Home>News>Newspaper Stories of Road Rage Quoting Dr. Leon James -- Part 6 Parts      1  |   2  |   3  |   4  |   5  |   6    Enter your search terms   Web DrDriving.org   Vol. 7 No. 6 Connecticut Edition June 2001 The Cost-Cutting Guide for Smart Commuters -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Coping With Road Rage How to keep your cool and stay safe on the highway How aggressive is your driving? We've all read about traffic disputes ending in fights or even fatalities. (...) Sound familiar? If so, don't despair. Your situation is far from unique. Men and women behave badly on the roads every day. Nearly everyone has his or her moments of road rage. Perhaps even you have found yourself a little too angry with people who make stupid mistakes on the road. Have you ever thrown an angry glance to a driver who wouldn't budge out of the fast lane? And if someone dares to race to the front of a line of merging traffic when you've been patiently waiting, with his turn signal pleading, let me in, did you? (...) So how can you protect yourself? Don't be ruled by anger. Social psychologists and professors Dr. Leon James and Dr. Diane Nahl have written about the psychology of driving, and are considered to be topmost authorities on road rage and aggressive driving. They are the authors of Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warfare, a scholarly look at the epidemic of anger on our nation's highways. James and Nahl estimate that there are billions of road rage exchanges annually among the 177 million U.S. drivers. Each day on the highway, our hides get tougher and the culture of mutual disrespect grows. To put it another way, we get madder more quickly than ever before. So why all the anger? Anger is one of the most difficult human emotions to control. Not only is it explosive, but also it gives you the sensation of being energized: heart pounding, head shaking, face scowling. In this rush, the rational mind becomes irrational, and self-righteous indignation justifies any punishment you might choose to dish out. But as adults we have a choice. James and Nahl suggest that expressing anger is not a triggered response but a learned habit. That anger is uncontrollable, triggered automatically, is untrue. The trigger for this anger on the highways is often the feeling of physical endangerment. Someone cuts us off and we hit the brakes. We prepare for the worst. For those few moments we experience overwhelming physical feelings. This is the moment of choice: take it in stride or act out. James and Nahl say that habitual road rage is a way to retaliate against drivers who behave badly. Its purpose is to make us feel better about ourselves, to gain relief from fear and frustration and to feel superior to another driver. Improve Your Emotional Intelligence. If we attach the event to our self-esteem, we may choose rage. We feel wronged, disrespected, demeaned and thwarted from our original goal of making it safely from point A to point B. Drivers must learn emotional intelligence. To stay in control of the situation is to remain cool-headed. Consider that the other driver might have an emergency. What if that was YOUR grandmother? Or simply think, it's just not worth it. When you can consciously transform this critical emotional reaction to something cool instead of something painful and angry, then you've got a hold on your road rage tendencies. The ability to regulate your emotions is not inherent; it is a learned skill. You can change. You can change your behavior, but, as with anything, you must first want to. Aggressive drivers resist change primarily because they deny that they have a driving problem. Most deny that they are aggressive drivers and instead refer to themselves as assertive, efficient or defensive. Managing Anger On The Highways When anger takes hold there are many more choices than just "fight or flight." Try something else. Act "as if." When something makes you mad on the highway, act like it doesn't matter to you, even if you feel upset. Say something positive out loud even though you don't feel like it. Smile and look pleasant even if you really want to seek revenge instead. This exercise helps achieve three important results. First, you become vividly aware of your own impulses. You learn that you can exude a calm outside, when your inside feels just the opposite. Secondly, you discover that obsessing about how someone drives just isn't necessary because it doesn't improve the situation. Third, you experience what it feels like to have friendlier exchanges with other motorists, perhaps discovering that you prefer a kinder more humane exchange. It's the smarter choice. When you come upon a slow-moving vehicle, say to yourself out loud, "You are obviously not in a rush. That's okay, I'll simply get around you." You can act tolerant even when you feel like doing the opposite. By acting and behaving in a tolerant way, you will feel more tolerant and accepting. A Three Step Driver Self Improvement Program. According to James and Nahl, there are three critical steps involved in curbing your road rage habit. First, acknowledge that every driver, including yourself, needs traffic emotions education. You cannot change a single habit without first acknowledging that what you're doing is not healthy and that you need to quit. Make a list of your best traits and another list of your worst traits as a driver. Be honest. Talk to people who have driven with you. Ask them to tell you what they consider to be your best and worst qualities as a driver. Don't sugarcoat it. Compare your lists with those of your passengers. How do your perceptions differ? Second, act as a witness to your actual behavior while driving. Pay attention to your thoughts, feelings and actions to identify the type and degree of aggressive driving you practice. How fast are you actually driving? Do you yield to other drivers? Do you use obscene gestures? Do you yell or threatened? How hard do you grip the steering wheel? Press the brake? Self-witnessing reveals your driving personality, your "automatic self." This will help you identify errors in automatic habits and skills. Third, modify the behaviors you want to change, one thing at a time. You will continue this process throughout your career as a driver. Modifying your driving personality can be an overwhelming task unless it is broken into small steps. Work on one target behavior at a time. Consider