The intention of this paper was to find articles or Web pages with similar topics of interest as Report # 1. I looked for anything relating to Speeding, Rushing, Swearing, Tailgating, and Mood Swings in several different search engines; Lycos, Excite, and Deja News. I found it hard to find articles that promote traffic psychology, most were the symptoms of an uncooperative driver. I also found some things and wrote about them because they had relevance to Traffic Psychology but not related to the specific topics that I searched for.

I started searching the net for my topics in Lycos and typed in "driving and swearing." I could not find anything remotely close to what I was looking for under the searched items. I changed the key word to "driving automobiles." Even that did not give me anything useful. I thing drooped lycos like a ton of bricks and started a search on Excite. I type in speeding in automobiles and found that most of the things that came out were things in relation to racing cars and products for racing cars. I modified my search to look for the key words "driving automobiles." I went to about the 30th item or so and clicked on this guy who was talking about driving fast.

The homepage I clicked on was on a guy, Bryan Chao (something like that), and he was mostly talking about himself and how he drove his Acura NSX to 147 m.p.h. He stated that he did that on the freeway when it was relatively free of other drivers(hard to do in California). He had pictures of his tachometer showing his speed. I felt that this page was head inflating but it had good links if you are into Acura NSX's and some nice pictures. I understand the reasons he put the things he did on his page, I would have put this type of stuff on my own homepage, but I guess it's a macho guy thing. I think that there is some concern that he excessively speeds on the highway. Even though he has had training in racing and has raced before, there is no reason for the speeding on the high way even though there is hardly anyone on the highway, someone could be on the freeway not expecting someone to pass by them at over 140 m.p.h. and possibly move and then you have a situation where there could be a serious accident. I feel that this individual could be shown as an example of a person who is selfish, not considering others' rights on the road. He fell into the trap of temptation and had to speed because there was no one on the road. In his mind he felt that he was justified even though he knew he was breaking the law. You could use this guy as a prime example of what temptation can lead to and possibly try to get people with high performance cars not to speed on "public" freeways which everybody is entitled to.

I continued looking through the Excite list and came across This guy Synth was talking about cars that he wished he had and that he drives in the SCCA(an amateur driving competition). This page had little information on the topics that I wrote about but I noticed one point that he made and had to comment on it. He said that, "I suppose cars are my only aggressive outlet, but this isn't strictly "male" thing, for I have plenty of gal-pals who get the same kick out of Driving (tm) that I do." This line shined out of the whole article. This was, to me, a confession of sorts, where someone knows that they are driving a certain way and readily admitted it. Through all the Web pages that I looked at, this was the first time that I saw this. I am courious to find out if he has thought more of the subject. Without knowing it he took the first step in being a traffic psychologist. It also seems that his "gal-pals" also realize this but one question is that, do they feel that this is a problem or if it is nothing to them? This goes to show that there is a realization of a problem with their driving and the next step is to get the ideas of traffic psychology exposed to a larger audience. The significance is that people are thinking of subjects in traffic psychology but are not doing anything to develop plans to change it.

I continued looking through the stuff that Excite search found and found a sight with many links related to my topics, "Kevin's Personal Usenet Driving Archives." On this Web page were many responses from others grouped in certain categories. I thought to my self, "I hit the motherload!" I found many articles but the only let down was that after you hit a link for a specific topic, it would lead to a page where the links were less descriptive and I had to look at almost everything to find what I needed. I found a couple of articles on Rushing, Speeding, Swearing and Tailgating. I could not find anything relating towards mood/behavior swings on any of these links.

Rushing

The first article I came upon was by Jeremy Bergsman. His short but sweet article talked about cutting through parking lots to avoid traffic lights. He states that a police officer said that it was legal to cut through a parking lot. But one must cut through a parking lot at a reasonable speed and must stop before crossing the sidewalk, both on the way in and out. This simple article conveys a message to those who read it, its' all right to rush. Our society is based on a clock, when we eat, what time to go to work, when to go home, etc. We are caught up in what is going on we do not really consider the consequences of rushing and that it only gets you where you are going a few minutes early, if any. This article is yet another example to get traffic psychology out to the masses. With no law against cutting through parking lots gives reasons for the driver to rush. Though if it is not against the law, it necessarily right. If our police officers do not do anything about it, then nobody is going to stop doing it.

Michael E. Dey also had something to say on the topic of rushing. He talks about his frustration of driving. What really annoys him is when people are at a stop light and the light turns green and everybody moves at different times and nobody really gets any where faster. He states "If we all left a few feet in between and started going right away, I imagine we could get twice a many people through busy intersections. Michael made a good observation but the question isn't necessarily how to get there faster but how to get there faster and SAFER. People are just too involved with time and how they have to be at a place at a certain time. In order for Michael to become a better traffic psychologist he would have to start looking at his own habits and what he needs to improve. I give him credit for taking the first step by trying to find something to work on to make things better. Michael shows possibility of being a traffic psychologist but he need a little more direction.

