This is a paper for
presentation at the
International Association for
Driver Education IVV
Road Safety Conference SAFEX
2004
13-15 May in
Published in Driving Magazine, 2007, 16-19.
Dr.
and Dr.
In response to the
appalling statistics and the mounting concern over
teen drivers, many states in
the
A graduated licensing
system supervises young, novice drivers in progressively more difficult motoring
experiences at a controlled pace. Proponents believe that the more supervised
practice teen drivers obtain the more experience they gain, so it is less
likely they will be involved in a crash. Since young people typically have
difficulty resisting peer influence to take risks and show bravado, proponents
also hope more supervision will help build safer attitudes. Restrictions may
include:
Six months of crash-free, conviction-free
driving
Zero tolerance for alcohol
No driving between
Provisional color-coded drivers' licenses
Successful completion of a driver
education course
During the permit stage
at age 15 or 16, young drivers must be supervised by an adult, pass a drivers'
education course, and remain conviction-free to proceed
to the next level. The provisional or
intermediate license includes on-road testing and a requirement to remain
citation-free for the license period. Other restrictions often apply, such as
more supervised driving and a curfew or prohibition against late-night driving.
The third stage of full licensing occurs after successful completion of the
first two stages and includes a zero-tolerance alcohol law. After
Clearly,
the need for driver education is high especially among teens, yet states rarely
require it or fund it at insufficient levels. Driving courses are seldom
available in public schools, and those that offer courses cannot meet the
demand. Private driving schools often service the courts as a form of
re-education or rehabilitation for driving offenses. Officials frequently
comment that the weakening of society's resolve to deliver driver education
knowledge is associated with the worsening driving environment. The
American
Driver and Traffic Safety Association believes that
the majority of drivers are rude, simply ignoring traffic rules. In the 1970s
90 percent of people in the
In
addition to teaching their kids to drive skillfully and appropriately,
parents
can take steps to help prevent or reduce the number of crashes involving teen
drivers: For example, parents can:
Supervise the teen's driving time
Give the teen sufficient supervised
practice during the learner's permit period and throughout the first year of
licensed driving
Put a limit on the number of passengers
allowed
Limit the teen's driving during periods of
increased risk such as weekends and particular holidays such as New Year's Eve
Establish a curfew
Insist that the teen and passengers wear
safety belts
Set limits on the areas and locales where
the teen is permitted to drive
Prohibit the teen from driving under the
influence of drugs or alcohol
Encourage the teen to use good judgment
both as a driver and as passenger
Be a good role model as a driver
The
potential for a crash can heighten with aggressive driving, driver
inexperience, and inappropriate interaction with passengers. Along with parent
supervision, graduated licensing allows initial driving experience to
accumulate under less hazardous conditions, and prohibits recreational, nighttime
driving that has proven to be particularly dangerous for young, beginning
drivers. Driving instructors are aware that teenagers often lack the ability to
exercise rational control over their behavior when driving a vehicle in a
reckless manner. Today's more complex driving conditions demand that
traditional driver education be re-designed to incorporate judgment and
self-control in addition to the rules of the road and handling techniques.
Throughout this century
we have relied on the traditional driver education approach of teaching and
testing for safety knowledge, while hoping to instill responsibility. Affective
driver education remains on the back burner of the driver education curriculum
during the past three decades while aggressive driving and road rage were
seething below the surface. Society is sensitized to the cultural inroads of
general disrespect that are expressed daily in aggressive driving practices. This
new awareness has stimulated the creation of new paradigm in driver education.
Motivation and
responsibility are essential components of affective education. The new
paradigm in driver education shifts the focus from just safety knowledge to a
more integrated driver education that imparts affective or emotional skills. There is a new recognition
that training traffic emotions is both possible and necessary. This focus on the importance of values looks
toward a new philosophy of driving that is community-oriented rather than
individual-centered.
Driver education can
alert people to the personality factors that tend to take over
our style of
operating a vehicle: our self-esteem or
a sense of personal power, our prudence or riskiness, our competitiveness or
sense of community support. Since these personal traits stem from the cultural
norms and social values in society, it's important to employ a social style of
driver instruction that enables students to influence each other through dialog
and modeling. One particularly noteworthy recommendation of the new driver
education approach is to "expand the integration of driver education
topics into other school subjects, particularly health, community service, and
other values-related activities."8 This statement recognizes
that driving is not an isolated activity done alone, and that it is both part
of our general values and character, as well as part of culture.
In 1997, we proposed a
Lifelong Driver Education framework in Congressional hearings of the U.S.
Transportation Department in Washington.9 There is a new readiness
in the nation's judiciary system to play a more significant role in driver
supervision and re-training. The stick is the presence of new aggressive
driving laws that increase misdemeanors to felonies, and the carrot is supplemental
driver training as an alternative to going to jail and avoiding insurance
points from citations.
