkheads" are a major contributor to the recent "road rage" phenomenon.
Anyone who has driven in England recently has experienced good lane discipline among motorway drivers there, who use the passing lane (right in England) only for passing, regardless of how fast they are going, since there always seems to be someone going faster.
My
Comments
I have had my experiences
with driving in areas where when passing on the left lane, you are required
to merge back into the
left lane. I drove on the Florida interstates and many of the truckers travel
in
the right lane due to slower
traffic. What I did when I drove was pass in the left lane and kept going in
the left lane causing
a sort of caravan in the left lane. I had to idea, because driving in Hawaii
has no
affect on altering your
driving habits. Here in Hawaii, almost the same kind of manner applies where
the slower traffic
should stay in the right lane and the left lane should be kept for high
occupied
vehicles and faster traffic.
I agree with Ron when he said that it takes discipline among drivers.
I could see how this could affect a person who originates from an area that driving in different lanes is a problem to others. This may seem off the subject, but what about countries where the right of way is the left lane and the right lane was the wrong of way. I mean it takes some time getting used to, but that is what it's all about, "getting used to."
Where I come from, the streets aren't wide as compared to the roads here on Oahu. There are only single lane roads that just barely fit two cars that are used as two way traffic lanes. The funny thing is that we have no problem passing around slow traffic. I mean we are allowed to pass in the lane of opposing traffic. I find that very dangerous even if there aren't any cars around, because you can never tell what is going to happen to you. Though after passing in the opposing lane, we know when to return to the regular traffic lanes. There is no doubt because you don't want to get run over by other cars. Everyone is expecting and wanting to reach their destination safely, why make it more difficult and make traveling in whatever lanes an issue. I point on the road is to drive with care of yourself as well as to others.
Although some areas have
laws that enforce penalties if driving in certain lanes are required for
passing
only, but why stop a car on
the side of the road so that other motorist can "rubber neck" and cause an
even greater deal of
traffic? Just a little though to other motorists out there if this sort of
things happens
to you.
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Aggressive drivers... WOMEN
June 22, 1997 at 08:05:49:
I drive a lot in my job. Practically every day, at least once a day, I run into an aggressive driver. At times, this makes me a bit nervous because some of these people drive in an menacing manner and throw out obscene gestures at me. This is usually on the freeway somewhere. But, my experience has been that BY FAR, most of these aggressive, obnoxious drivers are women... and, I think it's getting a lot worse. What these foolish females don't realize is that if a confrontation took place outside of their protective vehicle, they would run the risk or being seriously hurt or possibly killed.
Like the article
stated, people feel bigger than life in their cars. These women that think
they are invincible better think twice for their own safety. Things are
getting to violent out there. They had better turn on their brains before they
act so cocky in their vehicles. As a side note, cell phones are a real
advantage when it comes to avoiding aggressive confrontations and reporting
aggressive, dangerous drivers. And, I've use mine on several occasions.
Forewarning to any of you smart-aleck's, female or
otherwise, that think you can do whatever you want behind the wheel.
My
Comments
I think that society has
conditioned the gender issue to a point where women are believed to be,
hence the word,
"invincible." Through experience on the streets of LA, many of the women
drivers
that I have encountered don't
give a damn about who is in the other car that cuts them off or does
anything to offend
them. I think that environment as well as culture plays a large role in how
people
react to the different
conditions of driving. Aggression is just one of the way that women take
their
frustrations out on the
road. In fact, women in more luxurious cars such as a BMW, Mercedes, or
Jaguars, may or may
not treat you more differently than a person who drives a Datsun or station
wagon. Through a
simple study done by a student of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, female
motorists are more
likely to let other motorist into their lane, less likely to show any sign of
anger or
frustration to another
motorist (e.g. "the finger"), and more likely to stay off busy streets such as
freeways.
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Traffic accident statistics???
November 24, 1997 at 11:56:26:
Can anyone tell me where I can find traffic accident statistics other that the statistics from the federal DOT site. I'm reading an involved post on truck.net and one driver asserts that the terrible new drivers are turning over semis.
Another driver asserts that the new drivers are more likely to be involved in
backing and turning (minor) accidents. Got me curious so I checked the federal
DOT stats. They seem to indicate fewer fatalities and accidents per mile
driven in recent years. I'd really like stats that show driving experience as
it relates to the type of accident. Are there states or insurance companies
out there that keep these?
