Have you ever heard of the saying "you can't teach an old dog new tricks?" Well you can't teach a driver to drive. There is something about people when they first get their permits, they are willing to accept all the advice in the world on how to be
a good driver and what to do when the instructor takes them on their road test. It's when the real license with your picture comes in the mail that the person turns into mister or miss know-it-all.
beginning drivers still take need to other people's advice; it's those drivers that have been on the road for awhile that are sensitive to other's criticism. I feel there really is a need for traffic psychology in everyone's lives. Without it, these
drivers are just concerned about getting from point A to point B with no regards to the "in-between."
Coaching someone else in modifying their behavior is not like coaching someone in a sporting event. In a sporting event, there is an audience watching and evaluating or cheering you on, but in driving, others are evaluating you with "boos!" There ar
e never any cheering in driving. the only person cheering is your subconscious when you let someone cut in front of you. The person may be waving, but do they mean it?
There is one similarity between coaching in sports and in driving-- your must get into the person's head to get to their behavior. Every coach needs a game plan.
The Game Plan
The procedure that I decided to go with was a pretty simple one to follow. Before anything else I had to find two people that was willing to work with me on this. The best way to find those people was to think about different traffic context that I
came in constant contact with people whether it was driving, bike riding, walking, or whatever.
The entire behavior modification process was going to happen in 3 meeting, at least. The first meeting consisted of meeting with the person to explain my purpose and what you hope to accomplish. From the moment I explain my cause, I am to record an
y form of resistance, whether it be changing the subject, being hesitant, or rejecting my request. If possible, I would go with that person into the traffic situation that I chose to work with them. Ask if there is any behavior they would like to change
or choose one for them.
After the behavior is chosen, make observations pertaining to that behavior. Find ways that can motivate the person to change. Show or come up with dangers or reasons for that behavior. Work with the person to make a plan. Devise a methodology for
the person to record their own behavior in traffic, since I can't always be with them. Try to encourage the person to keep a careful log of their behavior and what he/she did to correct it. I had to keep in mind that the log may not be accurate but at
least it got them thinking about their behaviors. Allow a few days for this to happen.
The second meeting is mostly a status update on the person, making sure they kept a record of their traffic situation. Record more resistance that may have occurred since the first meeting Determine if there are any type of progress in their behavior
modification process and try to give advice based on the self modification process that I did.
The third meeting happens a day or two later with the person relaying to you what has happened since the first day. Compare the resistance, if any, and compare it to the resistance from the first meeting. Finally, take a ride with the person to see
and note what changes, if any at all, occurred.
My Girlfriend
The first I chose to help modify a certain behavior was my girlfriend, we'll call her Judy. The first thing that needs to be said about her is that she's a type A personality. There were a lot of behaviors I could choose from to help her modify.
Some of it I got a hint of even when she wasn't driving. It was when she was a passenger in my car while I was driving that I noticed certain reactions to my behavior.
At times, she can get very irritable at other drivers. But she doesn't let the situation take control of her. She exerts a lot of aggression and frustration when driving on the road is not going too smoothly.
I chose the behavior of contemplating whether to go on a yellow or not. While I am driving, she gets irritated when I stop on a yellow, when we both know I could have made it. I explain to her that "it's better to be safe than sorry." She just give
s me the eye.
When I decided to choose her as one of my subjects, in my mind, I knew there was going to be static. I wasn't sure how to approach the situation, so I just came out and said to her, "I'm going to teach you how to be a better driver." She just gave
me the "yeah, right" look. I explained to her that this was for my traffic psychology cause, and not only that, I explained to her that driving is not just driving, but rather caring for yourself and others when you get behind the wheel. She decided to
support the cause for me and she wanted to become a better driver.
The Plan
I have been a passenger of her driving so I already had a plan in mind. Since she was my girlfriend and I practically see her everyday, I would act as her observer, to make it easy for her. The behavior that we want to focus on is the activity at a
traffic light, so there would be many situations for me to observe.
In on day of observing, there were 21 situations where she had to make a split decision on the yellow. They were equally distributed between speeding through the yellow, braking at the last possible moment, and caution stop.