changing both your actions and your thoughts. You could leave home a little earlier than usual. Increase your following distance. Reduce your speed. Contradict yourself each time you think that some drivers are fools or airheads. Reinforce the idea that your passengers have rights, too. Avoid feeling angry when another driver impedes your progress. Drivers initially resist changing their driving style. But this resistance usually fades in the process of discovering that driving without automatic inner pressures is safer and more enjoyable, for you and your passengers. What Kind Of Drivers Will Your Children Be? Kids do whatever their parents do. They say the things they hear you saying and their emotional reactions are shaped by mimicking yours. Years before they get behind the wheel of a car, children absorb and imitate the values of their parents and other authority figures. If you're a hotheaded driver, they will value that. If you respect other drivers, they will, too. Start teaching them good passenger skills now. Children need lots of positive reinforcement for doing the right thing inside the car. Reward them verbally and acknowledge their good conduct, not just when they misbehave. Encourage them to self-witness their own behavior in the car. They will enjoy keeping track of what happens inside and outside the car, especially when they're rewarded for it. Discuss cartoons and other TV programs that depict drivers behaving badly. You can point out the real risks that these programs portray. However you choose to do it, protect your children from growing up with hostile driving habits. Children who have prolonged exposure to road rage are put in jeopardy. First, they're directly at risk of being hurt in an aggressive driving environment. And they will absorb this road rage mentality as the norm and practice it themselves on the highway, creating another generation of road ragers. Choose Supportive Driving. James and Nahl conclude by suggesting that people practice "supportive driving." This style emphasizes tolerance for a wide diversity of drivers. Supportive drivers are more accepting of the situation and are willing to adapt to the circumstance. It involves helping another driver's efforts to accomplish what they want to do without competing against them. If you adopt and practice a supportive driving style, you're protecting yourself and your passengers from the road rage of others. To learn more about Road Rage, check out RoadRageous on the Web. This Florida-based site is dedicated to educating people about road rage so they can avoid hazardous situations and prevent the likelihood of an incident from happening. Take the road rage quiz on the previous page to determine your own level of hostility on the highway. If you can't alter traffic, you can alter your mood. Madness Behind The Wheel Something weird happens when people get behind the wheel. All of a sudden  we're Mad Maxine and everybody on the road is our enemy... If someone drives too slowly they're an idiot and that gives us the right to tailgate and intimidate them. If you don't like the way someone changes lanes, they're too stupid for words and need to be ticked off. If someone makes an error and cuts in front of you, well that's worthy of violence. They must be taught a lesson - you don't mess with me on the road! (...) In the book Road Rage and Aggressive Driving - Steering Clear of Highway Warfare, authors Leon James and Diane Nahl believe we like to fit in or not stand out while driving. We all like to follow the rules. When another driver breaks those rules we feel that it's a personal insult and they must be punished. Drs Nahl and James say that we also think other drivers hate us! We jump to negative conclusions about why, for example, someone is driving too slowly. In psychology terms these are called dispositional attributions - thinking nasty things about the other driver. (...) The more rational and positive ways of approaching slow drivers are situational attributions. There might actually be a reason for the car driving so slowly - the driver may have children in the car or be transporting something valuable. It seems ridiculous that we jump to such silly conclusions, or that we really care about being the leader on the road, but some drivers do. They feel the need to impress or beat other drivers with their bully-boy tactics such as tailgating or giving others the finger. Drivers who do this have what James and Nahl call a low moral driving IQ. Aggressive drivers who intimidate others and feel no guilt at frightening the wits out of them have a low moral IQ and an underdeveloped sense of morals...like children. (...) Despite the stereotypes, women are in fact better drivers than men, according to Leon James and Diane Nahl. We are more caring on the road and will conform to the rules whereas men drive with a pumping ego and see other drivers as competitors. (...) Bad drivers annoy everybody, but it doesn't mean we have to get angry about it. After all, we'll probably never see these people again...and is it really such a big deal? Of course, people who are angry on the roads are usually unhappy before they turn the ignition. They're running late, they hate their jobs, their home life is not great - underlying stress can make seemingly normal people take out their problems on others. Another weird aspect of road psychology is being scared of annoying other drivers in case they think badly of us. This pressure to be nice usually forces us to take risks, like going through an amber light or roundabout when we really should have stopped, all because we didn't want to annoy the guy behind us! So how to opt out of road rage? Take the advice of Leon James and Diane Nahl and develop a high moral IQ. According to them, these drivers are: "Less subject to pressure by others and maintain their own style of driving in which they strongly believe. Moral drivers have learned to accept the fact that they need to take other people's feelings into account." (...) If someone gets you angry, pull over and try some yogic breathing - slowly breathe in through your mouth with your tongue folded into a tube (sounds weird I know, but it works!). Close your mouth and hold onto to the air for as long as you can. Then breathe out slowly through your nose. Do this three times. Refuse to be a player in someone else's road games. Don't let their problems become yours. (...)

