11/16/95
BRADEN KATO
PSY 459
DR. LEON JAMES
Getting Wiser
Whew! After doing two big reports and numerous weekly team reports, I feel almost like an expert in the topic of traffic psychology. It has also kept me a bit more aware on the roads, as I am constantly (consciously and unconsciously) analyzing behaviors around me to see if any aspects of traffic psychology apply. I think the psychology 459 generation I students must have felt the same as me (that is, towards the ending of the semester), for many surely sound as if psychology 459 had changed their views of driving ( for the better, that is!) However, this doesn't apply only to driving on real roads. The same could also be said about driving on the superhighway, also know as the net. Many were shaky and a little intimidated in the beginning, but as time went by, the gradual process of "breaking in" themselves to the internet took its course. By the end of the semester, sounds as if they were regulars to the internet.
Becoming an expert in Traffic Psychology
As I had stated before, I feel as if I am becoming an expert on traffic psychology. For instance, we talked about the subject of convoys all through the semester, so it's inevitable that I discuss it again. That goes the same with all the previous aspects such as driving personality, tailgating, speeding, and aggression alike.
Driving personality
There is a general consensus about the definition of driving personality. To recall, many Psychology 459 students define driving personality as an assessment of driving habits that contribute to performance when driving. It is within the individual, that driving habits differ- that is, many people have different opinions about the concepts of good versus bad driving. For instance, like the example of tailgating that Dr. James gave in class about how he thought someone was tailgating him when in actuality the person was just a close driver. He thought that person was a bad driver, yet I assume if you were to talk to that person, he'd have different views about his own driving.
Findings on the Internet
Truthfully, I found it virtually impossible to find any material on this subject matter. The cloest I got to "driving personality on the net" was in the Deja news section. There, I typed in the search for "driving personality" and was led to a whole mass of links (some I assume probably don't even have any relevance to the subject!) I clicked on to one called rec.auto.driving, and someone's response to a person who wrote about driving too fast on Boulder Canyon road. Having little significance to what the orginal document was about, a person named Gary Strand goes on a tangent and discusses his definition of a speeder's driving personality. He states that someone going 70 in a school zone would be considered reckless to him, and how typically these type of people have controlling personalities. Gary states that "speeders demand that everyone else accomdate them by getting out of thier way so they can get to their destination 5 minutes quicker, and consume 10% more fuel and adding to the brown cloud." Apparently, Gary sees speeders as people who could careless for others.
My Thoughts about Driving Personality
After many observations, I have come to the conclusion that driving personality is a series of factors that determines how one drives. These factors include distractions ( an example would be the "rubbernecking" factor done by Berna Collado), the weather ( bad weather = slow, cautious driving), type of car you're driving ( such as company vehicles), and so forth. We all would like to think of ourselves as good drivers, yet to others this may not be the case. It would be fitting to say that each of our personal driving personalities is an extension of ourselves, and how we act outside of our automobiles. However, I know for a fact that this isn't true. My girlfriend for instance, is a sweet and kind person, yet she drives like a maniac on the road; this is an apparent contradiction to Gary's comments. As for me, I'd surely like to think that I act the way I drive- cautious, and law abiding.
Convoys
Next to tailgating, this subject seems to be the most talked about subject throughout the semester. Convoys seem to conjure up mixed reactions when mentioned. Sharla Supnet like to be the leader of one, because of the fact that she controls the rate of speed that the convoy is travelling. However, she also states that sometimes she just likes to stay in the back of one, and take her time. I recall in one of our class sessions ( I think it was Denise Tanaka), one student saying that convoys gave her that "cluster phobic" feeling, especially when she was "inside" one of them. I can understand her sentiments!
The good: Convoys
Although convoys seem to conjure up a lot of negativity, an equal amount of good can be seen in them also. I was surprised to find that many students agree ( Sharla Supnet also writes about utilizing convoys to deter getting speeding tickets. with me pertaining to the fact that convoys are lifesavers as far as speeding tickets goes; after all, why get caught when your can let the person in front of you get the ticket! As for Leticia Lujan, she states that when working with convoys, "they providea sheild of security that allows the motorists to switch onto automatic pilot, relax, and maybe daydream." She goes on to say that "because you are going with the flow of the convoy, you are driving in a safe manner than if you were to go against it.
