Report #2: My Driving Personality Makeover Plan
The Plan
My driving personality makeover plan is to become a more aggressive driver. I will try not to wait for huge gaps when switching lanes, I will try to keep up with the flow of traffic and instead of going around drivers who are going too slow, I'll see if I can edge them to go faster.
I chose this plan because I wanted to experience the feeling of not being taken advantage of while driving. Also, shortening my travel time by being more aggressive would be a new experience for me.
I think that the first thing that will happen with my new driving personality is that my friends will notice the change. My passengers may not feel as safe as they usually do. I also think that the cars around me won't get mad at me for going too slow. I do think that I will arrive at my destination faster, but probably not by that much. Another thing that may happen is that driving may become a more stressful experience. I think that if you concentrate about time and the way other driver are treating you, you take it more personally. Therefore causing more stress.
The difficulty to implement this plan would probably be minimal. I believe I have the ability to drive aggressively if I want to. The thing I may find difficult is the fact that I won't be as cautious as I usually am. This would make me a little insecure about the safety of my driving. Being cautious, in my opinion, can help to reduce the chances of getting into an accident. I will most likely be insecure because I would be thinking of the higher probability of an accident.
My theory is that because people are always in a rush, they tend to speed on the roadways. When so many drivers are speeding on the freeway all the time, the drivers who are actually going the legal speed limit seem to be going very slowly. The people going the legal speed limit seem to be going slow, they seem to get in the way, and people think they should get out of the way of the speeders or stay in the right lane. Technically, the people who are going the actual speed limit have every right to be in any lane they wish to be in. I think that less drivers would be frustrated from me going the actual speed limit. This in turn may make my driving experience very different from what it usually is. I usually do not care if people are whizzing by me or cutting in front of me. Changing my attitude and actually caring about what the other drivers do to me will be a big change. Other drivers will most likely have a more pleasant driving experience if no one got in their way or cut them off or tail them.
I made my observations by having a passenger in the car write down my thoughts and feelings. Then when I got home, I would write out the days happenings in a short outline form. This way I would not forget what happened. Therefore, I think my reflection and feelings of what happened is pretty accurate. I feel confident in the observations I made.
cutting lanes: (lane switching)
The only difference I found between waiting for large gaps and cutting in when there is sufficient space, is that I felt very unsafe when making a close cut. Usually, I wait for a large gap, look at the lane I want to cut into to make sure it's clear, then I look another lane over to make sure that no one else is eyeing the space I want to get into. And, finally I put my turn signal on and make the cut.
What I did this time, is, checked to make sure I wasn't cutting off the driver in the back, and when there was enough room for my car to fit, I checked the lanes, put my turn signal on and made the cut. Also, if the car was approaching and I knew I could make the cut safely, I would do it. Usually, I would wait for the car to pass me then make the cut.
An example of what happened on one trip I made to Kunia . . . While on the H-2 just passing the Waikele off ramp, I had to cut one to the right lane in order to get off at the next exit. At around the same time, there are cars merging onto the freeway from Waikele. I decided, since I was trying to be aggressive, I would not wait until the whole line of cars passed me. Instead, I looked for a gap between two of the cars and cut into that space. The space had enough room to make a safe but close cut. although knew that I could make the cut safely, I still felt as though I was just asking for an accident to happen. I was nervous when making the cut and felt relieved when I was completely in the lane. I was especially apprehensive about whether or not the car behind me would get mad and tail me. As I made the cut, I noticed the car in the back slow down a little. he did not take any action against me for squeezing in.
For most of the times I cut lanes in the same fashion. I noticed the rear car slowing down just a little. I was surprised. Especially because I was doing most of my driving in areas with younger drivers. In the past I noticed that younger drivers are usually more aggressive. I thought that more drivers would get mad at the closeness of the cut.
Keeping up with the flow of traffic: (convoys)
This was a little harder to do. The difference between keeping up with the flow of traffic and driving at my own pace is the peed. Plain and simple. In a normal driving situation, I do not pay attention to the speed of the cars around me. I just go the speed I want to go. I pay no attention to traveling in convoys.
In order to keep up with traffic, I had to go faster than usual. I noticed that the average speed of the cars on the freeway, where the speed limit is 50 miles per hour, was around 65 miles per hour. I found myself going somewhere between 60 and 65 miles per hour to keep up with the flow, to stay in the convoy.
No matter where I drove, the flow of traffic was above the speed limit I tried to think of the best way to describe my feeling in this situation. The strongest feeling I had was that I was worried. I was worried about getting a speeding ticket. I think that the main feeling I had was worrying about a ticket. The next thing I was worried about was my safety. The faster the car is traveling, the worst an accident can be.
I wasn't surprised at the fact that the flow of traffic was so fast. I knew that convoys traveled about 10 miles per hour above the speed limit because the average person, from my observations, speeds about 10 miles per hour higher than the given speed limit. This of course is just an average.
Tailgating:
An aggressive driver is usually a tailgater. I do not think that a defensive driver tails cars very often. For most of the time, the cars that I tailed did not pay very much attention to me. Only a few of the cars actually move out of the way.
I am not surprised that most people did not move. I would not move either. Trying to force a car to move out of the way is not very nice. Most people do not like to be forced to do something that they don't want to. If someone were to tail me, I just get them more irritated by going even slower.
One thing that happened to me on the H-2 is that I was coming up on the car in front of me and a red Geo. Metro decided to cut in front to me. I didn't think that there was enough room for a safe cut, but he went anyway. After he got in, I decided to tail him to see what happened. It didn't take very long for him to notice me on his tail. He then decided to move to the left lane. I watched him speed past the cars in the lane I was in and then he cut back into our lane. I think he may have felt intimidated with me on his tail. I do not know for sure what was going on in his mind, but that would be my guess.
In conclusion, I think that being an aggressive driver is not worth the trouble. I only cut down my travel time by about five minutes. I was not a courteous driver to others. The trip was not very pleasant. I was very tense and worried about everything. I usually like driving and have a pleasant trip. When trying to be aggressive, the table really turned.
The implications for traffic psychology is that being aggressive is not worth the hassle. A traffic psychologist should study why people are so aggressive when driving. Why do they think it's worth all the trouble. I wonder what people think they are accomplishing by being rude to other drivers. I do not think they realize that they are being rude.
With everyone so concerned about time, we may have lost the ability to be kind and polite drivers.