January 2001

ROAD RAGE IN INDIA

We have had air rage, office rage, road rage and train rage with Mumbai’s commuters. But what we’re witnessing in reality is the surfacing of an innate aggression once confined to the jungles when the fight or flight response meant the difference between life and death. In the urban jungle, this wholly inappropriate response can turn a pacifist into a homicidal maniac.

“Some of the worst offenders are people who are normally docile in their homes. When they get into the car, they become completely different people,” says Colonel Kochar of the Automobile Association of Upper India (AAUI). Even sophisticated socialites are known to turn foul-mouthed when behind a wheel, raising a finger and letting forth a stream of expletives to other drivers.

Class is an interesting trigger in this connection. Many Indians employ uneducated drivers, who have little appreciation for traffic rules, let alone road courtesy. These drivers who cannot read and write, can barely decipher signs and are a menace behind the wheels of the new generation of fast city cars. They never give way to traffic on the right, they ride on your boot, if you allow them to pass, they do so with rude honking only to cut right into your lane and make you swear.

What is even worse is that lady drivers often find themselves the object of this leering male gaze at traffic lights and in the traffic, where they are deliberately ‘teased’.

Some years ago, the AAUI sent a proposal to refuse licenses to drivers who had less than class eight education. While the reason was to promote public safety and ensure obedience to rules, the resistance from politicians was stiff: it would have lost them a vast constituency of truckers, auto drivers and commercial drivers!

Psychologists like Dr Leon James have a number of theories for road rage beginning with the fact that the car is much more than a status symbol. His belief is that most drivers regard it as a psychological extension of the self. When we are in traffic, we use these ego-laden objects to control our environment.

Now, there are many things we can’t control in life – our boss, our spouse, health, the weather - but hey, we can control our traffic movements. That’s as good a reason as any to react strongly when we feel thwarted by bad manners and insults. If you study the movements of drivers in traffic, what you will see is a naked power struggle than makes Congressmen look like babies.

Other experts believe practicing defensive driving is a bad idea. It is an essentially a negative approach, because as a survival technique, it enjoins us to make allowances for traffic offenders and reckless bullies on the road. When we do so, we are easily liable to be provoked, and a mellow, defensive driver can turn into an offensive abuser in the blink of an eye.

Usually, it stems from the desire to be ‘first’ and the inability to acknowledge that others may have priority in a particular situation. As two drivers argue, anger escalates with each round of justification, and sometimes a word is enough to result in a gunshot, as happened in Delhi.

“People have become desensitized to violence,” says Delhi psychologist Dr Sanjay Chugh. The more exposure we have to violence in our news, TV, movies and other media, the more currency it gains as a means of self-expression. Coupled with this, is the lack of impulse control. We can control our negative impulses in many trying situations with colleagues and family members, but somehow we lose it when we get into our cars. Psychologists now believe we may have assimilated this attitude from childhood.

Fighting road rage

Yes, it can try the patience of a saint. But if the alternative is to have a coronary, a dangerous banging-slamming match or even assault a fellow traveler, then road rage is something we need to beat out of our systems. One invaluable piece of advice is to adopt an “attitude of latitude.” Let others hog the road, let them display their contempt for good manners and safety rules but don’t let it get to you. The minute you do, you’re in pretty much the same position as they are.