My
Comments
I haven't done any
research on statistics of traffic accidents about new drivers, but due to an
unparalled event, a
new driver that I now of have been in a situation where a few months after
receiving her drivers
license, she got into a predicament where a wall was knocked down that was
costly. I think with
costly accidents that lead to repairs, insurance companies would be a good
source of information
on who gets into accidents, when, where, the type, and how much. After all,
if
the driver can't pay, then
maybe the insurance would.
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ROAD RAGE
Tailgating, giving the finger, outright violence--Americans grow more likely to take out their frustrations on other drivers
BY JASON VEST, WARREN COHEN, AND MIKE THARP
Some of the incidents are so ludicrous you can't help but laugh--albeit nervously. There was the case in Salt Lake City, where 75-year-old J. C. King--peeved that 41-year-old Larry Remm Jr. honked at him for blocking traffic--followed Remm when he pulled off the road, hurled his prescription bottle at him, and then, in a display of geriatric resolve, smashed Remm's knees with his '92 Mercury. In tony Potomac, Md., R. Ficker--an attorney and ex-state legislator--knocked the glasses off a pregnant woman after she had the temerity to ask him why he bumped her Jeep with his.
Other incidents lack even the element of black humor. In Colorado Springs, 55-year-old Vern Smalley persuaded a 17-year-old boy who had been tailgating him to pull over; Smalley decided that, rather than merely scold the lad, he would shoot him. (And he did. Fatally--after the youth had threatened him.) And last year, on Virginia's George Washington Parkway, a dispute over a lane change was settled with a high-speed duel that ended when both drivers lost control and crossed the center line, killing two innocent motorists.
Anyone who spent the Memorial Day weekend on the road probably won't be too surprised to learn the results of a major study to be released this week by the American Automobile Association: The rate of "aggressive driving" incidents--defined as events in which an angry or impatient driver tries to kill or injure another driver after a traffic dispute--has risen by 51 percent since 1990. In those cases studied, 37 percent of offenders used firearms against other drivers, an additional 28 percent used other weapons, and 35 percent used their cars.
Fear of (and participation in) aggressive driving has grown so much that in a poll last year residents of Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia listed it as a bigger concern than drunk driving. The Maryland highway department is running a campaign called "The End of the Road for Aggressive Drivers," which, among other things, flashes anti-road-rage messages on electronic billboards on the interstates. Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey have initiated special highway patrols targeting aggressive drivers. A small but busy community of therapists and scholars has arisen to study the phenomenon and counsel drivers on how to cope. And several members of Congress are now trying to figure out ways to legislate away road rage.
Lest one get
unduly alarmed, it helps to put the AAA study's numbers in context:
Approximately 250,000 people have been killed in traffic since 1990. While the
U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that two thirds of fatalities are
at least partially caused by aggressive driving, the AAA study found only 218
that could be directly attributable to enraged drivers. Of the more than 20
million motorists injured, the survey identified 12,610 injuries attributable
to aggressive driving. While the
study is the first American attempt to quantify aggressive driving, it is not
rigorously scientific. The authors drew on reports from 30
newspapers--supplemented by insurance claims and police reports from 16
cities--involving 10,037 occurrences. Moreover, the overall trendlines for car
accidents have continued downward for several decades, thanks in part to
increases in the drinking age and improvements in car technology like
high-mounted brake lights.
But researchers believe there is a growing trend of simple aggressive behavior--road rage--in which a driver reacts angrily to other drivers. Cutting them off, tailgating, giving the finger, waving a fist--experts believe these forms of nonviolent fury are increasing. "Aggressive driving is now the most common way of driving," says Sandra Ball-Rokeach, who codirects the Media and Injury Prevention Program at the University of Southern California. "It's not just a few crazies--it's a subculture of driving."
In focus groups set up by her organization, two thirds of drivers said they reacted to frustrating situations aggressively. Almost half admitted to deliberately braking suddenly, pulling close to the other car, or taking some other potentially dangerous step. Another third said they retaliated with a hostile gesture. Drivers show great creativity in devising hostile responses. D. Erber of Los Angeles keeps his windshield-wiper-fluid tank full. If someone tailgates, he turns on the wipers, sending fluid over his roof onto the car behind him. "It works better than hitting the brakes," he says, "and you can act totally innocent."
