The topic of traffic psychology has haunted me every day for the past three and a half months. Can you imagine going to other classes, but thinking traffic, and going to work thinking traffic. The worst is trying to sleep, but thinking of traffic. T
here seems to be no end. Improving my driving, obeying the laws of the roadway, taking care of my car all seemed less important until the doors of Traffic Psychology were unlocked and I was sucked in. We have had what seemed to be endless discussions of
our own driving behavior as well as other topics relating to traffic and you would not believe my surprise to see the world unfolding in a different light. As a member of this class I participated in the long tedious task of reforming my driving and res
earching topic areas. In the beginning I wrote Traffic Psychology Report 1: Self Assessment as a Driver. In it I discussed five different areas of driving and their implications for traffic psychology, these areas included tailgating, speeding, convoys
, aggressive driving and driving makeover. Our new assignment challenged my patience, Report 3: Traffic Psychology on the Internet was to take these same topics and research them further on the internet. The concept seemed easy enough, just like doing
research at the university library right? Wrong!
How hard could it be to search the internet for such common topics? There must be tons of information on tailgating, convoys and driving behavior in general! Boy was I wrong. I struggled desperately trying to find information on these topics. Alway
s coming up with topics that had nothing to do with what I was looking for. Get more specific I thought, so I attached the word driving, and traffic. I tried all sorts of weird possibly related words, but really only found a few links to exactly what I
was looking for. Unfortunately a lot of links that did come up were links to other traffic psychology students. This is what I found.
Speeding
Imagine yourself flying down the highway at unbelievably high speeds, racing against the wind, against the clock and against time. You are in control never looking back to see what havoc you may have left behind. All you feel is the wind against your
skin, the freedom, the sense of escape. You think of being behind the wheel of a race car, no one else in sight, not one person catching up to you. What would it be like to live in a world with no limits?
Well, driving fast either in Hawaii or on the continental united states is nothing new. Whether speed limits are set or not, the law will be broken. Millions of Americans break the speed laws set by the states plain and simple, because they are unreaso
nably low. Imagine driving along an interstate at 55 m.p.h. for hundreds of mile. Hardly any cars in sight, miles of flat road, and yet having to drive so slow.
According to a link Speed Limits are Set TOO Low states that "unreasonable speed limits make violators out of otherwise law abiding citizens among other things." On September 20, 1995 the Hou
se voted to repeal the 55/65 m.p.h. The additional stipulation tied to this would be that all states who decided to raise their speed limits would have to report every other year the number of accidents that occurred. The senate then looked over the bil
l and signed it. However, they approved the repeal for cars only, the law would not effect buses and trucks.
The controversy has only escalated since the recent passing of the laws that allows the individual states to determine their own speed limits. Many motorist are puzzled at Montana's recent decision to have no speed limit in effect during the day. Why q
uestion it? The government gave each state the right to make their own decisions so more power to them. Montana's decision to be a leader and not a follower is commendable in my book, but still many motorist question the safety of driving at accelerated
speeds.
In a study conducted by the Federal Highway Administration has found that the majority of motorist on rural and urban highways did not alter their driving speed as a result of increasing and decreasing the posted speed limits. In fact it is believed by Kevin Atkinson that people do not readily conform to altered limits. The belief that Speed Limits are Set Too Low is one shared by most motorists since compliance with the laws does not se em to be occurring. In fact this study found that compliance decreased when limits were decreased and accidents therefore tended to increase. However, compliance did improve after limits were increased causing accidents to decrease.
The FHA (Federal Highway Administration) sponsors many studies on speeding behavior. Their purpose is to study the frequent violations of posted speed limits. The organization believes t hat speed limits are to be set at reasonable speed at which motorist can proceed in a reasonably, safe traveling speed. On the average they have found that 7 out of 10 people exceed speed limits especially in urban areas. Another interesting link you ca n look into is theNMA's (National Motorists Association) Model Speed Zoning Law or check out their NMA Homepage
All of our hopes to have our state be the next to remove the speed limits is far from reality, especially in Hawaii where the roads do not stretch endlessly into the next state. So for those of us who will always speed, we must find ways not to get ca
ught. Towards the beginning of the semester I had discovered the page of Successful Speeding and made a link to it on my Fun Car Stuff Page, but never did I think I would use it in this paper. It's a great link to help you avoid that $80 or more speedin
g ticket. This page lists 9 tools for successful speeding. It begins with selecting the proper equipment, which is of course anything but those flashy red sports cars which we all love, and of course spending a great deal of money on a radar detector th
at becomes obsolete within months. Have you heard about the new HPD gun ? It takes down the speed you are driving and your license plate number without even pulling you over. Police officers can just gun you without you knowing it until of course you
receive a ticket in the mail. Boy the advances of modern technology today. Other tips on this page include maintaining a watchful eye especially near overpasses, avoid unprofessional and provocative behavior and always behave appropriately when stopped.
Appropriate? Yes, being courteous and candid is the key.