Other bits of practical advice:

*Leave in good time for appointments. One of the most common causes of stress is the anxiety to beat the clock. It makes us drive with our foot on the accelerator and curse every obstacle that forces us to remove it.

*Try not to drive during rush hour if possible. You can either take public transport, employ a driver or share a car pool so you get relief on some days.

*If you see an aggressive driver don’t decide he needs to be taught a lesson. And here’s the golden rule: Always back-down from an argument. It’s not worth ruining your day for a boor you are never going to see again. Become a Buddhist behind the wheel, or better still, a Jain who is forsworn to protect all forms of life from violence. Once you are in this philosophic frame of mind, you might even enjoy driving.

September 6, 2001

He contends teens use road contests to show that they are winners

By Bruce Dunford Associated Press

IT'S NOT SURPRISING that teenage drivers risk lives by racing 120 mph on public highways, considering an American culture that promotes both speed and winning, says a University of Hawaii expert on the psychology of driving.

"It goes back to the idea that the way we drive is a cultural expression. It's tied to what ethnic group, what peer group in which we are associated and is integrated into our personality," said Leon James, a psychologist who goes by the name of Dr. Driving on a Web site devoted to helping with road rage.

However, that's no excuse for "grossly irresponsible" actions of young people who threaten lives just to show off to their tiny audience that they are winners, James said.

He commented on the recent police crackdown on highway racing and calls by some lawmakers and Attorney General Earl Anzai to hand out stiff penalties to the racers, including jail time and vehicle forfeiture.

On the Net:   http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/leon.html  

"I believe it is outrageous behavior for someone to be going more than 99 miles per hour on a highway," James said. "That person is a menace to society and should be dealt with the same way as others whose actions threaten lives."

The increased attention on illegal street racing comes after the Aug. 26 death of Elizabeth Kekoa, 58, a passenger in the van that was struck by a car driven by Nicholas Tudisco, 18, who police say had been racing another car on the H-1 freeway in Kaimuki. Tudisco of Hawaii Kai was arrested for investigation of negligent homicide but was released pending further investigation.

Young people racing on the roads is not a new problem, James said, noting that in the 1955 movie "Rebel Without a Cause," actor James Dean portrayed a teenager engaging in a deadly "chicken" race. Dean was killed that year in his speeding sports car.

Adding to the menace are the increased number of young drivers and more congested roadways, he said.

James said more than half of young drivers today are drawn to try racing as a means of showing off to their friends, either those in the car or those who will hear about it later.

"And once you start to race, eventually you go beyond the risk level you can handle," he said.

It results from an American society that refuses to curb access by impressionable young people to video games, television shows and commercial marketing aimed at an adult market, James said.

"I don't see how we justify letting children operate a video game that encourages hitting pedestrians and getting points for it," he said. "This does nothing good for the child or for society."

He agreed that mass marketing of new cars with emphasis on horsepower and acceleration reinforces the value that Americans place on speed and going faster than the other guy.

Training good drivers doesn't start with a driver's education course in high school, but from the time the small child first experiences riding in the car and watching mom or dad drive, he said.

"By the time they are a teenager and ready for driver's education courses, it's too late" to adjust attitudes about driving, James said.

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Highway racing penalties advance

The motorist's death last August fuels a Senate bill aimed at deterring dragsters

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By Treena Shapiro       tshapiro@starbulletin.com

A proposed law now before the state Senate stiffens the penalties for those caught racing on the highways.

Excessive speeders and reckless drivers could have to forfeit their cars after three convictions.

"There's been more people trying to race cars on the highway," said Sen. Cal Kawamoto (D, Waipahu-Pearl City), chairman of the Senate Transportation, Military Affairs and Government Operations Committee.

"We just have to tighten up the law a little bit. Hopefully, that will deter them."

Police stepped up their efforts to curb highway racing after 58-year-old Elizabeth Kekoa was killed last August when the van she was riding in was struck from behind by an 18-year-old man.

The man, who was uninjured, apparently lost control of his car while racing on H-1 at almost 100 mph.

Since that accident, police have lobbied for stiffer penalties, including forfeiture of racers' vehicles, Kawamoto said.

Senate Bill 2337 passed Kawamoto's committee last week and will be heard on Thursday by the Judiciary Committee.

