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We have written books and articles on driving psychology and have posted them
on this site for your interest. We also post survey results and collections of
road rage news and legislation. You'll find here the Web's largest collection
of literature references on driving psychology and thousands of Web organized
and annotated links to
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Aloha,
Dr. Leon James and Dr.
Diane Nahl
Kailua, Hawaii
Web Address: DrDriving.org
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 About 115 people die each
day from traffic crashes in the U.S.
Nearly 42,000 people die every year from traffic crashes, sending four million more to emergency rooms and
hospitalizing 400,000, half with permanent disabilities.
On-the-job traffic crashes cause
3000 deaths, 332,000 injuries and cost employers over $43 billion, according to the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and can reduce employee
productivity by 40 percent.
In addition to the emotional toll, on-the-job traffic crashes annually cost employers
about $3.5 billion in property damage, $7.9 million in medical care and emergency service
taxes, $17.5 billion for wage premiums, $4.9 billion for workplace disruption (to hire and
train either new employees or temporary employees) and $8.5 billion in disability and life
insurance costs.
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 If you multiply these figures by 10 (one decade), automobile
crashes in the U.S. mount to nearly half a million violent deaths
every decade, and 2 million permanently disabled, costing about half
a trillion dollars every decade.
Driving psychology in a
lifelong driver education program tied to licensing
and renewal, is the answer
that will save most of this national and personal disaster. The
articles below outline this solution. 400 billion
aggressive exchanges per year in the U.S.
Here's the way we figure it: 125 million
(drivers on the road daily) X 1,000 (mini-exchanges between
drivers during two commutes per day) X .01 (1 percent
proportion of hostile or stressed exchanges) X 365 (days per
year) = about 400 billion stressful or aggressive exchanges
per year in the U.S.
From:
Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation Of the
Committee on Transportation and infrastructure House of
representatives One hundred fifth congress July 17, 1997
Washington, D.C.
"Enforcement is important, Mr. Chairman, but we really need
to study the causes behind road rage, and I'm looking forward to
hearing from our witnesses this morning on ways in which we can
identify and respond to the triggers which lead to aggressive
driving. Perhaps we can incorporate some of these ideas when we
move to reauthorize ISTEA." "This committee has been
fighting and will continue to fight to provide adequate funding so
we can relieve congestion, and that certainly will have a very
significant impact on reducing the aggressive driving that we're
experiencing in this country." "This committee does not
have the capacity to change the emotions and the aggressive
feelings of people out on the highway, but we do have a
responsibility and the jurisdiction to try to change the
environment which causes that aggression, and that environment is
caused largely by congestion."
Members of the Committee
"In 15 years, I've identified many detailed
psychological components of
aggressive driving and have developed an empirically-based
theory of what causes aggressive driving and what
behavioral techniques can be
used to measure and control it.
My research has confirmed to some degree nearly every driver
has feelings of rage and
thoughts of retaliation. For the past year, the media has
increased coverage of road rage incidents, and people are asking
questions for which scientific data are not yet available. Is
aggressive driving increasing? Are there differences or is it a
universal epidemic? What causes the increase in aggressive driving
and how can it be controlled?
I think what's on the increase is the amount of habitual
road rage we see today. I define habitual road rage as a
persistent state of hostility behind the wheel, demonstrated by
acts of aggression and a continuum of violence, and
justified by righteous
indignation.
Driving and habitual road rage
have become virtually inseparable. Road rage is a habit
acquired in childhood.
Children are reared in a car culture that condones irate
expression as part of the normal wear and tear of driving. Once
they enter a car, children notice that all the sudden the rules
have changed. It's okay to be mad, very upset, out of control, and
use bad language that's ordinarily not allowed.
By the time they get their driver's license, adolescents
have assimilated years of road rage. The road rage habit can be
unlearned, but it takes
more than
conventional driver's ed."
Dr. Leon James
See:
Congressional Testimony by Dr.
Leon James on Aggressive
Driving
See:
Letters from Readers About My
Congressional Testimony
Excellent with the book: ROAD RAGE AND AGGRESSIVE
DRIVING
"the definitive book on the aggressive driving
epidemic."
To
read excerpts ||
To order from Amazon.com
"With strong documentation and easy-to-follow steps, Dr. James and Dr. Nahl show
us how to adopt a more gently paced way to stop racing against time and people
to get someplace and truly enjoy getting there. They show us how being a better
driver helps us lead a better, happier, healthier life."