Although she is trying to make an effort to stop at the yellow, she is ruining a good part of her tires and her brake pads when braking real hard. I made some very key observations. For example, some of the times that she was braking hard was becaus
e she was speeding and decided to stop at the last minute. Although some of the times I hinted that she wasn't going to make it or I yelled "cop!" It was wrong of me to do that because it was putting us in dangerous situations.
I gave her several advices on how to avoid those situations. First of all, don't speed (another behavior modification project). Take the time to enjoy the music. If she found herself speeding, look ahead to the light to see if the "don't walk" sign
is flashing. If it is, a yellow light should be coming soon, so she should slow down. Also she should look in the rear view to see if someone also wants to make a light and is practically tailgating her. Either slow down right away or change lanes to
get out of their way.
To keep her in perspective, I have her certain situations to think about that involved the behavior that is to be modified. Each time she is deciding whether or not to go on the yellow, someone on the other side of the light is timing the green so th
ey could get a jump on it. Or she might be running a light where police monitor for speeding cars.
After several days of getting used to the procedure and trying to show some progress, it was time to give a final assessment to see if Judy showed any resistance to what was being accomplished in the past few days. In observing her driving through li
ghts, there was a significant drop in the amount of yellows that were run. I couldn't tell if her behavior changed because I was in the car observing or she really was thinking about it and her behavior was modified. Less resistance means she is working
towards not being conscious of this behavior. I feel she is successful in the behavior modification process because she states that she is noticing others run the yellow and realize what she use to be.
Signal!!
The second traffic context that I chose was bike riding. My friend, John, and I ride our mountain bikes on the road once a week. We ride on the streets along with vehicular traffic so it is a cautious situation. He rides in front of me so he makes
all the decisions on where to go, like follow the leader.
I already knew what he needed to modify, but I wanted to take a test ride with him to see if that behavior is still there. At our first ride, I asked him if there was any behavior, while we were riding, that he would like to modify. The first form o
f resistance showed up when he barely thought about it and said no.
The one major behavior that I observed on our first ride was that he doesn't signal, by sticking his hand out when changing lanes. He does his head check and goes but I, or the person behind him, doesn't know when he wants to change lanes.
When I confronted him about it, he didn't even realize that he wasn't doing it. But he understood that he should be signalling. I went on by explaining that he should treat bike-riding like he was driving a car. After all, you are riding alongside
cars. He should look to see if the lane he wants to change into is open the signal for cars further back to see. And it also lets the other bike riders what your plans are so they, too, can take the necessary precautions.
After explaining all of that, I thought to myself, this was going to be easy because he showed no form of resistance. We continued pedalling during our first ride to see if what we just talked about had any effect on his riding. I decided that since
neither of us couldn't keep a log while pedaling, I decided to stop whenever he didn't signal, and bring it to his attention. It was amazing, he signalled each time.
The true test was to see if any of what we've talked about sank in. We were to take another ride in a couple of days, but something came up for me so I told him to ride alone and observe himself. I told him to ride as if someone was with him. Anoth
er exercise I felt that he could try in helping his own behavior was to observe other bike riders, either while he is riding his bike or driving his car.
A week passed since our supposedly second meeting, and it was time for our third meeting. before we started riding, I asked him what he has done to modify his behavior. He explained to me that not only does he signal when changing lanes, but he says
he feels better about riding the streets, knowing that he is able to. He understands that safety should be a priority while on the road, no matter what mode of transportation you're on.
I knew right away, not only did he modify his behavior of signalling when changing lanes, but changed his whole outlook of traffic. Resistance was minimal in this process with John. I tried to see if he showed resistance when I started talking traff
ic psychology. He showed none, in fact, he had some input into it. That showed that there is room for traffic psychology in everyone's lives.
Conclusion
The most important part of these behavior modifications that I have gone through was that it began with a format. It is very helpful to go through the battle with a plan, so to speak. Another heedful hint is cooperative subjects. If you have people
showing total resistance, you would probably need more will power and time with that type of resistance.
I felt this project was fun because you could really analyze people's behaviors because it was for a class. If I tried to say something about my girlfriend's temper, for no reason she'd really go through the roof. That is another behavior modificat
ion process for another day.
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