Lifelong
Driver's Education:
A New Socio-Behavioral Proposal
YARR Foundational Conference
Keynote Address by Dr. Leon James
1998, 2012
INTRODUCTION
More
studies
are coming out indicating that there
is an increase in incidence of
violent road rage episodes between
drivers. Government agencies have
designated aggressive driving as a
serious problem, approaching or
equaling in severity to drinking and
driving. Besides new legislation and
stricter law enforcement
initiatives, two
differing approaches have been
proposed by psychologists.
Clinical
therapists, as exemplified by Dr.
Arnold Nerenberg,
address road rage as a pathology
similar to other forms of
sociopathic disorders and are
attempting to add road rage to the
DSM symptomatology. The other
approach, exemplified by Dr.
Leon James,
addresses road rage and aggressive
driving in terms of a social-behavioral syndrome, learned in childhood, and
transmitted through socialization
patterns that include modeling adult
drivers in whose cars they are
passengers for many years. Modeling
is also occurring in the mass media
that routinely portray drivers behaving badly and glamorize it
in cartoons, commercials, and
movies.
Dr.
James is proposing an action plan to
tackle this social epidemic on a
long term, generational level that
has four basic components:
Unproven
Assumptions
(probably FALSE)
Road
rage and aggressive or risky driving
are due to:
- increased
traffic congestion
- insufficient
surveillance, enforcement or
punishment
- individual
pathology and violence proneness
- bad mood,
anger or impatience
- frustration, stress,
and provocation
However,
these are not causes but conditions
and occasions under which drivers are
stressed, aggressive, and violent.
These are excuses or opportunities not
causes.
The
causes are these:
The Legend
of DrDriving
Based
on our book: Road
Rage And Aggressive Driving
Aggressive
driving is not extreme any more; it
has become a cultural norm on the
highway. We're born into road rage; we
inherit it from our parents. We
acquire it automatically as children
from adult drivers, cartoons,
television, and commercials. Our
culture condones the expression of
hostility when we feel justified,
indignant, stressed, or
frustrated. Proof of these
points may be found in this
document.
At
the same time drivers aren't trained
for emotional intelligence to be able
to manage both lifestyle stress and
provocations in traffic.
The
Formula for Road Rage:
more driver interactions (more
cars, less space), greater diversity
of drivers
+
cultural
norms of disrespect condoning
hostility
=
aggressive
driving and road rage battles
The
average number of
driver interactions during an
average commute of 30 mins. has steadily
climbed due to traffic
congestion. Thousands of
interactions with hundreds of cars in
a half-hour period create new
challenges for drivers. Any one
of these mini-exchanges can go wrong
when the context is hostile.
There are now 125 million drivers on
the road every day in the U.S.
They represent a tremendous diversity
of competence, style, and
purpose. The hundreds of drivers
one encounters in a traffic half-hour
puts us
into contact with this diversity.
It is unrealistic to expect
homogeneity of driving styles.
Drivers differ in gender, age,
experience, familiarity with the road,
physical health and condition, mood,
and why they are on the road.
Not all drivers are in a hurry.
Not all drivers are alert. Not
all drivers are competent. Not
all drivers know how to coordinate
with the rest of traffic. Not
all drivers want to.
And
so the 125 million drivers on the road
every day need to learn how to drive
with each other, how to get along, how
to be more tolerant of each other's
mistakes and varieties of mood and
desire for cooperation. Driving
Psychology gives drivers the
psychological tools by which they can
acquire sills of tolerance for one
another. It takes compassion,
fairness, rationality, and altruism.
By developing these skills as
drivers, we also become more valuable
citizens and more worthy human beings.
The
formula above shows that aggressive
driving is the result of hostile norms
in combination with more
traffic. It is not more traffic
by itself that causes aggressive
driving. Here is the rest of the
formula:
more driver interactions (more
cars, less space), greater diversity
of drivers
+
cultural
norms of respect promoting
civility and community
=
supportive,
safe, and sane driving
Definition
of Road Rage:
the habit of
aggressive driving as a permanent
style of behaving behind the wheel.
There are three types:
1.
Verbal Road Rage: yelling, cussing,
gesturing, honking, insulting
2.
Quiet Road Rage: complaining, rushing,
competing, resisting
3.
Epic Road Rage: cutting off, blocking,
chasing, fighting, shooting
Lacking
in emotional
intelligence training, drivers
operate on the false "trigger theory"
of anger:
"I
can't help it when they provoke me.
Besides, they're doing something
wrong. I can't just sit back and
take it."
This
attitude involves righteous
indignation that gives us permission
to retaliate because we feel wronged.
