Articles in Driving Psychology

Volume 4 in Driving Psychology Series

By: Leon James

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Road rage and aggressive driving exist on a single behavior continuum. Aggressive driving is not solely how someone operates a vehicle; it is also a mental state, a readiness to interpret the acts of others in a hostile way and a desire to respond in kind. In the mental state of aggressive driving we impulsively take more risks and stay on the verge of angry exchanges throughout the trip. At the extreme end of the aggressive driving spectrum, road rage breaks out and assault and battery occur. Many are surprised to learn that the majority of drivers experience intense emotions in traffic that put them at risk of expressing road rage.

Research with hundreds of drivers led me to formulate a three-step program to help drivers develop better emotional fitness on the road.

The first step (A) is to Acknowledge that drivers need traffic emotions education. The second step (W) is to act as a Witness to your actual behavior while driving, systematically observing your thoughts, feelings and actions to identify the type and degree of aggressive driving and road rage that you practice. The third step (M) is to Modify the behaviors you want to change, one thing at a time, continuing this process throughout your career as a driver.

The three-step program must be continuously recycled. There are thousands of habits and skills to manage as a driver, including constantly developing new ones. Each habit or skill must be separately acknowledged, witnessed, and modified or improved.

The goal of self-assessment is to identify problematic tendencies and habits that either produce emotional rage in the self or provoke it in others. The symptoms of road rage may be obvious to everyone except to the road rager. Part of the problem of road rage is that though most feel it, few admit it. The basis for an objective self-assessment is the ability to see yourself as others see you. This book provides several self-assessment procedures that can help drivers to become more aware of their own habits behind the wheel.