This report will deal with what goes in USENET. This is not an alternate dimension of the Internet. It is, in fact, a place on the Internet where people with the same interests can come together and discuss anything they want to about that subject. In this paper, the news group: rec.autos.driving will be summarized. Several different threads dealing with a variety of subtopics all related to Traffic Psychology will be analyzed. The attitude and focus of this newsgroup, and some individual threads, as well as its implications for Traffic Psychology will also be discussed.

Subject: Re: Speeding Ticket Today -- Radar Detector Didn't Go Off :-(
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1996 13:39:23 -0800
From: Tony Esporma <antonio.esporma@jpl.nasa.gov>
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Pasadena CA
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving, rec.autos.misc
References: 1 , 2

Mr.Traffic wrote:
>
> H.B. Elkins wrote:
> . Maybe I need to put a better radar detector
> > on my Christmas wish list.
> >
> > If anybody has any comments or suggestions on this episode, I'd
> > appreciate them.
> > +++++++++++++++++++++++++
>> H.B. Elkins -- Winchester, KY
>
> Instead of getting a new radar detector, here's something for your wish
> list: I wish you would NOT BREAK THE LAW!!!! Then, you won't need a
> radar detector to curse at!
>
> Look, you and I might agree that 65 could be artificially low on that
> road, who knows, but as long as it IS 65...then why not just do it? What
> is the point in trying to save minutes?? As long as you are willing to
> pay with your $$$ and insurance $$$, go for it.

To all:

My understanding is that Mr. Traffic lives in Los Angeles. I must apologize to all on this usenet group for his moronic philosophy.

Let me assured that no one in Southern California follows this moron's opinion. We vote with our feet, and if Mr. Traffic doesn't like it, then he can just go take surface streets and get off the damn freeways.

To Mr. Traffic:

Get real, you clown. The last time someone in LA tried to show how slow the speed limit is, they made a mess of the San Diego Fwy on the West Side.

There used to be a group that every year staged a protest to the double nickel. They would all drive in a pack blocking all the lanes of the Southbound 405 while doing 55.

The would do this on a weekend afternoon and the cops couldn't bust them because they were legal. But they created _huge_ back ups as you can imagine and garnered a lot of publicity on how stupid the 55 was.

Even today, the 65 limit is ignored, as the median speeds are still around 75mph. In the immediate downtown area, where the limits are still 55, the traffic flow cruises at 65mph+

So, Mr. traffic, if you see an old lady in a Cadillac doing 75 behind you, move over. Get off the freeway and take Crenshaw Blvd. instead. BTW, on Crenshaw, you better haul, otherwise you might get shot at.

tony ;-)

The above excerpt is an example of the type of communication that goes on within USENET. In this posted message, Tony is commenting on a communique he received from "Mr. Traffic". Although Mr. Traffic is commenting on the foolishness of radar detectors (see my Report 7), Tony continues to berate Mr. Traffic. It is very clear from the tone of this message the feelings and thoughts that go through the minds of those that frequent this newsgroup. Although this type of feeling is present within this particular newsgroup, it doesn't seem to be the norm.

When browsing other posted messages on the rec.autos.driving newsgroup, I was surprised to see that most of it wasjust everyday people looking for some friendly advice. Most messages consisted of people commenting on new cars, mechanical equipment, etc. The norm actually seemed to be people talking about specific areas of traffic that seem to be local to them. As seen by the above posted message, Tony is clearly speaking about the traffic that pertains only to California, Los Angeles to be more specific. But like most everything, this one example of what Tony is trying to say can also be generalized nationwide and perhaps even internationally.

Subject: Re: Road Rage
Date: 12 Dec 1996 09:18:53 -0600
From: jquick@s-cwis.unomaha.edu (QUICK JASON STEWART)
Organization: University of Nebraska at Omaha (Student CWIS)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.4x4, rec.autos.driving
Followup-To: rec.autos.4x4, rec.autos.driving
References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

The next thread in this newsgroup that caught my attention, dealt with what is termed, "Road Rage." According to the author of this thread, road rage seems to originate from tailgating. This person states, "There seems to be no relationship between gender and propensity to tailgate." The author then goes on to say, "Type of vehicle IS a predictor -- the smaller the car, the closer it tailgates." What is most disturbing about this is that this author seems to be concentrating on the type of car instead of the type of driver. Although the types of cars most of us buy (drive) dos say something of our personalities, it is by ne means a predictor of how we are going to drive. A case in point is shown when I was driving in my friend's tow truck. It is a huge truck with a very powerful engine. Everywhere he went he would tailgate someone. I observed him driving for some time before commenting to him about his tailgating. He said that he wasn't realizing what he was doing. He had a huge truck and was obviously tailgating as to close to these cars as is vehicularly possible. It seems that ignorance like that of this thread's author is what seems to perpetuate the resistance for most drivers to accept responsibility for their action and behaviors. And it is this ignorance that Traffic Psychology is attempting to aleviate.