Mad Max. While the AAA authors note there is a profile of the lethally inclined aggressive driver--"relatively young, poorly educated males who have criminal records, histories of violence, and drug or alcohol problems"--road-rage scholars (and regular drivers) believe other groups are equally represented in the less violent forms of aggressive driving. To some, it's tempting to look at this as a psychologically mysterious Jekyll-and-Hyde phenomenon; for others, it's simply attributable to "jerk drivers." In reality, there's a confluence of emotional and demographic factors that changes the average citizen from mere motorist to Mad Max.
First, it isn't just your imagination that traffic is getting worse. Since 1987, the number of miles of roads has increased just 1 percent while the miles driven have shot up by 35 percent. According to a recent Federal Highway Administration study of 50 metropolitan areas, almost 70 percent of urban freeways today--as opposed to 55 percent in 1983--are clogged during rush hour. The study notes that congestion is likely to spread to currently unspoiled locations. Forty percent of the currently gridlock-free Milwaukee County highway system, for example, is predicted to be jammed up more than five hours a day by the year 2000. A study by the Texas Transportation Institute last year found that commuters in one third of the largest cities spent well over 40 hours a year in traffic jams.
Part of the problem is that jobs have shifted from cities to suburbs. Communities designed as residential suburbs with narrow roads have grown into "edge cities," with bustling commercial traffic. Suburb-to-suburb commutes now account for 44 percent of all metropolitan traffic versus 20 percent for suburb-to-downtown travel. Demographer and Edge City author J. Garreau says workers breaking for lunch are essentially causing a third rush hour. He notes that in Tysons Corner, Va., it takes an average of four traffic signal cycles to get through a typical intersection at lunchtime. And because most mass transit systems are of a spoke-and-hub design, centering on cities and branching out to suburbs, they're not really useful in getting from point A to point B in an edge city or from one edge city to another. Not surprisingly, fewer people are relying on mass transit and more on cars. In 1969, 82.7 percent drove to work; in 1990, 91.4 percent did. Despite the fact that the Washington, D.C., area has an exemplary commuter subway system, it accounts for only 2 percent of all trips made.
Demographic changes have helped put more drivers on the road. Until the 1970s, the percentage of women driving was relatively low, and many families had only one car. But women entered the work force and bought cars, something developers and highway planners hadn't foreseen. From 1969 to 1990 the number of women licensed to drive increased 84 percent. Between 1970 and 1987, the number of cars on the road more than doubled. In the past decade, the number of cars grew faster (17 percent) than the number of people (10 percent). Even carpooling is down despite HOV lanes and other preferential devices. The cumulative effect, says University of Hawaii traffic psychology professor Leon James, is a sort of sensory overload. "There are simply more cars--and more behaviors--to deal with," says James.
As if the United States couldn't produce enough home-grown lousy drivers, it seems to be importing them as well. Experts believe that many immigrants come from countries that have bad roads and aggressive styles. It's not just drivers from Third World countries, though. British drivers are considered among the safest in Europe, yet recent surveys show that nearly 90 percent of British motorists have experienced threats or abuse from other drivers. Of Brits who drive for a living, about 21 percent report having been run off the road. In Australia, one study estimates that about half of all traffic accidents there may be due to road rage. "There are different cultures of driving all over the world--quite clearly, if we mix new cultures in the melting pot, what we get is a culture clash on the roadway." [ Health Education and Safety Department at Minnesota's St. Cloud State University. ]
The peak moment for aggressive driving comes not during impenetrable gridlock but just before, when traffic density is high but cars are still moving briskly. That's when cutting someone off or forcing someone out of a lane can make the difference (or so it seems) between being on time and being late, according to Palmer.
Unfortunately, roads are getting more congested just as Americans feel even more pressed for time. "People get on a time line for their car trips," says Palmer. "When they perceive that someone is impeding their progress or invading their agenda, they respond with what they consider to be `instructive' behavior, which might be as simple as flashing their lights to something more combative."