What do I Think about convoys?
Personally, convoys to me are just things we have to deal with in our daily driving lives. One thing I have against convoys is when I get stuck following a large semi truck with gravel as its load and some of it trickle out, pelting at me and damaging my car. The convoy traps me in, and I have no way of escaping the bombardment except to go really, really slow and cut out. However, this rarely happens.
Psychology in Convoys
It would be interesting to see convoys as "cultures." That is, each individual has their own personality, yet abide by a set of standards, and laws (sometimes). One is usually singled out for going against the "group" ( such as reckless or slow drivers) and negativity is felt by the group as a whole towards that specific individual.
Tailgating
I like to tailgate-- that is, having a few beers with friends in the stadium parking lot prior to a football game. What I don't like is someone following me very closely while I'm driving. That's what the other type of tailgating is-- invading the two second barrier that is required for safe driving between vehicles. The obvious point to this is that the closer a person follows a vehicle, the less reaction time they have to avoid any type of trouble such as making a quick stop. It is obvious that this type of behavior is very dangerous, and promotes feelings of negativity.
Tailgating on the Internet
Again, I used Deja news search for this particular topic. I typed "tailgating" in the search, and received a whols mass of links, which were mostly related to tailgating parties. Luckly, I was able to find one called "Rude/ Stupid Drivers" and I clicked onto there, expecting to find some interesting material. Created by a person named Timothy Lee, he lists his most favorite pet peeves about his fellow drivers. He starts the document with "Some drivers are so rude and/or stupid that they wil...." and goes down the list. For tailgating, Timothy says " Some people are so rude and/or stupid that they will tailgate, especially (a) in the right lane, (b) when there are no open lanes left to pass in, (c) when there is no way for them or the car in front of them to go any faster, or (d) on two lane roads (tailgating makes it harder to use turnouts since many turnouts show up without a lot of warning, requiring quicker stops than would be safe if someone is tailgating.) Tim seems to have a lot of valid points!
The Psychology in Tailgating
As far as the Psychology in tailgating goes, I think that the strongest theory has to be the "space invasion" theory. As stated in my first report, personal space is very important to each of us in society, and culture. When our personal space gets invaded, the "Mr. Hyde" creeps up in us. The same can also be applied to our personal space when we drive. Tailgating is that invasion of space.
My Personal Views on Tailgating
Like the feelings of obligations in convoys, the same can be said for me as far as tailgating goes. Just seeing someone follow me so closely tends to make me want to speed up, thinking that if I speed up a little, they will get off my tail. But if they don't, that when things start to get ugly. My tolerance for tailgating is relatively high, and MOST of the time I let it slide. I have observed that most of the tailgating that was done to me was a result of the tailgater trying to get in the next lane, whether it be left or right, because that lane's flow is moving fast. They usually use that two second barrier time as "catch up time", accelerating to match the floe of the lane they intend to enter. It's just those other times when it's done for no reason that upsets me. It is those times that I feel I have to take it into my own hands to give the tailgater a little taste of his or her own medicine.
Throughout all this, I feel that I have come to grips with tailgaters. As I have stated, most of the time I deal with it, yet it is those rare times that I feel I must justify myself.
Speeding
We like to think of ourselves as law abiding citizens, and I'm pretty sure that many people would like to extend that thought to driving laws. The fact is, the vast majority of us break laws everyday! In specific, I'm talking about the speed limit laws. For most people, going the speed limit just isn't realistic; it IS too slow. 55, 45, 35, 25 MPH signs are the ones we love to hate, especially when we are in a hurry. Yet one cannot dispute the fact the those speed limit postings were put up for a reason; that being the consideration for a safe driving speed.
However, many dispute what a so called "safe driving speed" is.
Speeding on the Internet
As far as this category goes, I failed to find anything else but the worn and torn links of the National Speed Trap Registry. I utilized Lycos for this and typed in the query "speeding." As for a little description about the National Speed Trap Registry, it was started in Feburary of 1995 to cut down to number of speeding tickets from speed traps. However, it also gives a disclaimer that the Registry is not meant to be a tool to undercut the efforts of law enforcement to keep our roads safe. One unusual aspect about the registry, according to the document, states that a vast number of law enforcement agencies agree that when used properly, the registry can make roads safer and drivers more alert.