Paul Pearsall,
Ph.D. Author of The Pleasure
Prescription and
Toxic Success: How to Stop Striving and Start Thriving
Children's Books at Amazon.com
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including these topics:
Issues Part 1 -- Right Lane vs. Left Lane Feelings |
Tailgating | Social Responsibility
Issues Part 2 -- Driving the Speed Limit | PSA Radio Spots | Car Phones | Automatic
Pilot | DUI Counseling
Issues Part 3 -- Why I Tailgate | Coned Lane: When to Merge | Social Responsibility
Issues Part 4 -- Road Rage | Driver Education | Driving Personality | Stereotypes
About Women Drivers
Issues Part 5 -- Merging When Lane is Coned | Continuing Driver Education
Issues Part 6 -- Good Drivers' Association | Slay Your Driving Dragon
Issues Part 7 -- What B.A.D. Drivers Do
Issues Part 8 -- Tailgating and Aloha Spirit Driving
Issues Part 14 -- Aggressive Drivers and Road Rage | New Name "Crashes" vs.
"Accidents" |
Issues Part 15 -- Princess Diana: The Road Rage Incident of the Century: Day 1
Issues Part 26 -- Speed limits | DUI | Crosswalks |Traffic calming methods | .
The Effect of Age, Gender, and Type of Car Driven
Across the States
by Dr. Leon James
http://www.drdriving.org/surveys/interpretations.htm
Summary:
The pattern of results thus far lead me to the following conclusions:
Aggressive driving is made up of a
syndrome of habits that stick together
with plenty of individual variation.
Young drivers are more aggressive in all
driving behaviors than older
drivers; senior drivers are the least aggressive.
Men are more aggressive than women when they drive sports cars and light
trucks (S-10, Pick-up, Ram, Ranger, F-150, Silverado, Dakota, etc.); women
are more aggressive than men when they drive SUVs and luxury cars. For
economy and family cars, it depends on the specific behavior.
There appear to be three psychological categories of vehicles people
drive: tough driving cars (sports, light trucks, SUVs), soft driving
cars
(economy, family), and special driving cars (vans, luxury). Each of these
psychological categories has its own
aggressive driving syndrome that
distinguishes it from the others.
It is evident that aggressive driving is a cultural norm that is
generationally transmitted as a habit imbibed
in childhood when riding with parents and reinforced by repeated
media portrayals of drivers
behaving badly. To get us out of this, I propose a program of
Lifelong Driver
Education.
Calm down. Aggressive driving, rapid acceleration and braking can affect
fuel mileage. By avoiding such behavior, you can see savings up to 30
percent. That could be a savings of more than $1 per gallon.
original article here |
What is Your Mental Driving Economy?
Do you Practice the Emotional Use of the Gas Pedal?
by Dr. Leon James and Dr. Diane Nahl
1. When the light turns red on me just as I get there, I feel depressed for a
few seconds.
2. When I just make the light, I feel elated.
3. When a slower driver blocks my way, I get enraged with impatience and
disapproval.
4. When the slower driver blocks the passing lane, I feel outrage and
condemnation.
5. When I get to work in less time than my average, I feel elated and
competent.
6. When the lane I am in is slower than the other lane, I feel like I am
being cheated or that I have chosen the wrong lane.
7. When ...
Let me know what else you do as a driver that pertains to how you keep track of
other drivers in relation to you. Why do you do that?
Email DrDriving
Driving literacy facts that every driver needs
to know!
World wide, about 1.5
million people are killed in road accidents every year -- that's 15 million
killed on the roads every decade. Road accident research has pointed towards
driver error in the majority of cases. In the U.S. about 42,000 traffic
fatalities occur every year and about 1.5 million injuries annually at a total
cost of 200 billion dollars -- that means in every decade we kill 420,000
Americans on the roads, injure 15 million Americans on the road, and pay a
whopping two trillion dollar cost in repairs, injuries, insurance, and economic
loss. Our foreign oil dependence and domestic shortage would be solved if
we stopped using the gas pedal emotionally in traffic every day.
Almost all of "driver error"
can be traced to insufficient emotional intelligence training behind the wheel.