Suburban assault vehicles. This, uh, "instruction" has become more common, Palmer and others speculate, in part because of modern automotive design. With hyperadjustable seats, soundproof interiors, CD players, and cellular phones, cars are virtually comfortable enough to live in. Students of traffic can't help but wonder if the popularity of pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles has contributed to the problem. Sales have approximately doubled since 1990. These big metal shells loom over everything else, fueling feelings of power and drawing out a driver's more primal instincts. "A lot of the anecdotal evidence about aggressive driving incidents tends to involve people driving sport utility vehicles," says J. Rochman of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. "When people get these larger, heavier vehicles, they feel more invulnerable." While Chrysler spokesman C. Preuss discounts the notion of suburban assault vehicles being behind the aggressive-driving phenomenon, he does say women feel more secure in the jumbo-size vehicles.
In much of life, people feel they don't have full control of their destiny. But a car--unlike, say, a career or a spouse--responds reliably to one's wish. In automobiles, we have an increased (but false) sense of invincibility. Other drivers become dehumanized, mere appendages to a competing machine. "You have the illusion you're alone and master, dislocated from other drivers," says Hawaii's James.
Los Angeles psychologist Arnold Nerenberg describes how one of his recent patients got into an angry road confrontation with another motorist. "They pulled off the road and started running toward each other to fight, but then they recognized each other as neighbors," he says. "When it's just somebody else in a car, it's more two-dimensional; the other person's identity boils down to, `You're someone who did something bad to me.' "
How can aggressive driving be minimized? Some believe that better driver's education might help. Driver's ed was a high school staple by the 1950s, thanks to federal highway dollars given to states. But a 1978 government study in De Kalb County, Ga., found no reduction in crashes or traffic violations by students who took a driver's ed course compared with those who didn't. Rather than use these results to design better driver's ed programs, the feds essentially gave up on them and diverted money to seat belt and anti-drunk-driving programs. Today, only 40 percent of new drivers complete a formal training course, which may be one reason 20 percent to 35 percent of applicants fail their initial driving test.
The inner driver. But governments are looking anew at the value of driver's education. In April, Michigan passed sweeping rules that grant levels of privilege depending on one's age and driving record. States with similar systems, like California, Maryland, and Oregon, have seen teen accident rates drop.
Those who lose their licenses often have to return to traffic school. But some states have generous standards for these schools. To wit: California's theme schools. There, errant drivers can attend the "Humor's My Name, Traffic's My Game," school, in which a mock jury led by a stand-up comic decides who the worst drivers are; the "Traffic School for Chocoholics," which plies errant drivers with chocolate and ice cream; and the gay and lesbian "Pink Triangle Traffic School."
But the real key to reducing road rage probably lies deep within each of us. Professor James of the University of Hawaii suggests that instead of emphasizing defensive driving--which implies that the other driver is the enemy--we should focus on "supportive driving" or "driving with the aloha spirit." Of course that's hard to do if a) someone has just cut you off at 60 mph or b) you live in Los Angeles instead of Hawaii. Nerenberg, the Los Angeles psychologist, has published an 18-page booklet called "Overcoming Road Rage: The 10-Step Compassion Program." He recommends examining what sets off road rage and to "visualize overcoming it." Other tips: Imagine you might be seeing that person at a party soon. And remember that other drivers "are people with feelings. Let us not humiliate them with our aggression." In the chapter titled, "Peace," he suggests, "Take a deep breath and just let it go." And if that doesn't work, the windshield-wiper trick is pretty clever.
My Comments
This article was a really lengthy one. I was really surprised to read about the thoughts that other readers of the opinion of our own Dr. Driving. It's a funny thing because when I wrote my generations curriculum I too have mention a liking for The 10-Step Compassion Program. We all talked about similar issues of how to go about dealing with "road rage." What I had in common was the visualizing of the problem and then finding a solution. It's almost like math, it you don't know what the problem is, you can't solve it. It's similar to "road rage," if you don't know what you are upset, frustrated, or angry at, you can't and won't be able to find a cure for it. The three authors mentioned at the top of this article has a point when they talked about not to humiliate ourselves with out aggression. I find that to be more of an embarrasment then anything else.