The current law carries a maximum fine of $1,000 and up to 30 days in jail for reckless driving of a vehicle.

The amended law would increase the penalties to include forfeiture of a vehicle after three offenses. In addition, the penalties for street racing would increase with each conviction within five years: a three-month license suspension, a $500 fine and up to 30 days in prison for the first offense; a one-year license suspension, a $1,000 fine and up to 60 days in prison for the second offense; and a three-year license suspension, a $1,500 fine and up to six months in prison for the third offense.

George Nitta, owner of Nitta's Auto repair, thinks that increasing the penalties will only encourage racers to try harder to evade police, since they would be arrested regardless of whether they tried to escape.

"Think about it. Would you just stop on the side and go to jail?" he asked. "You'd try to speed away and try to get away."

"If you try to run away, there's a chance you might get away, but you might kill innocent people in the process," he said.

Nitta said that instead of working against street racers by raising the penalties, the community should give them another outlet, like the team races he has proposed at the Hawaii Raceway Park, which would allow every participant 16 passes per race, with the points tallied up at the end.

University of Hawaii psychology professor Leon James, who co-authored "Road Rage and Aggressive Driving" with fellow UH professor Diane Nahl, said that the principle behind raising the penalties was sound but would only deter speed racers if coupled with education. He suggests that driver's education classes include a component on what drivers' thoughts and emotions are when they are behind the wheel.

"It's unfair to raise the penalty on people who are unable to follow the law because of their training," he said. "It's not that these young people are criminals or idiots.

"They are products of how they are raised by parents who drive very aggressively and television programs that show that driving aggressively is good and fun and you can get away with it."

The problem is cultural, not individual, he argues.

"I think it's unrealistic to expect that it's going to have a bigger effect just because the penalty gets harsher and harsher."

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February 21, 2002

Three-strikes bill would deter racing The issue: A legislative committee has endorsed a bill to increase penalties for racing on public roadways.

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THE danger of racing on public highways became clear last August with the traffic death of a 58-year-old woman on the H-1 freeway. The fatality has prompted legislation aimed at increasing the penalties for racing. Stiffer penalties are needed to deter an activity that occurs too often on Hawaii's roadways.

The accident that triggered the legislation was an extreme example of perilous horseplay on the highways. Some vehicles were seen blocking traffic on the H-1 to accommodate a race that ended when a car driven by an 18-year-old man traveling up to 100 mph hit a concrete median, ricocheted and rear-ended a minivan, killing Holy Trinity School teacher Elizabeth Kekoa.

Motorists convicted of reckless driving, which includes racing on public highways and streets, now face a maximum fine of $500, a jail term of up to 30 days, or both. A bill proposed by Sen. Cal Kawamoto and approved by the Senate Transportation, Military Affairs and Government Operations committees, of which he is chairman, would sharply increase the maximum penalties, especially for repeat offenders.

Under Kawamoto's three-strikes-and-you-walk bill, convicted racers would face a $500 fine, a three-month driver's license suspension and up to 30 days imprisonment for the first offense; a $1,000 fine, a one-year suspension and up to 60 days jail time for the second offense, and a $1,500 fine, three-year suspension and up to six months imprisonment for the third offense. In addition, the third strike would result in forfeiture of the offending vehicle. Motorists aiding the race, such as those blocking traffic prior to the August crash, would face similar penalties.

Penalties would be enhanced by minimum jail terms. Increasing maximum prison sentences makes little sense if judges are refraining from sending offenders to jail under current law. Mandatory periods behind bars at each level would reflect the seriousness of the offense.

George Nitta, an auto-repair shop owner who has proposed races at Hawaii Raceway Park, warns that increasing penalties would encourage racers to try speeding away from police. It is more likely that motorists would consider the legal repercussions before deciding whether to engage in such dangerous behavior.

Leon James, a University of Hawaii psychologist who co-authored "Road Rage and Aggressive Driving," suggests that more severe penalties would be effective if coupled with driver's education classes that include information about driver's thoughts and emotions. That could be effective in trying to reduce impulsive racing and should be a part of driver's education.

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One 4,000-Pounder With Cheese, to Go If It Means Eating and Driving, Fast Food Is Definitely Hazardous to Your Health

By Don Oldenburg Washington Post Staff Writer Monday,  Page C01

If there's a fork in the road, pick it up. You may need it. Eating while driving is increasingly standard fare for mobile Americans.