It's easy to "lose it" when a "hot
spot" is stepped on, and out comes the
unthinking gesture, the uncontrolled
temper, the comic book fantasies of
punishment and mayhem.
Emotional
Intelligence Exercises
or How Not to Be Hostile When Stressed
and Upset
1.
Self-witnessing behind the wheel:
Pretend
you're giving a play-by-play broadcast
of your driving--what you're doing,
thinking, and feeling. Speak all your
thoughts out loud. This will let you
be more aware of your driving
personality.
2.
Shrinking Your Emotional Territory:
Talk
to yourself. Argue with yourself. What
is it that you really care about?
Examine your assumptions, your anger
theory, your
driving philosophy.
3.
Acting As-If
Pretend
you're a supportive driver even when
you feel like being competitive and
aggressive. When you feel like
yelling, sing instead--or make funny
animal sounds (suggestion by LauraLee
Carman in her book Rainbows In My
Soup, BookPartners
Inc., Wilsonville, Oregon) in the car.
By pretending to be an Aloha spirit
driver, you discover you like
it--cool-headed, hassle-free driving.
All right!
Three Levels of
Emotional Intelligence as a Driver
1. Oppositional
Driving (Aggressive Driving;
Road Rage Habit)
2.
Defensive Driving (Be on guard.
Assume the worst.)
3.
Supportive Driving (Act
tolerant. Be forgiving. Be helpful.)
Defensive
driving is a good strategy, but you
can't let defensive driving slide into
aggressive driving. The best defense
is not a good offense, in this case.
Factors that allow defensive driving
to become oppositional:
- rushing mania (getting
there as fast as possible)
- righteous indignation (They
deserve to be punished)
- comic book persona (The
Avenger, Jekyll & Hyde, Mad Max)
- culture that condones
hostility (cartoons, commercials,
movies)
Anatomy of
Road Rage
Step
1: Provocation and Escalation
It takes
two to make a fight. Don't respond.
Don't engage. Don't up the ante.
Swallow your pride. Choose "the road
less traveled."
Containment
Techniques:
- Count
to 10.
- make animal
sounds (suggestion by LauraLee
Carman in her book Rainbows In My
Soup, BookPartners
Inc., Wilsonville, Oregon) .
- Act
as-if you're not affected.
- Give
yourself pep talks.
Step
2: Recovery and Remedy
If you fall into a hostile exchange,
know how to back out, reverse, back
pedal. You need to do damage control.
Containment
Techniques:
- Refrain
from aggravating things.
- Come
out swinging positive. Apologize.
See it from their side as well, not
just your own.
- Think
supportive (vs. combative).
Acts of
Declaration of Road Rage War
- Honking
at someone.
- Giving
an offensive hand gesture.
- Yelling
at someone or swearing.
- Revving
your engine to indicate displeasure.
- Shining
your high beams in retaliation.
- Deliberately
cutting someone off.
- Tailgating.
- Braking
suddenly to punish a tailgater.
- Blocking
a lane.
- Racing.
- Chasing.
Y-A-R-R
is a centralized international
organization and a socio-cultural
movement. It functions through various
Councils as shown in this diagram:
The CHART above
identifies the causes of aggression,
hostility, and riskyness
behind the wheel. What are these
driver behaviors? Here is a list of
common driving errors committed by
most drivers and which constitute
aggressive, hostile, and dangerous
driving:
acting
hostile
being a vigilante
being intolerant
berating other drivers
blocking passing lane
blocking the way
giving someone a"brake
job"
burning rubber
car needs repairs
carrying a weapon
chasing
cussing
denying lane entry
disobeying signs
driving & partying
driving sleepy
driving with music frenzy
DUI
experiencing high stress
failing to yield
fantasizing revenge
feeling competitive
flipping the bird
|
|
giving
the stink eye
honking to protest
insulting
lacking in objective
self-knowledge
lane hopping
misusing headlights
no highway community feeling
not signaling
not valuing driver
excellence
not wearing seatbelts
"pink" stops
playing loud music
risky multitasking
running red light
rushing
speeding
tailgating
terrorizing passengers
threatening
threatening pedestrians
unaware and not alert
uninvolved in improving
venting anger
|

The
solutions to these driving problems
will require the efforts of the entire
driver generation today--some 180
million in the U.S. alone, so that our
culture of disrespect on highways can
be transformed. Instead of stress,
danger, and misery, we will have
peace, safety, and enjoyment. We will
save 40,000 lives every year, and 150
billion dollars annually by
eliminating most of the 5 million
crashes every year.