Tailgating

Simon Craythorn has many ideas on those who tailgate and seems to be like many of us in psy 459 class. He responded to a previous article which was saying that if someone is tailgating, the person would slow down. This would supposedly "send a signal to your hopefully driving aware brain." Simon's commented that he agreed that he would slow down if somebody was tailgating him. He figures that if you are already doing a reasonable speed for the road or at a higher speed and someone starts tailgating you, what are you supposed to do? If someone starts speeding you run a risk of getting a speeding ticket and the person is more likely to still be tailgating. At higher speeds there is not enough room and/or time to effectively make a maneuver or step on the brakes. He would rather have someone rearend him at a lower speed. He ends his message by telling tailgaters that "you will not get there quicker, by hanging back a little you get a better view of the road in front of the other vehicle, you can then come closer when it is safe to pass.

Now Felix on the other hand has a serious problem on his hands. He neither seems to understand other drivers or seems to care about what may happen through his actions. Even those who are not tailgating are affected by him when he goes "snail speed." It could also be hazardous to those in the back of the bunch. If one person goes slow then those behind go as fast or even slower. Thus everybody behind him is going slower and there is possibility that an accident could occur. In relation to traffic psychology, her is another example where there is need to get the information out to the public. We could even go as far as to use Felix as a case study on those psychotic drivers out there with no care of others on the road.

Speeding

Bashley's attitude is like many others in the U.S. I also feel that the speed limit should increase but I firmly believe that this isn't going to happen if there is not a change in today's drivers. Sure, everybody would be very happy if the speed limit increased, but there would be no end to the speed limit. It is everybody's responsibility to be their own traffic psychologist to get where they want to be, courteous drivers. When this happens then and only then will there be consideration of increasing speed limits. Bashley is in delusion of what is real, he feels that his driving isn't in need of changing. The next goal is to make him realize that he has a problem and to cure that problem.

Kenny Morse went about a different approach on his article on speeding, he did more objective analization of the subject. He states that it necessarily is not what other drivers do to each other but the driver's attitude that "Me first... screw you attitude." This was after he observed a friend trying to rush before he was going to be cut off. He keeps insisting that there are always going to speed if the speed limit is changed. It's the "lack of respect for the system is not rooted in the disrespect for the 55......its rooted in people's attitudes toward each other.....especially when they are behind the wheel and MORPH into something other than what they do the rest of the time." Morse goes on to state that there are three things that drivers want; "to be safe, to feel that we can transverse our taxpayer paid roads unencumbered, and to have laws that make sense for the times in which we live, and enforced fairly, and not selectively. He feels that the current speed limit is unfair but even more astonishing is that there are so many drivers who think it's unfair and they do not try to do a thing to change the existing laws. Most drivers have the self defeating attitude, which are feelings of disrespect towards the police for doing the job we pay them to do...see breaking the law, and cite them to deter them. He feels that there is no such thing as entrapment but that speeding is done willingly.

Kenny has a good head on top of his shoulders. He had examined, more than others, the dynamics of speeding and had made subjective opinions on the topic. It seems that he has spent more time analyzing the things he has done, as well as others, as a driver. If it were any person who I would choose a traffic psychologist from the article that I found, it would have to be Kenny. His understanding of those behind the wheel and on the road are evidence to my statement. It is unfortunate that not everyone is self aware of their own problems and shortcomings.

Cursing

I found an article which was in response to someone cursing at a motorist. The article stated that bicyclist are not giving respect and that the goes another "A**h*le" making his life more difficult. The responder, Tom Swen, continued this article by giving an opposite observation about a cyclist but with less vulgarity. He simply stated that he observed a "Bozo" on a hybrid bicycle pass by him running a red light. The guy wasn't even wearing a helmet. The nerve.

I found that this article had little relation to the same topic, Swearing, as in report 1. It seems that swearing is a type of venting. It is not thought of nor is planed to be said. It is one of those automatic things that happens when you are driving. It is part of our "popular" culture and would be hard to get it out of our society. The problem tends to be those who feel that it could be used all the time.

I found another response by a guy named Dave who was responding to an article about someone who was "crossing against the light" when a motorist honked his horn and sweared up a storm. The driver then gave the person who honked the horn "the bird." Dave insists that the best way to deal with the situation is to try not to incite total strangers. You might not know who you are dealing with. The best thing to do is to try and avoid a confrontation where you can be done bodily harm.

This article rang bells in my head when reading it. As traffic psychologist we have to ask ourselves questions and it seems that Dave has done just that. He has taken his first step toward being a better and safer driver by having to asking if it is wrong to have given the guy the "bird."