You know you do it; most people do. More than 65 percent of Americans fessed up to eating occasionally while driving, and 17 percent of them frequently or always do, according to a Nationwide Insurance Co. survey. Moreover, the marketing research firm NPD Group reports that Americans now eat 18 percent of their meals behind the wheel -- nearly one in five dining experiences à la carburetor cafe.

But there's a buffet of evidence that dashboard dining is a crash diet. Gulp! Seems in-gear ingurgitation drives drivers to distraction, adding a side order of erratic and reckless driving. Twenty-six percent of all traffic collisions involve driver distraction of some sort -- yapping on a cell phone, fiddling with the radio and, yup, eating -- says the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The only good news is: If you regularly eat while driving, you may not need to worry about cholesterol.

A "National Driving Habits" survey conducted last year by Response Insurance Agency of Meriden, Conn., found that 76 percent of drivers admitted to doing things that distract them: Eating scored 57 percent. Big deal? Well, 20 percent of them admitted to steering with their thighs while eating.

With those stats on the table, Hagerty Classic Insurance last month cooked up a study to rank the most dangerous in-car cuisine.

The Traverse City, Mich.-based insurance company, which specializes in insuring collectible autos, started looking into eating while driving after it received a claim from a Midwestern client that made the office humor board. The client's driver's license had a restriction: He was banned from driving with food in the car. "The actual language was 'within reach,' " says McKeel Hagerty, president of the firm.

The Hagerty execs started noticing claim reports that noted coffee spills on original upholstery and chili stains on carpeting. "We started researching which foods were most distracting," says Hagerty.

Hagerty sent his "research team" (read: execs and office workers) out to test-drive foods commonly eaten in cars -- jelly doughnuts, hamburgers, barbecue -- and rank them by degree of distraction, difficulty in eating with one hand, and popularity. The prez personally took on the foot-long chili dog investigation and ruined his shirt.

The "most dangerous foods to eat while driving," ranked bad to worst: chocolate ("drivers instinctively try to clean the smears and stains immediately"), soft drinks (too easily tip), jelly- and cream-filled doughnuts (they ooze), fried chicken (greasy hands), barbecue (just messy), juicy hamburgers (dripping condiments), chili (including chili dogs, sloppy Joes, etc.), tacos, hot soups, and -- the most hazardous item -- coffee.

Coffee? Served at near-scalding temperatures, says Hagerty, it can cause quite a commotion when spilled. And drivers tend to drink coffee on the way to work, when they don't want to soil their clothes, and invariably try to make instant clean-ups.

Hagerty found that it's not so much the eating as the spilling, smearing and dropping that cause traffic accidents. The moral: "If it can drip, don't eat it while you drive."

Drive-by gourmets should know, however, that Hagerty never drives his Lincoln Navigator, '67 Porsche or '33 Ford pickup truck, among his other cars, without a bottle of water handy. And, yes, before the investigation, he regularly dined going down the road: "I've probably eaten Chinese takeout with chopsticks while driving."

What you eat while driving can make all the difference between indigestion and collision -- or maybe something more humiliating. Consider the 37-year-old woman who last year suffered abdominal pain after eating potato chips made with Olestra. She couldn't get off the road before severe diarrhea struck. The five children in the van were frightened, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest report.

And what about the New Jersey guy back in 1993 who steadied a McDonald's milkshake between his legs while driving? Leaning over to reach his food, he squeezed the shake and popped the cup's lid, spilling the chilly concoction on his lap. He ran into another car, but his lawsuit against McDonald's -- for not warning him of the dangers of eating while driving -- was dismissed.

"Eating while driving? Everyone does it," reports Lt. Wayne Bridges, a 20-year veteran of the California Highway Patrol. "You see people munching on their McDonald's cheeseburgers while steering with their legs. I've observed women nursing babies while driving."

Strangest case? Bridges recalls an accident on Interstate 15 in Rancho Cucamonga: The person driving a motor home had put it on cruise control, got up from the driver's seat and went to the back to check on a meal in his microwave. The vehicle ran off the road.

A recent California law requires officers to note distractions that may have contributed to an accident. California Highway Patrol statistics for 2001 indicate that driver inattention was a factor in 11 percent of the 522,562 collisions statewide. Of those, eating while driving was the third most common distraction with 259 incidents -- after using a cell phone (891) and adjusting the car's radio or CD player (768).