UNDERSTANDING THE
DRIVER
Driving
behavior is the result of the driver's
personality and the cultural norms we
all share. These norms include
emotions and intentions, both negative
and positive. Driver personality
reflects driver philosophy, which acts
as a mental filter to create the
driving style you show at any one
time. Here is a diagram
depicting this process.
Here
are some more examples of emotions and
intentions drivers may potentially
have in accordance with cultural
norms.
Culturally
given
EMOTIONS
|
Culturally
given
INTENTIONS
|
NEGATIVE
|
POSITIVE
|
NEGATIVE
|
POSITIVE
|
anger
impatience
annoyance
stress
frustration
fear
panic
risk seeking
not caring
rebellion
superiority
enjoying insulting
enjoying rebelling
enjoying punishing
enjoying getting vile
enjoying rushing
enjoying
competing
enjoying winning
hating to lose
hating to obey
etc.
|
compassion
forgivingness
tolerance
enjoying obeying
enjoying supporting
enjoying mutuality
enjoying collective
enjoying hassle free
enjoying community
enjoying peace
enjoying getting along
etc.
|
retaliating
territoriality
competitiveness
fear of losing
biased stereotypes
punishing
teaching a lesson
obstructing
etc.
|
helping out
being supportive
avoiding upsetting
maintaining standards
lifelong improvement
contributing to order
etc.
|
BEGINNING OUR SECOND
CENTURY OF CAR SOCIETY
Road
rage and aggressive driving have
become cultural norms.
177
MILLION DRIVERS TODAY and 5 MILLION
CRASHES PER YEAR
Last
12 years: 35% MORE MILES DRIVEN, ONLY
3% MORE ROADS--thus greatly increasing
NUMBER OF EXCHANGES between drivers,
any one of which can go wrong! Hence
we need methods by which people can
train themselves to become excellent
drivers. Here is
the plan:
As
we are beginning our second century of
car society, the car has become a techno-biological
need that we incorporate into
our modern mind. People want cars when
they become free and democratic. The
car fulfills people's
techno-biological needs and becomes a
symbol of wealth and freedom. These
are normal needs but we need to learn
how to live with them peacefully
rather than dangerously.
Research
shows that there are three types of
driving styles, as shown in this
diagram:
Emotional
Intelligence
LEVEL
|
Orientation
of
FEELINGS
|
Pattern
of
THOUGHTS
|
Type
of
ACTIONS
|
1
|
Oppositional
|
irrational
|
is reckless,
impulsive & hostile to
others; expresses criticisms
and intolerance
|
2
|
Defensive
|
logical
|
is
competitive but prudent
& restrained; expresses
worries & complaints
|
3
|
Supportive
|
prosocial
|
is helpful
& friendly to others;
expresses enjoyment &
optimism
|
Every
driver has the potential of
experiencing all three levels of
emotional intelligence, even within a
few minutes of each other. It's
important to do self-witnessing
exercises behind the wheel in
order for you to objectively determine
how much time you spend in each of
these three mental
zones or regions when you drive.
The goal for lifelong
driving improvement is to
maintain oneself in a supportive
orientation as a driver, thinking prosocial
thoughts, and enjoying the ride and
mini-relationships with other drivers.
DrDriving's Solutions to Road
Rage and Aggressive Driving
(click
underlined links for more information)
LIFELONG
DRIVER'S ED
|
QUALITY
DRIVING CIRCLES
|
DRIVING
INFORMATICS
|
The New Lifelong
Driver Education
Curriculum
(based
on driving
psychology)
K through 12
affective
driving education
(elementary)
cognitive
driving education
(intermediate)
sensorimotor
driving education (high
school)
Graduated
licensing
Quality
Driving Circles
|
Small
groups form in:
Schools
Neighborhoods
YMCA and other civic
organizations
Businesses
Unions
Professional organizations
and
use
inner power
tools:
|
In
the economic arena:
Insurance companies
Automotive industry
Government
Personal or individual
Mass
media arena:
DBB ratings
Radio shows for drivers
World Wide Web presence
Diffusion
arena:
Product marketing
Web activism
Collaboration with SADD, CARR and
YARR
Research
arena:
Universities
Conferences
Networks
Funding
|
Encouraging Good
Driver Behavior
The
Toronto Transit Commission won the
American Public Transportation Award
for eighteen of the last twenty-one
years, according to M.L. Friedland (see
J. Peter Rothe
Challenging
the Old Order: Towards New
Dimensions in Traffic Safety,
Transaction Publishers, 1990, p.101).