Tailgating and Convoys
On the internet highway finding information on tailgating and convoys drove me completely insane. Links to most of the generation one and generation two Traffic Psychology came up, but this was not exactly what I hoped for. Something different, somethin
g new. Unfortunately the most I could find were articles from a search in Deja News. I found and article that contained several people's expression of discontent, confusion and frustration with tailgators. In it th
ere were a variety of points of view. Some people tried to avoid tailgators and simple move on the side while others said if they get irritated enough they
would slam on their brakes. Hahaha. My feelings before this class would be to slam on my brakes, let the other person bang into me and have their insurance company pay the bill for a new paint job. However, the reformed traffic psychologist in me screa
ms to get out of the way. It's true we all have bad days, we all have good days. There could be hundreds of reasons that the person behind you is following so close. It's true he could be an inconsiderate slob, but maybe they aren't paying attention, o
r just want to get home after a long day at work. I'm sure we can all sympathize with the woes of the world we live in today.
Aggressive Behavior and Driving Makeover
I have spent the last three months looking at my own behavior not only from a traffic psychology perspective, but also from a self analytical perspective. In class we have often discussed how one aspect of your life is actually interconnected with every
other part of your self. The mind and all it's analytical parts are interconnected to the emotional feeling part. Therefore each thought and each action causes a enormous reaction.
In my first paper, Report 1: Initial Self-Assessment as a DriverI discussed my personal aggressive behavior and how I was to proceed in doing a driving makeover. For this section I decided to expand on this and share
with you all techniques I found to make me a better driver and better person.
I went back to look at myself in the beginning of this class and could immediately recognize my careless and carefree behavior was a result of external factors, usually problems in my life or an over stresses work career. Due to the amount of anxiety
I would face on a day to day basis, I needed to find a outlet for aggression. This outlet had been driving at extremely fast, extremely dangerous speeds. There must be some other means to relax I kept telling myself, but the excitement of fast paces ov
ertook my brain, body and soul.
Then it hit me one day in class when Brian Yucoco started taking about meditation and breathing. It reminded me of Transpersonal Psychology. Go ahead laugh, meditation seems like a big joke to a lot of people, but it really helped me before I only h
oped it would again. I searched the internet to reestablish a background on stress relievers, in particular the practice of meditation. I found endless streams of information as usual.
It seemed as if every doctor and every student who had ever had experienced stress had some remedy or cure, or definition. I found and interesting link called Letter from a Busy Street: Traffic versus
People. This is a fantastic summary of what the world is like from apoint of view never taken before. In this book it will discuss how driving effects more than our behavior on the roadways but also our ability to interact with others at work, at ho
me and within ourselves. A major point raised is that traffic and driving costs us more than the upkeep of the road ways, if costs us our lives. So true, and so worth pondering.
In not so intense terms I found links to things like Stress Busters and Stress Fact Sheets, but all of this is the same old information we a
lways get in high school health class or counseling.
The links I found interesting dealt with meditation and some healing method called Huna. The link on Mediatation was called just that and broke down what I had learned in Transpersonal. It s
tated that all forms of meditation incorporate 3 main areas. These areas include physical relaxation, mental focus, and spiritual experience. These are very important in the meditation process. The relaxation of the. mind and sprit results in a sense o
f peace and balance. Most people begin by sitting up right on the floor or a comfortable cushion. One must either focus on an object, thought, smell or even repeat a mantra. This is all a part of centering. One concentrates on an object or thought and
this allows for freedom of thought. I found this meditation process very helpful in traffic psychology for it helped me to view driving in a new light. Taking deep breaths and allowing my life as well as my driving to come into focus. It was not an i
mmediate response, but very gradual. In fact I am still going through the process. Meditation once before unlocked many doors and helped me to broaden my depths of thought and understanding to see my life in perspective. Unfortunately I failed to keep up
with it and my life quickly became out of focus again. Finding meditation as a tool and as an alternative to aggressive behavior was a spiritual uplifting for me.
As if meditation would not be enough to steer me in the right direction I
found that it would be useful to explore the new concept of Huna . This is supposedly the "original art & science of healing & sp
iritual development of the peoples of the earth." I am including this in my report not for it's educational value, but for the opportunity for many individuals to see what anyone can do to get money. This practice done by two haoles is to encourage the
healing of one's soul. They have given themselves Hawaiian names and quote Hawaiian chants that I believe they do not even know the meaning of. Their translations are vague as if simply looked up in a dictionary. Stumbling on this page in search of a s
tress reliever only excited me more. If you know close to nothing of Hawaiian culture and beliefs then you may be one of the fools stupid enough to pay over a thousand dollars for these classes. This topics relation to traffic psychology is minimal, but
it does deal a lot with the inner peace that I require in order to become a better person and a better driver.
After completing a whole semester of Traffic Psychology I know I have walked away with a great deal more than the wisdom of Leon James and safety on the roadways. I have learned that life is a cycle that we effect by each and every action. The choices w
e make today truly effect our lives tomorrow. I take with me new wisdom to face the challenges the world shall bestow. Best wishes, and good luck to us all.
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