Sgt. Thornnie Rouse of the Maryland State Police says the state doesn't keep statistics of that sort, but notes, "Puh-leeze. You get everything." A burger on his dashboard isn't rare, he says, but he agrees with Lt. Curtis Bailey of the Virginia State Police, who says, "Eating while driving is not against the law, reckless driving is."

Unless you're driving in Tacoma, Wash. A municipal code makes it "unlawful for any person to operate any vehicle upon the public highways of the City of Tacoma while eating any food or drinking any beverage."

Sgt. Ken Baine of the Fairfax County Police says his county doesn't go that far -- but there is a traffic code called "Failure to Pay Full-time Attention" -- a $77 ticket enforced on a case-by-case basis. "If the driver is eating a Big Mac and it spills on him and he leaves the road or forces another vehicle to swerve, he would receive a summons," he says.

Baine has no doubt that food distracts drivers. "Look at any drive-through restaurant," he says. "Cars have struck curbs and walls and they're running into the side of the building while shoving a handful of french fries into their mouths before that bag hits the passenger seat."

Despite growing friends-don't-let-friends-drive-while-eating sentiment, Leon James, a University of Hawaii psychologist renowned for his road rage research, recommends dashboard dining -- if done right. "Eating while you drive can calm a person down," he says.

Snacking while driving has helped him change his own aggressive driving habits, says James. "I cut a sandwich and apple up into bite sizes. It is very important to have it laid out on a plate. It can't be anything you spill or is messy. This way, I can munch as I go along. And I find I am the calmest when doing that."

Besides, people eat while driving not only because they can -- except in Tacoma -- but because they are encouraged to. The fast-food industry, the chief caterer of dashboard dining, has taken steps to accommodate it, James says. Taco Bell, he points out, folds its tortillas a certain way to hold the food and juices inside. 7-Eleven introduced a hot-dog-shaped hamburger, and McDonald's created McSalad Shaker to fit in a cup holder. And the automobile industry is designing cars with mini-microwave ovens, glove compartment refrigerators, and trays that fold down.

"People are going to eat when they drive, just like they are going to use their phones," says James. "What we need to do is help people do it better.

© 2002 The Washington Post Company

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Nine Out of 10 San Antonians Find Motorists Driving More Aggressively.

Issue: June 8, 2000

Business Editors and Automotive/Insurance Writers

SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 8, 2000

Nine out of 10 drivers in San Antonio are encountering aggressive drivers on the streets and highways of San Antonio, according to a survey recently completed by the San Antonio Police Department.

Sixty-six percent of a sample survey of more than 800 drivers said that driving in San Antonio had become somewhat or much more aggressive in the past 12 months and an equal percentage had encountered 1-5 incidents of aggressive driving in the week prior to the survey.

"Probably one of the more interesting things we learned from this survey is that San Antonians favor both education and enforcement to affect the level of aggressive driving we're seeing in San Antonio," said Chief Al Philippus of the San Antonio Police Department. "What's surprising is only 3 percent say driving in San Antonio is less aggressive. Clearly, motorists are concerned about the incidence of aggressive driving."

In April, the Police Department and San Antonio Municipal Courts launched Drive Smart(sm) -- Be a Cool Operator, which combines education, enforcement and judicial means to lower the incidence of aggressive driving. Since that time, San Antonio traffic officers have distributed Traffic Education and Enforcement Cards to drivers exhibiting aggressive driving behaviors or receiving traffic citations for violations such as speeding, weaving in traffic, tailgating or running red lights.

Dr. James, who has consulted on aggressive driving measures in other cities and states, said San Antonio is not alone in experiencing increasing levels of aggressive driving.

"The survey results indicate a lack of awareness on the part of many drivers that everyone, at some point, is driving aggressively," added Dr. James. "Clearly, if almost 90 percent of the survey respondents are encountering aggressive drivers, but only 54 percent say they are doing it, there's some denial going on among otherwise law-abiding citizens."

Dr. James added that a minority core of respondents don't define as aggressive driving any of the behaviors commonly identified as such by law-enforcement officials. For example, 29 percent do not consider "yelling, insulting, gesturing" as an example of aggressive driving. One in four (25 percent) do not consider speeding and frequent lane changing as aggressive behavior on the road.