All drivers can train themselves to acquire emotional intelligence behind the
wheel. We have proposed that driver education start early in elementary school
when we can train young people to acquire respect and compassion for others in
public places -- pedestrians, drivers, passengers, road workers, law
enforcement. We describe a threestep method for driver personality makeovers.
Every individual is raised to be an aggressive driver and pedestrian through
years of training on the back seat of the car driven by parents and other adults
-- road rage nursery! Add up the years of daily television watching and video
gaming involving drivers behaving aggressively, dangerously, and violently. By
the time we start driving we automatically drive aggressively, have competitive
feelings and intentions behind the wheel.
The threestep
self-modification approach can provide adult drivers with a new supportive
driver personality style, to replace the aggressive driving feelings, emotions,
intentions, judgments, condemnations, and acts of risk and folly that all of us
experience and tolerate on a daily basis. Driving is the most dangerous thing we
do on a regular basis, and it has the highest cost as well. We can change that.
Useful
statistics
on car crashes and injuries may also be found on these
Web sites:
www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov
www.safecarguide.com/exp/statistics/statistics.htm
www.car-accidents.com/pages/stats.html
www.transport-links.org/transport_links/filearea/publications/1_771_Pa3568.pdf
Moffat: Violent Heart: Understanding Aggressive Individuals
- Traffic accidents lead to approximately 40,000 deaths
per year in the US.
- The world toll in 1999 was 1 million deaths and 40
million injuries
- In 2020, the worldwide death toll from traffic
accidents is expected to rise to about 2.3 million
- Road accidents are the leading cause of death for
males 15-44.
- Pedestrians and cyclists accounted for 19.3% of all
traffic fatalities in the US and 13 Western European nations in 1992.
- of all crashes: 85% are attributed to road user error
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Directory of Topics in Driving
Informatics with Web Links
Definition of Aggressive Driving and Road Rage
Children's Books at Amazon.com
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Songs About Cars
A Brief Summary of
How
Driving Psychology Explains What is Aggressive Driving
by
Dr. Leon James (2007)
Aggressive Driving is a
philosophy
(P), an attitude
(A), and a weakness
(W).
You can remember this as AD = PAW.
Aggressive driving as a philosophy
Road regulations and civility do not apply to me some of the time.
Aggressive
driving as an attitude
Driving is a competition for who gets through first. I am more
entitled than others -- me first. I can't be a wimp and let other
motorists take advantage of me.
Aggressive driving as a weakness
Aggressive driving is an emotional weakness or a
lowered ability to cope with
routine everyday exchanges with other motorists. It is a lack or
insufficiency of emotional
intelligence. It involves
mental venting
to oneself behind the wheel, and
social venting
to one's co-workers, friends, or any stranger who will listen.
The
PAW syndrome
of aggressive driving is part of the
culture of disrespect on highways. It is a world wide phenomenon
present in epidemic proportions in every country
studied so far. It is a generationally
transmitted socialization habit and therefore is going to increase
and get worse with every subsequent generation -- unless we stop it
through
lifelong driver education programs and
quality driving circles for driver self-improvement activities tied
to license renewal.
DDC 4, 5th edition includes two new 10-minute video
sessions:
“Chain
of Choices” looks at the choices that each driver makes every day.
Proper following distance, common courtesy road rage, driver
distractions are covered along insight from Dr William Glasser and Dr.
Leon James on why people
choose the driving behaviors they do. View a short-clip from “Chain
of Choices”
What is Speeding?
From National Public Radio -- Listen to this program now online
Talk
of the Nation, June 7,
2007 · Most states are tough on drunk drivers, but it is actually
speeders who cause the most deadly car crashes. Yet, even when they are
caught, many speeders get off easy. Guests discuss the psychology behind
our desire to speed and why we think nothing of going above the limit.
Leon James, professor of
psychology, University of Hawaii; co-author, Road Rage and
Aggressive Driving
Judith Stone, president, Advocates for Highway and
Auto Safety
Richard Retting, senior transportation engineer,
Insurance Institute of Highway Safety
Also: From Wisconsin Public Radio two
programs on drivers and roads:
KHON Channel 2 FOX Television Honolulu.
Interview on the evening news with Tina Shelton regarding the psychology
of speeding vs. breaking the speed limit. June 28, 2007.
See the video
segment here.
How "real" is road
rage? Read a few news stories on road rage around the world from
DrDriving's Collection Road Rage News Stories
|| Dr. Leon James in the News
Road Construction Rage
-- see news stories here.