I have had a lot of experiences with rage and never at any time or any moment that I have lashed out to any other motorist. Like "Peace" suggests, "take a deep breath and just let it go." A point that was made in the article was ways in bringing down the rates of aggressive driving. The drivers education program in schools was a way the government used funds to teach the young on driving and safety. When the government didn't notice any dramatic changes in accidents and aggressive driving, I guess the government decided to pull out and tried to save the lives of those who will be possibly inflicted by aggressive driving, and that is by seatbelts and anti-drunk driving programs.
I also enjoyed where they also talked about how the trend in utility vehicles went sky rocketing. This trend is seen most popular by families and more so women. These vehicles are almost impervious to anything. Just by this fact where utility vehicles are supposed to be unstopable, the driver behind the wheel will be taken over and his or her personality will be different. The point that I'm trying to make here is that you won't see someone who is driving a Pinto act aggressively to another driver who is in a Hummer or what others call a Hum-V. Well, maybe some have seen this, but it's rare. It's all about the idea that a person is what their car is.
"Road rage" comes in so many flavors. From hitting other motorists in the knees or throwing punches at pregnant women. "Road rage" doesn't have a clear definition of action. The result of "road rage" is unpredictable that the impossible is the possible. Of the many ways that the world has tried to decrease the level of rage on the streets, many has failed. To most motorist or infact to most humans, it's easier to take the easy way out of learning something and to simply respond irrationally. We can only change if we are competent enough, well, unless someone or something forces us. Weird.
I kinda get the feel of
how people are when driving their cars. I have a Honda racing motorcycle and
I take
it on the freeways. Since my
bike can accelerate faster than a majority of the cars on the freeway at the
same time as me I can
simply outrun anyone who tries to get funky with me. But if they decide that
they
want to hurt me by colliding
with me, then that's another story. But what I'm trying to say is that the
character of the
vehicle overrides a person and turns that person into this ugly thing called
"rage."
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Speeding and Today's Police Cars
The California Vehicle Code states
(a) No evidence as to the speed of a vehicle upon a highway shall be admitted
in any court upon the trial of any person in any
prosecution under this code upon a charge involving the speed of a vehicle
when the evidence is based upon or obtained from or by the maintenance or use
of a speed trap.
(b) In any prosecution under this code of a
charge involving the speed of a vehicle, where enforcement involves the use of
radar or other electronic devices which measure the speed of moving objects,
the prosecution shall establish, as part of its prima facie case, that the
evidence or testimony presented is not based upon a speedtrap as defined in
paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 40802.
My question for today revolves around the notion of the 'electronic device'.
In the past mechanical devices were used for speed measurement -- calibrated mechanical speedometers were used in police cars. Today there are no mechanical speedometers. All speedometers are electronic devices driven by a pulse generator mounted someplace in the drivetrain.
A textual approach to the CVC leaves one with the impression that the CHP cannot use either radar or the stock speedometer mounted in a police car for the purpose of judging speed. Only mechanical devices and visual skill.
Nowhere does it
state that a defendent cannot use his speedometer reading as a measure of his
speed.
Has this particular area been litigated since the adoption of all-electronic speedometers by the CHP and most other departments in the state? What citations do you have, if any?
Comments
This brings up a good point of a situation that I was in and may reflect to any other driver out there. If a driver is entering a speed zone of 55 mph. The driver looks and wants to regulate his speed according to the speed limit. His speedometer indicates he is going close to 60 mph and when he notices this, he presses the brake and slows down only because he's one of those drivers that respect the speed limit. All of a sudden he hears a siren and looking in his rear view mirror, there's a car right behind him and a police office is waving to him to pull over to the side of the road. When the driver pulls over to the side of the road, he is asked by the officer if he knew how fast he was going, the driver tells his entire story of how he slowed down when he noticed that he was almost going 60 mph. The officer just laughs at him as though the driver was lying to the officer. The officer pulls up the laser gun and it reads 70 mph.
The question here is how accurate are the speedometers in your car. This discretion kind of gauges got me into trouble with the law. I was traveling at 60 mph on my motorcycle and was pulled over, because I was told that I was going 75 in a 55 mph zone. I find that hard to believe. A person would know, and just have to common sense to slow down if your gauge is indicating that you are too much over the speed limit unless you are a compulsive speeder or just like to speed for the hell of it.
