Since the purchase of his new car he states that he has become very critical of others who drive too close to his car. That is an understanding argument because no one wants to spend a lot of money on a brand new car and then get into an accident. Kendall needs to remember the reason he bought the car. It was probably because he wanted it. If this is the case then nhe needs to realize that there are risks while driving, if it is a new car or an old. Either way, vulgarly reacting to others is not going to help a situation but only make it worse.
I also need to remember this because at times I don't think and the first thing that I want to do is yell, scream, rant, and rage but of course that won't help me. The situation will still be the same. Sure I'll let off some steam but so will a deep breath.
Reasonable thinking is important for the everyone. Kendall states that when in a crisis on the road he needs to remember that the situation is not built to anger him but it just did, so he needs to deal with it. I can benefit from Kendall because he can help me understand that people are not out to get me. Tyhere are those mornings when I feel that all drivers sole purpose is to irratate me. If I step back and look at the whole situation then I will be able to use rational thinking and my day will probably turn out a whole lot better.
Berna Collado from generation 2 decided to focus on her speeding habits on the road. She further broke down this plan by thinking about the reasons why she sped and then focused on each reason. She came up with three reasons. The first reason that she looked at was because she was late. Being late made her rush to work and speeding on our roads. She also states, "At times, I also found that I had no reason to speed, but I did. By decreasing my speeding behaviors, I will provide a safer driving environment for myself as well as for others."
The second issue that she focused on was letting her emotions get the best of her. She states, "If anger plays a part in my mood, I'd take a breath and try not to speed off to vent." In a way, I do that too. If I for some reason am upset and it is showing through my driving, I know that it is time for me to take time for myself and relax to catch my breath. I often like to go to Diamond Head look out and just catch my breath.
Her third reason she focuses on was that she really doesn't have reason to speed. I liked her solution for this: "I could stick a post-it note with the question, 'why?'" At times these little reminders help people, stay focused. It is important that we stay focused because then there is a purpose behind our agenda.
Rochelle Tactacan from generation 2 focuses on two aspects for her Driving Personality Make-over. She focuses on her swearing in response to other reckless driving and remembering to turn her head and look before switching lanes.
In overcoming her swearing problem, she uses the idea of repeat. In those situations, she says, "Don't swear, If I do swear, I do pinch myself." This made her attitude change. She says, "To realize the importance of good manners to personality like avoiding swearing, simply think of whether or not we are immediately attracted to a person who is rude and thoughtless." In any aspect of your life, this is true. I know some people who would disagree but I think it is important to take others underconsideration, on the road or not.
My friend can be selfish at times. She doesn't care for the other drivers on the road and acts as if she owns the road. Once she realizes that she should be more considerate, hopefully she will do something about it so the roads will become more safe.
Rochelle also wants to improve on her turning of her head while making signals and changing lanes. This is not a bad habit but more as a necessity. There are so many times that I see drivers just using their side view mirrors to change lanes but what about the blind spots on the side? This becomes such a big mess when someone has to stop for you and it is highly likely that the car behind him will have to stop, too. It is like a domino reaction. "So to be successful in driving personality make over plan, You need a careful plan, there should be target behaviors of what needs to be changed, and antecedent and some kind of reinforcers to modivate behavior."
One of the people that I chose to look at their DPM was Angie Inoyue from Generation 3. Angie wrote about her dangerous habits while driving...SMOKING. She tells us about an incident that she had while driving, her ash from her cigarette dropped on her leg. Distractions such as this, cell phones, or changing CDs can be very deadly.
I know of two people close to me, who got in accidents because of side distractions. My sister got in an accident about 6 months age. She bent over to pick up something that dropped on the floor of the car and lightly bumped the car in front of her. Luckily, no one was hurt but it is a hard lesson to learn for my sister. Also in high school one of my best friends bent down to change a tape in the tape deck and didn't see the car in front of her stop. Unfortunately this was a more serious accident and her car hood was smashed in halfway but thank god no one was hurt. These are two incidents that proved that the minor distractions aren't worth the damage they may cause.
Christine Huisman focuses on her attitude in general because she feels that her attitude affects her poor driving skills. She observed the behaviors and recorded them down in a journal. This way she can be more aware of what kind of behavior she has, She got this idea from Sharla Supnet.
I think that this would be wise action to take because people often don't realize exactly what they are doing and the effects it may have. I plan to use this and help me open my eyes to the road around me. Hopefully positive results will come out of this.
Lori Kim is a student from generation 3a. She describes her DPM as a "beautification of the soul". That was very interesting that she wrote that because it is exactly the truth. When you work on your DPM, you impact the other aspects of your life. Even if it seems that you are focusing on driving, you expand your knowledge to the bigger picture...your whole life.