This feat was apparently accomplished
by encouraging the 300 drivers to
participate in a "safety bingo" that
rewards drivers who stay out of
crashes and tickets with small but
desired prizes such as a television
set. An important feature of the
safety bingo is the grouping of
drivers into divisions. When a driver
gets into a crash the entire division
is penalized relative to the other
divisions. This creates strong peer
pressure to maintain driving alertness
and to stay out of trouble.
There
are two principles to be learned from
this experience. First, a positive
incentive system is more desirable
than negative punishment methods.
Second, peer pressure is a potent
force that can strongly influence
people's behavior. These two
principles are especially important
with young drivers.
One
endeavour
for YARR is the development of
positive incentives for encouraging
good driving behavior. One approach to
this goal is to help young drivers
everywhere to form themselves into
small groups of five to 10 individuals
and to meet with each other on a
regular basis to discuss their driving
improvement activities. These groups
are known as QDCs or
Quality Driving Circles
Small
groups of drivers meet together
regularly, and discuss their driving
situation, influencing and learning
from each other. All participants are
encouraged to contribute their
self-witnessing reports and tapes for
common use and discussion. A
generational library of
self-witnessing reports thus
accumulates and forms the basis for
change. The
self-witnessing reports are prepared
by members according to models and
instructions. They include
- thoughts and feelings
behind the wheel
- driving personality
makeover projects using behavioral
techniques of self-modification
- checklists, tests, and
inventories to help keep track of
changes and patterns in one's
driving
Each
QDC would have access to the traffic
data from the self-witnessing reports
produced by other QDCs as well--a sort
of community grass roots organization.
The Web would be a good vehicle for
the exchange of such information
between all YARR groups.
QDCs
may also be a good vehicle for the
Courts who are always looking for
driver re-education programs more
effective than watching driving safety
movies, or doing unrelated community
work. The dynamic power of groups to
influence individual behavior is well
known to social scientists. We should
be using this power for re-educating
aggressive and emotionally impaired
drivers.
QDCs
are principally cultural motivators
for a value change. QDCs are
re-education delivery mechanisms for
changing aggressive driving into
supportive driving. But they also are
the best source of continuous data for
tracking the level and intensity of
aggressive driving. Trained volunteers
tape record themselves in traffic and
later analyze the data, using approved
checklists for the presence or absence
of certain emotions, and their
intensity. These data would be a
measure of the level of aggressiveness
or stress that drivers regularly
experience on that stretch of road,
and the nature of these emotions and
thoughts, so they may be dealt with on
a public basis. These data would be
anonymous and published on a regular
basis.
The YARR sign of
Victory!
I support peace and civility among
drivers
Various
people have asked me about signs that
drivers might use to better
communicate with each other.
Communication between drivers is an
important issue (see
here for studies done by my traffic
psychology students at the
University of Hawaii). I heard
Dr. Arnold Nerenberg
in his congressional testimony
advocate a gesture that would mean
"I'm sorry" made by placing your hand
palm upward on your forehead.
I
also saw Dr. Nerenberg
on a talk show exhibiting a visual
sign that reads
"I'm sorry." Some of my students found
that this kind of sign can be
irritating to a driver who is in an emotionally impaired state. I
think we need to proceed with more
research here.
For
YARR I am proposing a gestural sign
with which young people can identify
as a spiritual symbol that represents
what they want to be loyal to. It
might become a strong group sign endowed with emotion and
motivation.
The
YARR sign is the letter "Y" (for the
first letter of "YARR") made with
the second and third finger of
either hand, palm turned towards the
other driver, and is identical to
the historical Churchill and
Eisenhower "V" sign symbolizing
spiritual VICTORY in battle of good
over evil achieved by the grassroots
efforts of individual peace
warriors. The YARR sign says, I support
peace and civility among drivers.
The
Y
sign
stands for the sentiment against road
rage and aggressive driving by the
current youth generation. It is YOUTH
working to protect themselves and
the next generation from growing up
with road rage and thus having to be
part of it. Members, supporters, and well wishers of
YARR can use the Y-sign behind the
wheel to show each other support for
peace and civility on highways and
streets. In addition, the Y-sign
can be used to indicate a peaceful
orientation and intention to another
driver who is acting aggressively
against us for some driving
situation that occurred. So the
sign can have various meanings around
this one theme of peace and
compassion:
- I'm
sorry--it's my fault
- I meant
no harm or insult
- I
should be more alert--thanks
- I
wasn't up to par--forgive me
- and so on
The
point here is that we all make
mistakes as drivers and that we need
to cut one another more slack. As
well, we need to be supportive of
civility and community, and a known
friendly sign can remind us of
civility, soften our harshness, and
help establish stronger feelings of
community among drivers.
|