Since
we acquire aggressive driving attitudes riding in our parents' cars, lifelong
driver education makes sense. Lifelong driver education creates a Kindergarten
through 12th grade curriculum that formalizes, augments, and transforms the
current informal negative training into positive concepts and standards.
A
lifelong driver education curriculum must employ findings from psychology about
human development, i.e., that development proceeds according to learning phases
during which appropriate instruction can be effectively delivered. The new
driver education curriculum ought to be a
driving
psychology curriculum because the entire personality of the individual is
involved in driving. According to our research, driving behavior involves the
three basic aspects of personality:
affective--the driver's feelings, emotions,
attitudes, and values
cognitive--the driver's thoughts, judgment, and
knowledge
sensorimotor--the driver's vision, motor reactions,
fatigue, stress, pain
These
three aspects of our driving personality jointly determine driving behavior, so
it's important to assess each of the three areas. Good driving requires that we
engage in an endless task of preventing overt mistakes and suppressing
irrational decisions. Since they are the source of irrational judgments and
costly mistakes, this requires schooling our traffic emotions.
In
general, a focus on "affective instruction" is desirable in the early
years, introducing basic attitudes of sociality such as obedience, respect, and
conscience. This would be followed by a focus on "cognitive
instruction" in the middle years, involving reasoning, decision-making,
and problem solving. There would be a continued focus on emotions and attitudes
on the road to reinforce the early education focus and to raise it to its
appropriate cognitive level. In the mid-teens "sensorimotor
instruction" begins that teaches how to maneuver a vehicle on public
roads. Teens are also taught cognitive knowledge of traffic laws and scenario
analysis of driving incidents. The new curriculum would strengthen these areas
and include a strong affective component that focuses on social responsibility,
human rights, and emotional intelligence. The practical focus is teaching that
the driver's prime directive is to remain in control of the vehicle as well as
the situation.
Affective
driving skills are schooled first because they establish the attitudes behind
the wheel that stem from the motivational and socio-emotional system.
Traffic
emotions govern our competitiveness and aggressiveness, as well as our
peacefulness, optimism, and compassion. Our thinking follows from our attitudes
and motives. Since we think in conformity with how we feel, negative feelings
promote pessimistic thoughts. Our actions are the consequences of the attitudes
we maintain and the thoughts we entertain. Driving is mostly accomplished by
relying on automatic habits that interact in these three areas of our driving
personality. Obviously, a complete change of driving habits requires a lifetime
involvement. This extended quality of continuing driver education is necessary
to help people adapt to the ever-increasing complexity of congested driving and
the new devices used in moving vehicles, such as cell phones, computers,
entertainment systems, GPS systems, and Internet access. Each new generation
needs to be taught the three aspects of a driver's personality according to the
natural developmental order of human growth, at the appropriate age level. The
following are model instructional objectives for driver personality development
in the three domains of behavior.
Age-appropriate
cognitive explanations and sensorimotor demonstrations to go with these
affective skills. Students will learn:
How we create stress for drivers by our
behavior in and around cars.
To observe our natural competitiveness for
space and how to voluntarily reduce it.
To become aware of our anger in disputes
about public spaces and right of way, how we express it, how it influences
others, what are its health consequences, and how to
defuse it.
To avoid learned aggression by analyzing
television scenes of drivers behaving badly and getting away with it.
To practice learned optimism as
pedestrians, passengers, and road users by formulating positive assumptions and
outcomes.
To activate natural feelings of compassion
and sympathy for the basic rights and needs of strangers in public places, and
to appreciate community feelings.
To practice self-witnessing activities as
passengers with parents in cars
To practice self-witnessing activities as
pedestrians and other road uses
To practice group discussions on civility
and human rights in road situations
Etc.
Age-appropriate review of the
affective skills and their extension to these cognitive skills with
sensorimotor demonstrations. Students will learn:
What principles are safest for children as
passengers,
pedestrians, and
cyclists.
To become more aware of habits of thinking
while walking or riding.
To develop objective judgment about
strangers' behavior.
To develop emotional intelligence as
drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.
To critically analyze driving incidents
(scenario analysis) by focusing on identifying choice-points (how to prevent or
break the chain of errors that leads to catastrophe).
To acknowledge the human rights of all
drivers.
To acknowledge
passengers' rights (their
convenience, comfort, and safety).
To acknowledge
pedestrians
rights (why they
must have the right of way).
To acknowledge the rights of
bicycle
riders and how to behave near them.
To acknowledge the rights of
truck
drivers, the need for truck deliveries, and how to behave near them.
To practice group discussions on the
importance of civility in public behavior (respecting mutual rights,
inalienable rights, fairness, character, community, etc.)
To be able to defend the ideal of
social
responsibility in public places
To recognize the benefits and rewards of
being supportive and positive.
To practice
self-witnessing activities as
passengers
To practice
self-witnessing activities as
pedestrians and other road uses
Etc.