Lori talks about many different aspects of DPM. She starts by talking about qualifications for DPM. She says, "Driving Personality Make-over is for anybody and everybody" and it helps, "boost up your self-esteem". She goes into explaining the process of the DPM by also using Nancee Aki's explanation of the steps. Then lastly, she talks about Learning to be a better person through DPM. In this section she quotes Shane Akagi's saying that many actions are due from imitation.
When I read this, I was shocked. I often react that way. I wouldn't consider myself a follower but in a way, I am. When a slow driver is holding up traffic, and the car in front of me goes around it, I don't hesitate to follow. As Lori goes on, she says that if we do a DPM eventually others will follow like a "chain reaction". Hopefully this will be a solution to all the road rage on our streets.
Cherice Higashi quotes many different student's views of driving personality. I especially liked what Michelle Ota said, :Being that driving can be both enjoyable at times and lethal at other times, we all need to examine our attitudes regarding this activity." I never thought of driving as being lethal but it is true. A lot of deaths are caused by road accidents and it is a shame but a lot of the victims are the innocent ones.
Cherice also states that "in attempting a Driving Personality Makeover the conditioning theory in psychology comes to mind. By getting positively reinforced through the receiving of rewards, you can learn to condition yourself to perform these more positive driving actions unconsciously. When you get to this point, rewards are no longer need and a true makeover is achieved. This seems a little unusual that we could think of it as receiving a reward but it is true that bettering your driving skills is a reward for you and other drivers. Safer driving habits equal safer driving roads. Amy Lam is also quoted saying that selfishness is innate and without training in sharing and caring for others, we humans are basically selfish creatures. "If you don't change your DPM, for yourself, then do it for others. It is their road too.
Canaan Machida focuses on defining a "Driving Personality Makeover". He cites 3 examples from previous generations to better understand the concept. Michelle Alonzo focuses on her behaviors when someone cuts in front of her without signaling and or without thanking her after merging. While Donna Handoe focuses on her swearing and cursing and Bruce Nakada had "no idea what behavior he should change" so he looked at his whole personality he decided where to start. "Instead of trying to change a driver's overall driving behavior, a make-over attempts to alter smaller, more specific behaviors." This is easier because you can concentrate on one area and you won't get overwhelmed by looking at the whole picture.
As for my driving makeover, I decided to concentrate first on my behavior after I get cut off or when I am stuck behind an "under the speed limit" driver. I had a hard time choosing because while driving, I have many "road rage" symptoms. The bottom line is ...I need to be more patient with other drivers and know that no one is perfect. "This facet of the make-over is very important in the simple fact that if a driver is resistant to change, all the self-observations done will be totally useless." I know many people who don't like changes especially if they don't feel that it is needed. But if people are closed minded and they don't try then the motivation is not there and the purpose is useless. In just about anything you do, you need to want to or there won't be a reason for it.
Another generation 4 member, Cherilyn Okazaki also looks at driving personality make-overs. She searched the other generations and quoted Adele Kimura, Aaron Reiser and Nancee Aki. Incorporating these 3 explanations, she comes to a consensus that "a driving personality behavior consists of two parts. The first is self-witnessing. Self-witnessing involves close observation of yourself and your actions. This is the point where you recognize the behavior. Then comes the behavior modification. Behavior modification is important because this is where you dig deep to find the one cause for the behavior that you are looking at. This is a two-step process. Analyzing each step of the thought, feelings and actions along with figuring out how to go about changing the cause of the actions."
This is the basic structure of a driving make-over and when I worked on my make-over, I used this basic structure as a guideline to follow.
My Quality Driving Circle consisted of three of the closest people in my life, my mom, my friend and my boyfriend. The reason I chose these three people is because I ride with each of these people on a regular basis and so in my opinion, I know that each of them had their own purpose of being part of this group.
I have been a passenger in my moms car the most out of 3 other members of our group. The reason I chose her to be in my driving circle was because she doesn't check her rear view mirror and the scares me. When I used to ride in her car when I was younger, I thought my mom was the best driver but since I got my license, I beg to differ. My mom is a potential hazard just waiting to happen. Once when I was riding in her car, she almost ran over a cyclist. Can you believe it he was almost a pancake?
My friend, Shelly, can be a little inconsiderate on the road. She is basically a good driver except for the fact that she doesn't say thank you to others when they let her into their lane to merge. I've told her that she should show appreciation to others on the road before the next time people won't let her in but she simply says that she doesn't need to because they can't see her through her tint and also because no one else does to her. Boy do I have a lot of work to do!
My boyfriend is a real good driver. I feel very safe with him except that he has a tendency to speed. He doesn't speed that much over the speed limit but it he does go too fast, especially on the freeway. He has a lazar detector and he believes this will help prevent him from getting into any rutts.