A third thread I came upon regarded Slow Cars in the Fast Lane. It caught my attention because of the response it got. In this thread, Dr. James is discussing something called the "Self Fulfilling Prophecy" and its application as to how your expectations while driving leads to feeling unpleasant while driving. In turn, this willead you to being a bad driver. The response Dr. James got was a prime example of resistance. Matthew wrote back, "My thoughts don't affect their actions. There is a real world out there, and no amount of psychobabble will change it." through years of observation and research, Dr. James has come up with the Affective-Cognitive-Sensorimotor (ACS) cycle as it pertains to Traffic Psychology. Basically it entails that feelings positive and negative leads to corresponding positive or negative thoughts which in turn cause either positive or negative sensorimotor reactions or behaviors. This is better explained in my Report 3: The Affective, Cognitive, and Sensorimotor Domains at Work. Matthew's refusal to accept any sort of advice shows that he is resistant to change. By calling the advice he is given from Dr. James as "psychobabble", Matthew is showing some open hostility towards the profession of Psychologists. Clearly Matthew, and others like him, see that driving should not be under the purview of Psychology. It is lack of acceptance from both the lay world and the world of Psychologists that seems to perpetuate the type of driving that continues on today.

In a thread written by Geoff Miller and answered by Dr. Leon James, entitled Why I Tailgate, a very confusing subject came to my attention. Here the discussion concerns the merging and flow of traffic on freeway onramps. When drivers merge from an onramp into highway traffic, they must contend with the slow moving traffic of the lane closest to their onramp lane (whether they merge on to the highway from the left or the right lanes). The debate seems to stem from whether or not it is better to merge immediately into the highway traffic as soon as possible, or to go all the way to the end of the merge and force yourself in. According to Dr. James, the law stipulates that you must go all the way down to the end of the merge and then merge into the traffic. If the highway traffic is very slow moving and the merging drivers are trying to get into this highway traffic from multiple entry points, not only will this slow that highway traffic down considerably, but it will also lead to drivers in the merging lane to block all the cars behind them. This may seem to be okay for most drivers because when confronted with traffic situations like this, one's instincts turn on and brains turn off. Most drivers want to get into the highway traffic as soon as humanly possible and get over to the fast moving lane. But in thier own haste, these drivers pay no heed to other drivers. It is this selfishness that seems to make the already backlogged traffic much worse than it should be.

Dr. James also comments that this may be a problem of traffic flow engineering. I agree in that those who built these highways (here in Honolulu) were very lazy and inefficient. Although we are a very small island, we have probably more on and offramps per mile of road than anyone in the US. In some areas in Honolulu, freeway on and offramps are within 100 feet or less of each other. Considering that most of our freeways are only 3 lanes big on each side and taking into account the likelihood of traffic accidents, this was indeed very bad planning on the part of the freeway engineers. Perhaps with the help of those studying the field of Traffic Psychology can some of these problems be either allieviated or even prevented.

In the fifth and final thread I came upon entitled, Car Phones. A Traffic Hazard?, Dr. James comments on the notion of divided attention and driving. The author (C.R. Kreiger) is discussing the notion of the dangers of dividing ones attention while racing a car. He comments that while driving at 100+ mph and dividing ones attention will inevitably lead to eating some dashboard and gravel. This may be true, but this may not be the main focus of Traffic Psychology. What Traffic Psychology (and Dr. James) is focusing on is the everyday driver. Almost no driver grew up racing cars. Most of us learned to drive in normal traffic situations. It is because of this that Dr. James distinguishes "divided attention" from what he calls, "Automatic Driving Self". I agree very strongly that most drivers go into "auto pilot" when they drive. This seems to be especially true in drivers who have had years of driving experience. The longer one drives, the more used to driving they become. I myself have been driving for only about 6 years now, and yet when I drive, especially on the freeway, I sometimes tend to drive withour thinking. Although this may seem bad, it actually depends on the person and their driving behaviors. If these habits are bad such as tailgating or speeding on auto pilot, then this is bad. But Traffic Psychology is poised not to eliminate this auto pilot tnedency, but to shape it and modify it to be more conducive to a more pleasant driving experience.

I believe that this newsgroup is much to broad for the specificity that Traffic Psychology requires. Considering how much people are online and subscribed to newsgroups, and how that number will grow in the coming years, one has to assume that either more newsgroups will have to be created or there will be just too much "traffic" in these newsgroups to navigate effectively. I propose that something be done to create a Psychology newsgroup with a subsection that deals with Traffic Psychology. The only problem is that because it is such an "unknown" field of Psychology, it probably wouldn't garner much attention. By using rec.autos.driving as a base to reach out to the rest of the world, one can build a good foundation. Once the Internet and its newsgroups become more flooded, this idea make come into fruition.