What is Aggressive Driving?
News clip for Medics and FORSCOM
military bases.
Inquiry into Violence Associated with Motor Vehicle Use
Government of Australia Final Report April 2005
Key
concepts: Road
Violence, Road Hostility and Selfish
Driving.
Selfish driving
involves time
urgent or self-oriented driving behavior, which is committed at the expense of
other drivers in general, but which is not specifically targeted at particular
individuals.
The
Committee came to the conclusion that road violence is not caused by any single
factor. Rather, an act of road violence is the result of the complex interplay
of a number of factors. In the Committee’s view, road violence is no different
from other forms of violence even though the involvement of motor vehicles can
increase the potential for physical harm. The model shown on page 186 (Figure
10.1) of the Final Report explains the Committee’s understanding of the
interaction of the various factors involved. In any road violence incident there
will be a chain of events starting with a triggering event. Person related and
situational factors play a role in the interpretation of the triggering event
that in turn play a role in how an individual will react to the trigger that may
result in a road violence incident taking place. The Committee believes that
this model can assist in analyzing the effectiveness of strategies and
initiatives relating to violence associated with motor vehicle use.
See the full report here:
Inquiry into Violence Associated with Motor Vehicle Use
Younger drivers with the longest commutes are most likely to react to an
aggressive or rude driver. Those with the longest drives are the most likely to
make an obscene gesture.
- Men and women react the same ways when it comes to road rage.
- Road-rage inducing behaviors that commuters see every day include
talking on the cell phone (88 percent), driving too fast (59 percent) and
tailgating (56 percent).
- Eating and/or drinking, a common road rage trigger, is seen by 49
percent of drivers daily. Motorists in Baltimore, New York and Tampa (57
percent) see this daily.
- The most text-message happy drivers are in Denver, Houston, Miami and
Phoenix, although overall 38 percent of commuters see texting every day.
- Twenty nine percent of those surveyed say they see drivers multi-tasking
by putting on makeup, shaving or reading while driving. They say they see it
most often in Tampa (40 percent) and least often in Cincinnati (20 percent).
To get the survey results, Prince Market Research, an independent marketing
research company, conducted 2,512 interviews between Feb. 4 and March 23. The
survey has a margin of error of 2 percent.
From:
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1403674
National Safety Council (NSC): Fatal accidents increasing
By William Atkins Tuesday, 12 June 2007 According to a June 7, 2007 NSC
report, the number of fatal, preventable accidents in the United States is
increasing after a decreasing trend for over twenty years.
Related stories Young women are increasing their drinking-and-driving
Tall and short people heighten risk of air bag injuries Driving Mistakes
We All Make, Not Just Mothers Xbox ad banned in Britain Driving:
simulation vs reality
Specifically, the number of human deaths from preventable, fatal accidents
has risen over 20% between 1996 and 2005. In 2005, approximately 113,000 people
in the United States were killed accidentally.
The all-time record high is 116,385 accidental deaths in 1969, which the
report says could easily be exceeded, if the percentage trend continues, within
a few more years.
The all-time record low occurred in 1992, at about 99,440 people dead from
preventable accidents. The decreasing trend in fatal, preventable accidents
occurred between 1969 and 1992. That good trend is related to the initial
installation and use of seat belts and air bags, home smoke detectors, and
better drunk-drinking laws.
Accidents are the leading cause of death in the United States for all
people aged one to 41 years. Overall, in all age groups, accidental deaths
are fifth on the list of preventable fatalities—with heart disease, cancer,
stroke, and chronic lower respiratory diseases being in the top four.
The number one activity involved within accidental fatalities include
motor vehicles, especially, activities such as speeding, general distractions,
multitasking, using cell phones, and not wearing seat belts.
The number two activity involved with accidental fatalities includes the
ingestion of illegal drugs, prescription drugs, and over-the-counter drugs. The
NSC report states that overdoses from all types of drugs are the fastest-rising
cause of accidental deaths.
Falls, choking, and drowning, in that order, are the third, fourth, and fifth
leading causes of accidental fatalities in the United States.
These five categories of accidental fatalities account for about 83% of all
U.S. accidental deaths. The state of Massachusetts has the lowest death rate
from preventable, fatal accidents. Unfortunately, New Mexico has the highest
death rate.
