Being that I thought of myself as a "good" driver, I was reluctant to see if there were anything that needs changing. But, after reading Dr. James' report titled, "What is Traffic Psychology?," I realized there were a lot of things I could change in my driving personality. My plan includes the following: 1) limit any unnecessary verbal behaviors, 2) acknowledge any errors and make corrections quickly, 3) learn to verbalize friendly and positive thoughts, 4) lessen negative thoughts and behaviors and 5) learn to follow the speed limit. I chose this plan after carefully evaluating myself while in traffic. In traffic, I tend to "speak my mind" in forms of swear words and other derogatory remarks, I tend to acknowledge the errors made while driving, but fail to make any corrections, and have noticed that I often have negative thoughts and act negatively towards other drivers, the passengers in my car, and pedestrians. I feel the above steps in my plan are necessary in changing my driving personality and making me a better person on and off the road. It's not a piece of cake trying to change yourself and I expect this change to be difficult. But I think I accomplished the first step by actually admitting that there is need for improvement. I also feel that by following this plan, it will make me more aware of traffic situations and my driving behaviors. I believe that by being more aware, you can prevent certain behaviors and change yourself.
MY OBSERVATIONS
I kept a traffic journal for my observations. While driving, I tried to remember all my behaviors, attitudes, verbal remarks, and speed. When I arrived at my destination, I took out my notepad and jotted down things from memory. It found it was easy for me to do it this way and it was easy for me to recall my observations. I also found that my plan was easier said than done. The first few days I caught myself verbalizing unnecessary words; making errors and not correcting them or trying to correct them, but found it difficult;a few friendly and positive remarks were said, but only when another driver was friendlyand positive first; and even though positive thoughts were on the surface, negative thoughts still loomed on the inside.
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THE FIRST FEW DAYS ON THE "PLAN"...
VERBAL BEHAVIOR
At first, it was easy for me not to say anything while driving. I concentrated on the radio: singing along with the music or laughing at the deejays. Everything is fine until some idiot comes out of nowhere and cuts me off and out comes that swear word. I'm surprised when I swear because it seems so automatic, like a reflex. I don't even have a chance to think before I say anything. Swearing is such a bad habit, that when it happens, it seems automatic. As Bryan Yucoco has said, "I have become a victim." I know that swearing is bad, but because it's automatic, I do it anyway. It takes a lot of control to stop swearing.
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ERRORS AND CORRECTIONS
Everyone makes mistakes, but not everyone takes the time to correct them. I found it hard to make corrections in my driving. My biggest mistake is speeding. I notice that I always go over the speed limit and when I become aware of it, I try to let my foot off the accelerator, but it doesn't seem to budge. It's like my foot has a mind of its own - wouldn't that be scary. When I am able to make the correction, I usually end up making the same error and have to correct myself again. This goes on and on and on and seems endless. I feel it takes a lot of patience, persistence, and control in correcting myself.
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THINKING POSITIVE
Being a pessimist made thinking positive quite difficult at first. But, I found that talking outloud (positive remarks, praise, etc.) to yourself was easier than thinking positive thoughts. The other drivers must of thought I was "nuts" when they saw my mouth moving, but no one else in the car. I feel that some people hide behind their "mask." Even though it looks positive on the outside, there may be a lot of negative feelings on the inside. It's easy to just hide all your negative thoughts, but watch out for an overload - one push of a button and you may explode. This happens to me all the time. I'm driving along and someone does something to piss me off, I ignore it and go on. This goes on for awhile and then it seems like I'm at the end of my rope and I tell myself, "if anyone tries to do that again, I'll teach them a lesson they'll never forget!" Then, as if someone was listening, it happens and I explode all my negative words, behaviors, and gestures. Somedays you almost have to force yourself to think positive especially when the day seems so negative. I believe that thinking positive takes some practice and patience.