Age-appropriate review of the
affective and cognitive skills and their extension to these sensorimotor
skills. Students will learn:
To practice with hands-on coordination
skills with a driving simulator and supervised highway experience
To practice self-witnessing and
self-regulation techniques for acquiring automotive discipline skills
To develop ability to monitor and control
one's risk-taking tendency under various driving circumstances
To stay alert by acquiring attentional
checking routines
To be prepared in handling emergencies
(performing appropriate safety principles under emotionally challenging
conditions)
To be prepared in handling aggressive
drivers or road users (performing emotionally intelligent strategies)
To practice appropriate and effective
driver-to-driver communication by learning to control facial rage, observing
local driving norms, performing random acts of kindness, and practicing
supportive rather than aggressive driving strategies
To train for multi-tasking (phone, dashboard
dining, children, email, GPS communication, etc.)
To practice basic driving exercises within
a group context as preparation for QDC membership (see below)
To act with appreciation and cooperation
towards traffic law enforcement and education
Etc.
There may be a concern
about adding another layer to the school curriculum schedule, but the need for
driving psychology cannot be questioned. There may be an opportunity to
consolidate current efforts in traffic safety, non-violent conflict resolution,
and Self Science programs, with the new driving psychology curriculum--all
under the rubric of emotional intelligence training. But it's clear that
driving must be addressed explicitly at all levels of public education.
In
addition to graduated licensing and the new K-12 driving psychology curriculum
described above, adult drivers need continuing training through
Quality Driving
Circles (QDCs). QDCs may be organized in neighborhood, family, school,
workplace, or as online asynchronous groups. QDCs are voluntary groups of 2 to
10 who meet regularly to help and encourage one another to follow a driving
self-improvement program. Some drivers have sufficient motivation to accomplish
this on their own, but in our experience the majority of drivers do not.
Consider the case of dieting and losing weight. A few can do it on their own
and stay trim, fit, and healthy for years afterwards, but the majority of
Americans are overweight and spend billions each year on methods to stay trim.
Support groups increase the likelihood that change will be successful. Most
drivers need a social and instructional support group to maintain a lifelong
motivation for self-improvement activities such as
Performing self-witnessing procedures to
get to know yourself objectively as a driver
Keeping a Driving Log, Journal, Diary, or
other systematic record of one's driving on a long term basis
Understanding
cultural road rage and how
it's transmitted to the next generation
Counteracting learned cynicism and pessimism
with learned optimism and understanding their relation to health
Learning
emotional intelligence through
scenario analysis of driving incidents and understanding choice points in
decision making
Practicing a
supportive driving style and
experiencing its benefits
Training
yourself
for safe multi-tasking (talking on the phone, eating, reading GPS screens,
checking email, etc.)
Keeping up with new
driving and automotive
information, (new gadgets, laws, surveys, safety studies, QDC databases and
training techniques developed in other QDC groups)
Etc.
QDCs
are inexpensive instructional delivery mechanisms for all aspects of driving
psychology and driver training in both private and commercial settings.
Currently, QDCs exist only in experimental groups of traffic psychology
students. As driving density and complexity increase while injuries and
fatalities remain high, society will need to develop greater skill in the
driving population. We foresee a future where skill-based license renewal will
be required and will include QDC participation because it's an inexpensive and
powerful delivery mechanism for universal and lifelong driver education.
QDCs
can be Face-to-Face or Virtual. Face-to-face QDCs can be physically based in
the family, neighborhood, or workplace. Virtual QDCs are asynchronous,
telephone, Internet or Web-based interactive experiences. Members are not
physically or temporally present but communicate on the telephone or
electronically through email, Web forums and bulletin boards, online discussion
groups, online chat rooms, etc. Other natural groupings:
Dyadic QDCs are easy to set up between a
driver and regular passengers, such as carpool mates or a long-term Partnership
Driving
A family QDC to promote safe and
supportive driving attitudes in children, teenagers, and adults alike
Court mandated QDCs for motivating and
supervising problem drivers (see RoadRageous course below)
School QDCs allow grouping younger and
older children together, so that there may be a positive generational influence
and connection, and help prepare the next generation of drivers to accept and
support QDC membership as a lifelong involvement
Professional QDCs for drivers of
commercial fleet vehicles, trucks, police and emergency vehicles would reduce
accident rates, citations, and costs for companies and government agencies
Senior QDCs for older drivers would
promote greater safety
It's important to meet regularly and keep attendance to motivate members not to skip. Prizes, diplomas, awards, and commendations may also help keep members involved. A rotating chair calls meetings and safeguards records for a determined period. There is no limit to how long a QDC may continue. Eventually, national and local QDC conferences, newsletters, and databases may arise. We predict that the second century of car society will not end before QDCs will be part of the normal lifelong career of every driver in all industrialized countries.
Two concept Papers: Instituting a Program of Lifelong Traffic Safety Training and Promoting the Spread of Quality Driving Circles (QDC) for Post-Licensing Driver Self-improvement Programs
Note: For references and additional
details, please consult our book:
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