Who is right then if your
gauge is now as accurate as it supposed to be? You decide when or may it
happen to you.
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Which
City Has the Worst Drivers?
Reposted from LA.transportation:
Feb. 23, 1998--
Who are the nation's most outrageous road warriors? New York and Boston drivers earn top dishonors in Reader's Digest magazine. Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Atlanta motorists also get nailed as Reader's Digest names America's Worst Drivers, in its March 1998 issue. Bad drivers -- you see them every day. Reading, phoning, even flossing or shaving instead of steering. Performing the classic Shoulder Run, The Sidesqueeze or Hail Mary Merge. Giving the finger to school-crossing guards. Or doing 162 m.p.h. on I-295, like one motorcyclist Washington-area police clocked last June.
But whose drivers are really the worst?
Reader's Digest ranked the 12 largest metro areas by asking 200 interstate bus
drivers and long-haul truckers, plus another 1,200 respondents on the Reader's
Digest World [ www.readersdigest.com ]. The magazine also factored in
fatality, insurance and rental-car rates. And then investigative reporter
William Ecenbarger took his life in his hands, riding America's meanest
streets. Here are the top five vehicular horror stories:
1. NEW YORK. Welcome to the city that invented
gridlock. Famed for kamikaze cabbies and hair-trigger horns, New York was also
the site of the nation's first fatal traffic accident. Manhattan intersections
are combat zones, where a pedestrian gets hit once every 40 minutes.
Statistically speaking, you're more likely to be run down than gunned down by
a stranger in New York City.
Watching New York drivers, it's hard to believe they have actually been licensed - and in many cases, they haven't. Police estimate 15 percent don't have a license. And nearly 7,000 have had theirs suspended 20 times or more. One Brooklyn man, arrested in 1994, had his license suspended more than 240 times.
How bad are New York drivers? "One guy,"
recalls license examiner I. Pascale, "asked me before the test started which
was the brake and which was the accelerator."
2. BOSTON. How bad are Boston drivers? There's even an entire book about them,
The Boston Driver's Handbook. In 1996 the new transportation commissioner had
to quit when it was revealed he had three accidents, five speeding tickets and
two parking tickets -- including one for blocking a handicapped ramp the day
he was in town for his job interview. Reporter Ecenbarger even braves Boston's
feared rotaries:
A woman in a green Chevy wedges in front of me
just as an entering white Bronco, ignoring the right-of-way-rule, seems intent
on ramming me before it veers off at the last second. When I slow as a
precaution, a black Mercedes honks angrily and pulls around me. Behind the
wheel is a woman with gray hair. She gives me the finger. Escaping from this
vicious circle, I come upon an old Ford that is weaving slightly. I pull
abreast and behold the driver shaving -- using a blade and soapy water from a
bowl on his dashboard.
3. WASHINGTON, D.C. In an American Automobile Association survey, area
motorists rated aggressive drivers a greater threat to their safety than
drunken drivers. "Evening rush hour is always worst," says Maryland Trooper
Robert Moroney as drivers inch along the Beltway, a parade of blaring horns
and shaking fists. "Everybody is pretty ticked off at this point." Even the
bumper stickers are nasty: "MY KIDS BEAT UP YOUR HONOR STUDENT"..."IF I LOOKED
LIKE YOU, I'D KILL MYSELF."
4. LOS ANGELES. A survey by the local police
found that residents rate speeding cars as big a problem as drugs and crime.
When additional stop signs are installed on a route, Angelenos just speed up
between them to make up for lost time. Some engineers are abandoning
pedestrian crosswalks, fearing they lull walkers into a false sense of
security. In L.A. the automobile has become America's new "officemobile,"
equipped not just with phone, but with fax, files and laptop computer ö
anything to keep drivers' eyes off the road and hands off the wheel.
5. ATLANTA. Local motorists are so bad, some
of the out-of- town bus drivers hired to ferry 1996 Olympic crowds quit in
fear. Atlantans have even been known to duck into funeral processions and turn
on their lights so they can drive through red lights. The city has a backlog
of more than 200,000 tickets -- and on one stretch of I-285, where the legal
limit is 55 mph, the average speed was once clocked at 87.7 mph during a one
hour period.