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NO MORE NEGATIVES
Trying to lessen anything negative is very difficult. Especially when you're me and you're having a bad day - you can't get your hair to stay down, someone cuts you off on the freeway, you couldn't fall asleep last night, you have a test this morning, you're worried about bills and money, and just everything seems so negative. This is when people on the road should beware because I'm in a grouchy, negative mood. There is just no more room for anything positive and trying to lessen the negative seems too difficult. When I'm in a bad mood and I have to sit in bumper to bumper traffic, I'm not a very friendly person. I usually get very aggressive and angry at anyone and everyone for everything. For instance, the person could have his/her blinker on and assume that I'm letting him/her in, so the car merges into my lane and because I'm in a bad mood, I'll say something derogatory even though the person waves to thank me. When I'm in this kind of mood, it's really difficult for me to lessen the negative. But I think by training your mind to automatically respond in a positive and calm manner, will help me in those times of endless negativeness. I guess I'll remember that the next time I'm in a bad mood.
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ASSESSING MY NEED FOR SPEED
I expected this part of the plan to be very difficult and it was. Trying to control my speed was the most difficult and time consuming activity I ever had to do. I think this was so hard for me to do because I want to speed like everyone else (it's like playing follow the leader). When I maintain the speed limit, I feel left behind. Every morning it usually takes me at least an hour to get to school. And because it's usually bumper to bumper traffic, I can't speed (lucky me!). After school is a totally different story: I sit in bumper to bumper traffic two times a week, so that leaves three times a week that I can speed my way home. On these days, I am faced with having to watch my speed and make sure that when I do go over the speed limit, I immediately correct myself. I usually get to my destination within twenty minutes, but when I force myself to maintain the speed limit, it just takes too long (maybe 30 - 40 minutes). For the first few days, trying to slow down from 65mph to 55mph was very, very hard. When I am forced to drive this way, I feel like a turtle in a race. I also wonder if driving at the speed limit is unsafe because everyone else seems to be going at least 70mph. Can you imagine a car, going 70mph, ramming into you? Doesn't look pretty. A couple of times I've received the "stink eye" for driving 55mph and it makes me wonder, "what am I doing anything wrong?" Maybe they should make drivers' education a prerequisite for a driver's license and during the class, they should emphasize the importance of following the speed limit. I think if more people followed the speed limit, then this part of the plan would not be so difficult.
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I'M IMPROVING! SLOWLY...
VERBAL BEHAVIOR
As the days past, I found it easier to not say anything while driving. I also found myself more occupied with the radio. I asked myself if this was good or bad. I came up with the following: 1) it's good in the way that it helps to control the unnecessary verbal remarks I might have, 2) it's bad in the way that if I become too involved with the radio, it may distract my attention from the road and I may get into a collision, or 3) it is neither good or bad because those deejays swear on the radio anyway and are somewhat influencing me. What do you think? Also instead of verbalizing my swear words, I found myself thinking them. What is worse? - cursing outloud or just thinking about it. Swearing is still very hard for me to control. I still believe that it's automatic, but now instead of it being automatically spoken, it's automatically thought. Too bad.
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ERRORS AND CORRECTIONS
I think with time and patience, I can master this part of the plan. It's just that I feel I don't have enough time or patience. Small errors like forgetting to turn on a blinker or not stopping for a full second is easily corrected, but big ones like speed and tailgating and sometimes cursing is difficult. For example, yesterday as I was driving home, this car jumps out of nowhere and cuts me off. I immediately start to "chase" after him, but then I realize that this is all wrong, so I slow down and pray that God will teach that person a lesson. I was proud of myself for having the ability to take myself out of a dangerous situation without any hesitation. But when it comes to speed, I still seem to have no control over it. As I said before, it's like my foot has a mind of its own.
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THINKING POSITIVE
Thinking positive is getting easier slowly. Being a pessimistic person makes thinking positive a hard task. But as the days pass, I find that talking outloud to myself helps my attitude and behavior. I believe that the more I do this, the more positive you'll see both inside and out. Also I've been trying to release the overload before it's actually too late by singing really loud (don't worry, I keep my window up so other drivers don't hear me) or I blast the radio really loud. For some weird reason, blasting the radio seems to ease and clear my mind.