About the survey -- SAFFE officers distributed surveys at area crime prevention programs and it was also made available on the San Antonio Police Department Web site during April and May. Dr. Leon James, a professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii also known as DrDriving, compiled and analyzed the results of the survey for the San Antonio Police Department. The sample was of 837 respondents with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percent. Respondents were 64 percent male and 36 percent female with a majority having a high school degree or higher and 75 percent having 10 or more years of driving experience.

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ABC News

Psychologist Says Driving Is a Team Sport A Driving Psychology Expert Says if You Don't Like Traffic, Try Playing as a Team

By JONATHAN SILVERSTEIN

Feb. 13, 2005

We may not wear the jerseys and most of us haven't signed multimillion-dollar endorsement contracts, but when we're driving, we're all members of the same team.

That's the philosophy of Dr. Leon James, a psychology professor at the University of Hawaii who has been doing research on the subject of driving psychology for 25 years.

"Why does almost everybody, at some point in traffic, expresses negative emotions?" he asks.

Road Rage Nursery

James teaches his students that the negative behavior drivers exhibit on the road is a result of the social norms we pick up as children.

"We call the back seat of the car 'road rage nursery,' " James said. "Because that's when children are exposed to the verbal road rage of their parents."

As a result, he says, children learn that even though aggressive behavior is unacceptable in some places -- like work or school -- it is acceptable when driving a car.

"We drive the way our parents drive and the way television teaches us to drive," said James. "We're trained to drive aggressively. We're trained to be competitive. We're trained to look out for ourselves on the road."

Team Play James says the key to preventing this kind of behavior is for drivers to stop thinking of themselves as individual competitors, and start thinking of themselves as part of a team.

"It's just like a football game or any kind of game," James explained. "If someone is not a team player -- just looking out for themselves -- that team is not going to do as well."

Being a team player means not only being courteous to other drivers, but giving them the freedom to do what they need to in order to keep traffic flowing.

"If we learn to keep more distance and to allow other people to politely do what they want instead of standing in the way, then all of the traffic is going to start moving faster," said James.

'Acknowledge, Witness, Modify'

To identify and deal with the problem, James has developed a three-step program he calls "A-W-M" -- for Acknowledge, Witness,

"The person must first acknowledge that they are aggressive. Second they have to witness, in other words they have to observe themselves doing it. And third is to 'modify' the behavior."

According to James, the first step -- a driver acknowledging that he or she acts aggressively -- is possibly the most difficult step.

"People are in denial that they themselves are aggressive," James said. "Most people are not aware that they make mistakes while they drive."

To illustrate just how warped people's perception of themselves can be, James conducts an experiment in which he asks drivers to rate themselves on a scale of one to 10.

"The average is around seven or eight, and many people go to nine or 10," he said. "People grossly exaggerate how good they are and they underestimate all the mistakes they make."

The second step of the program -- "Witness" -- relies on a method of observation James calls "self-witnessing."

"We carry a tape recorder in the car," said James "and then we train ourselves to think aloud. Everything we think we speak aloud."

That information is then analyzed to see what the driver is reacting to and to try and figure out why.

Quality Driving Circles

The final step in James' program is for the driver to modify his or her behavior.

When James testified before a congressional subcommittee in 1997, he proposed a radical solution to the rising tempers of American drivers -- Quality Driving Circles, or QDCs.

"These are small groups of drivers that regularly meet, maybe once every two weeks," he explained. "They help each other do these A-W-Ns -- driving self-improvement programs."

James says that by working in a group drivers find the motivation to complete the program and make serious improvements.

James also says he'd like to see the program mandated as a requirement to renew one's driver's license.

He said he doesn't think licenses should be renewed unless drivers "show evidence that they participated in driving self-improvement activities."

Getting Worse

Driving psychology isn't really on the radar in the pursuit of mental wellness, James says. There isn't a great deal of therapy available to help drivers develop and maintain a healthy driving persona.

As a result of the lack of therapy and self-awareness, James says, we're getting worse.

"Right now we're breeding the next generation of road ragers and aggressive drivers," he said. "Every generation inherits all of the prior generation's norms and behaviors and adds their own."

Because of this downward spiral and James' belief driving is possibly the most dangerous activity people participate in every day, he says something must be done.

"You have a cultural norm of aggressive driving that is increasing with every generation because it gets projected more and more," he said. "We just have to remember that the way we drive affects everybody."

original here

 From:  http://www.sptimes.com/2007/06/25/news_pf/Hillsborough/An_urge_to_gawk_fuels.shtml

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