Reader's Digest ranked San Francisco-Oakland
motorists the best, or at least the least bad. But bad drivers are everywhere
-- so before you hit the road, be sure to buckle up and check "America's Worst
Drivers," in the March 1998 issue of Reader's Digest magazine. The Reader's
Digest Association, Inc. is a global publisher and direct marketer of products
that inform, enrich, entertain and inspire people of all ages and all cultures
around the world. Global revenues were $2.8 billion for the fiscal year ended
June 30, 1997. Global Headquarters is in Pleasantville, N.Y.
Comments
After reading this report, I was quite amazed at the people who actually do those kinds of things where a person would throw their hands in the air and show the finger or driving really close and actually nudging another driver. What was also quite amazing was a person who actualy installed a computer, a fax, a phone and all that neat office stuff in their vehicles. Putting up obstacles mean that people have to either leave earlier for work or drive faster. Like the article mentioned, a driver has to make up for loss time and there you automatically have a problem with the law. Drivers speed which posses 90% of all traffic violations.
What I suggest that may be a result or a reaction to the behaviors of drivers is caused by the lack of inconsideration to neighboring motorists. What happens here is that a driver may be so conditioned by the actions of other motorist's bad driving which in turn causes the behavior of the primary motorist to build a sense of automatic reponse back to the offending driver. This may sound complicated, but in short, if I was to drive to work everyday on a jam packed freeway and other motorists are swerving left and right into my lanes almost colliding into me and showing no sign of gratitude, I too would be upset. With this happening to me everyday, I would think that it's an everyday normal response.
The cities mentioned above; New York, Boston, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and Atlanta are large cities with large problems. Aggressive driving is expected in these North American cities for the fact that they are the one's that are most developed and highly populated and geographically, that's where people want to be. I find that really intriguing, because where people want to be isn't really what it seems since when stuck in traffic or caught in a situation where they experience rage, they say to themselves that they wish they weren't here. Go figure.
There is a possibility
where even in large cities could experience excellent satisfied drivers. Most
of it
depends on the person who
decides to engage in a "hot headed" situation or not. If everyone was
relaxed and didn't
take things so personal, our roads would be a better place to be in.
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Suggestions for Future Generations
There are so many topic to
choose from let alone of the topic on driving. Try to stay away from RE:
newsgroup
articles, but don't' undermine them. The responses from the original issues is
well enough
important
to base your comment on.
I tried to
view and process my own point of view from the original newsgroup topic then
read the
RE:'s
after. The reason behind this is that as an observer or commentator, you don't
want to be
influenced by responses from others before you get to post your own opinions
first.
I fell it's
like an editor reading a book for the first time and making improvements.
After that, the
editor
makes it a best seller in nation wide bookstores. When in the process of
collecting the many
issues in
newsgroups be wise in what you decide to write about and respond to. There's a
whole
world of
information out there.
Back to the Top Down to the Bottom
Conclusion
My Voyage through virtual
space has become more and more interesting. I've noticed with the
amount of
work that is required in the course, I have become more of a prisoner to the
computer.
Though
there are some days where I look forward to sitting down in front of the
computer and
browse
the world wide web. Some times I feel as though this report became my life,
well, it really felt
that way
for the past two weeks. All I could think about was this report. For once, a
report didn't feel
like a
report. It felt more of a destiny, but I got to choose it.
So does that
make me an addict, a compulsive computer user, or is it because I have a
weakness that
maybe I
just trap myself from society and create my own world that I can happily live
in? One that I
can
control and where I can do what I want. It doesn't seem that way, but it sure
feels like it.
With the
growing industry of science and technology, we should all wonder why we are
lured into
these
options. I find it to be more accommodating to process information in such a
manner. Makes
life
easier compared to ten years ago.
This
Newsgroup assignment was really quite informational in many ways. One way was
that it's a
quick way
to retrieve information on what goes on around the world and behind the
scenes. The
traditional buying of a newspaper from a newspaper boy is still an accepted
way of keeping in touch
with the
media. Searching through newsgroups are far beyond new stands. It's a way of
informing the
public of
hidden issues that the media don't cover. With this form of information
processing, I think
that
transition would be a likely term to use today.
Now that I
look at it, this report has proved to be of a transition.
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