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NO MORE NEGATIVE
I think that negative and positive go hand in hand. When something negative happens, it only seems right to think of something positive. But when something positive happens, does anyone think of the negative? What do you think? For me, when I'm having "one of them days," I try to think of something just the opposite. For instance, I just cut my hair and even though it's not what I really wanted, I tell myself that it will grow out and become what I want (well, the hairdresser said it would). As I practice this positive thinking, it seems to get easier as the days pass. Hopefully by the end of the semester I will be a more optimistic person, rather than a pessimistic person.
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ASSESSING MY NEED FOR SPEED
As you can probably guess, I'm still having trouble with this one. But the good thing is that I'm becoming more aware of my speed when I'm on the road. Before, I didn't really care how fast or slow I was going, all that mattered was that I got there on time and in one piece. Being more aware has even got me to wear my seatbelt the "right " way and I even use my blinkers. So I guess by trying to control my speed, I have accomplished other things and knowing this makes me very happy.
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THE FINAL FRONTIER...
VERBAL BEHAVIOR
My verbal behavior has definitely improved since the beginning. I seem to do other things like listening, singing, and laughing with the radio. I also observed that when I am very tired, I tend to sort of space out and my mind seems to go blank. This is sort of good because it prohibits me to think about any swear words while driving. I still do think about them though. For instance, this morning I caught myself thinking a swear word after someone had cut me off and then had cut back into their own lane. I'm glad that I'm more aware of my swearing because it helps me to control what I say and what I think.
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ERRORS AND CORRECTIONS
I still seem to be struggling with correcting my speed, but other than that I believe that I have improved. My foot still has a mind of its own and I still need to figure that one out. But, I think that by becoming more aware of the things I do wrong, has made correcting them easier.
THINKING POSITIVE AND NO MORE NEGATIVES
I decided that since these two seem to go hand in hand, then I'll put them together and talk about them at the same time. Thinking positive has become somewhat automatic for me. When something negative happens, something positive will automatically pop out. Neat-o! I guess by persistence and practice, I have trained myself to react positively to all the negatives. I may have a relapse now and then, but because I feel that I am getting better, getting back on track is easier. On my bad days, I usually listen to 93.9FM and the "wake up crew" usually helps put me in the right mood and by the time I'm at school, I forget that my hair is standing up.
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ASSESSING MY NEED FOR SPEED
I have to admit that this part of the plan was very hard and it still needs more work. But I feel that I have accomplished part of it by being more aware of my speed and the dangers of speeding. I now make sure that I always wear my seatbelt the "right" way, I always use my blinkers, and my speed is slowly decreasing from 65mph to 60mph. Who knows, check me out at the end of the semester and maybe things will have changed for the better.
CONCLUSIONS
My plan has helped me limit my verbal behaviors, make corrections when errors are made, maximize the positive and minimize the negative, and become more aware of my speed. I think overall it has made me a better person on and off the road. These changes not only affect my driving personality, but I believe it affects me as a person also. I can use what I have gained not only on the road, but in everyday situations. This plan was not easy and just because this paper is done doesn't mean that I'll go back to the same old thing again. I intend to keep in mind the five steps in my plan even after this class is over because I believe it can continue to help me throughout life.
I think this personality makeover plan helps out someone trying to become a good traffic psychologist. Everyone that drives should try to take a step back to really see what they could change about themselves so they can help our freeways. By doing so, will help alleviate unnecessary accidents or problems.
Road dynamics...what are they and why do we have them or even
need them? I think that this topic is quite often overlooked by many of
us drivers today. But when we do take the time to really look at what is
actually happening around us, the things we often observe are sometimes
not too plesurable. What do I mean by road dynamics? The ways of the
road and maybe even the unspoken rules of the road. One experience that
I seem to always have is whenever I'm driving to or from school. When I
drive to school or back home, I like to use the lane closest to the HOV
lane (some of you who don't know the term HOV, it's the carpool lane
:)'). I like to drive at least 55 - 60 mph depending on the amount of
traffic there is at the beginning or at the end of my day. For some odd
reason I feel that the other drivers disagree with the speed that I am
driving at and want me to faster, infact some of them even pressure me
into it. Most of the time the other cars go around me instead of
tailgating me and that makes me feel more comfortable then trying to run
away from a tailgater.
Comments, Suggestions, Etc.