The website of the National Safety Council is http://www.nsc.org/. The NSC
has tracked statistics of preventable, fatal accidents since the 1920s. Its
results are published in the Journal of Safety Research.
Search this Site ||
Songs About Driving
Cars on Roads and Highways
Interview Answers on Road Rage and Other Rages for Various News Sources
by Dr. Leon James
From:
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=508227
Hypermiling: the new way to save money on the road
Rob Barrett finds driving a new kind of challenge. That's because the Eden
Prairie dad is coasting along using a new driving trend: hypermiling.
"You take a two thousand pound car, you accelerate to 60 miles per hours.
That's like a thousand joules of energy," Barrett said. "You just throw it
all away by putting on the brakes."
Instead, Barrett -- like other hypermilers across the country -- rely on a
technique of coasting and little accelerating. They also use the standby
techniques of driving the speed limit and keeping their tires inflated to
the right pressure. The trend is getting traction, especially with rising
gas prices. "It's only going to go up and it's not going down. If I can use
half as much it's just great," he said.
Barrett estimates he's gone from 27 miles per gallon... to 40, using his
1999 Acura Integra, not a hybrid. That's 50 percent better gas mileage,
which is saving him money.
From:
http://www.wlwt.com/news/15971868/detail.html
Hypermilers Always Focused On Improving
Gas Mileage
|
(...) He said he would drive below the speed limit whenever he could do so
without holding up traffic, and Engels said he doesn’t mind taking a curious
turn or two on his way to a destination. (...) Engels is a hypermiler – a
growing number of drivers who modify their driving habits to exceed EPA fuel
efficiency standards for their vehicles.” (...)
Engels owns a hybrid car that he customized with aerodynamic hubcaps and an
internal radio antenna to cut down on drag, but he said anyone can benefit
from hypermiling. (...) “Actually, the people that have regular cars can
turn out better percentage performance than the hybrids do,” he said. (...)
In addition to well-known fuel-saving techniques – such as maintaining
proper tire pressure and keeping windows rolled up and air conditioners
turned off – hypermilers try to keep their vehicles in constant motion.
(...)
Safety: Aggressive driving targeted by new technology
08 Apr 08 15:01
Military personnel are among the first in the UK to benefit from a new
technology that measures aggressive driver inputs and flags them up on the
dash, writes Nick Gibbs.
Designed to alert drivers to unsafe maneuvers, the gadget from US-based
GreenRoad Technologies measures g-forces and compares them with a
safe-driving benchmark. Sophisticated software can then recognize 120
different driver actions and will judge whether they're dangerous or not. If
a danger is recognized, a red light appears in the driver's peripheral
vision.
article continues
below
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2008
Dr James,
I'm not sure if you've heard anything about this stunt, but I came across it
and wanted to
inform you (just in case). It has left many people injured and some dead.
If you just look
up "Ghost Ride the Whip" you will find more information on its origins.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOiWaTSypt4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cGyeYtvb4M&feature=related
Aloha,
W.W.
From the National Safety Council Web Site:
http://www.nsc.org/lrs/statinfo/odds.htm
Odds of Death Due to Injury, United States, 2003
|
Type of Accident or Manner of Injury
|
Deaths
|
One Year Odds
|
Lifetime Odds
|
|
All External Causes of Mortality
|
166,857
|
1,743
|
22
|
|
|
Deaths Due to Unintentional
(Accidental) Injuries
|
109,277
|
2,662
|
34
|
|
|
|
Transport Accidents
|
48,071
|
6,050
|
78
|
|
|
|
Motor-Vehicle Accidents
|
44,757
|
6,498
|
84
|
|
|
|
Pedestrian
|
5,991
|
48,548
|
626
|
|
|
|
Pedalcyclist
|
762
|
381,693
|
4,919
|
|
|
|
Motorcycle rider
|
3,676
|
79,121
|
1,020
|
|
|
|
Occupant of three-wheeled motor
vehicle
|
13
|
22,373,077
|
288,313
|
|
|
|
Car occupant
|
15,797
|
18,412
|
237
|
|
|
|
Occupant of pick-up truck or van
|
4,163
|
69,865
|
900
|
|
|
|
Occupant of heavy transport
vehicle
|
442
|
658,032
|
8,480
|
|
|
|
Bus occupant
|
36
|
8,079,167
|
|
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