The Psychology in Speeding
I definitely have to stick to my first theory about speeding, and driving the speed limit. There seems to be a sense of going the "proper" speed in certain conditions whether it be the weather, or a group of convoys. Usually Going too slow or too fast deviates from the norm of going with the flow of traffic. When a driver does either of these(going too fast or slow), he or she is seen as being abnormal. However, I think most of the time these drivers could care less of what other people think of them.
My Opinion
To me, speeding is like a tool-- useful when used properly, yet dangerous in inexperienced hands. My personal definition of speeding is somewhere in the realm of fifteen to twenty five miles per hour over the speed limit. I must admit that I rarely speed, unless I'm in a hurry to get to someplace. I believe that it is simply a waste of gas to speed out of habit, or for no reason at all. I also believe that speeding draws a lot of negativity toward the driver, especially if he or she is cutting in and out of lanes, and driving recklessly.
Aggression
To get a better perspective on this topic, I looked up Aggression in the American Heritage College Dictionary and found two definitions; the first one is " the act of initiating hostilities or invasion." The second definition deals with " hostile or destructive behavior or actions." Both incite some kind of hostility. As for its relation to driving, aggressive drivers are just that-- hostile towards other drivers. Speed, recklessness, and tailgating are just some of the things an aggressive might do.
Aggression on the Internet
Again, searches on the net turned out to be fruitless, except for the repeated hits on Lycos of my fellow Psychology 459 student's documents ( I even got my own report on aggression.) And again, I thought it would be fascinating to do a search on Deja news. I typed in "aggression- driving" on the search and it reutrned numerous hits on "aggression", but only a couple on "driving aggression." I clicked on to one that was posted by Keith Richmond, who tells of a story of his encounter with a couple of Porsches:
I was travelling back from my lil' bro's college graduation in ohio to my home in Northern Virgina. Just after leaving the Pa turnpike in Breezewood, 2 late 60's 911's and a pick-up truck trailering a 944 and I pulled up to a stoplight at the entrance to the highway. The light turns green the 911's tear out, so I follow. For the next 30 minutes or so, the two 911's, me, and the trailered 944 cruise interstate 70 averaging around 85 mph. I guess the boys didn't like me keeping up with them, because they'd play this stupid 'block' game with me where the pick-up would close the door on me everytime I'd try and change the lanes. Now granted, a pick-up with a trailer travelling 85-90 mph isn't exactly in control, so when I made a "questionable" lane change as the truck was closing the door, he had every right to lay on the horn...what they began to do after that was totally wrong.
From then on, the truck actually would try to run me off the road! The 2 911's would set me up so that the 944 trailer was right beside me, then the truck would quickly change in my lane (no signal), forcing me onto the shoulder. After about 3 times of doing this, I decided to lay back. Soon after, the 944 was at its exit, so it was just me and those two pals of mine in the 911's. I kept up with them the rest of the way, but stayed back enough that they could still be their little clique. The last 20 miles or so of my trip was just with one of the 911s -- anyways, just to prove my point to the guy, I pulled right up in front of him and my passenger and I did a big two armed stretch (top down, of course) so he'd remember our "sign" as we parted....
he later found out that there was a big porsche club meet in Ohio that weekend, and they were comming back from it.
According to Keith, the worst part for him was that for the first 30 minutes of "playing", he felt honored to drive with them. To him, it was obvious that their partisanship was stronger than their generosity. It also unusual how at the end, he thanks you for reading his story.
The Psychology in Aggressive Driving
Referring back to generation I's reports, the best theory about aggression related to driving is the one Todd Takatani discuss in his report about aggressive driving. He recognizes Albert Bandura's learning theory and relates it to how we react to our observations of other drivers. Todd uses the example of driver A & B.
Driver a observes driver B cutting off everyone, which makes driver A want to do the same with driver B for the sake of giving them( Driver A) their own medicine.
My point of View
In Freudian terms, I consider aggression on the road to be bits of our id surfacing as we lose control of them. As for myself, I seldom "let my id loose," for I know that most of the time its not worth it. Yet when I was younger( as you have read in my previous reports) I was the opposite. Aggression used to come upon me very quickly. Now that has changed.
Even with a reason, aggression in my opinion is a waste of time, energy, and money. Aggression can only make things worse than they already are.