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TEE Cards -- Traffic Enforcement and Education -- Traffic Emotions Education

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Definition of Aggressive Driving

For Law Enforcement and Safety Officials:
Aggressive Driving Questions and Answers About TEE Cards

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WHEREAS, aggressive driving can be defined as “committing a sequence of moving traffic violations in a short period of time which occur in the presence of other vehicles and endangers persons and/or property”; and

WHEREAS, aggressive driving frequently leads to the assaultive behavior that has become commonly known as “road rage”; and

WHEREAS, traffic crash statistics show that aggressive driving habits are causal factors in a significant number of traffic deaths and injuries; and

WHEREAS, public opinion polls indicate that citizens fear aggressive drivers and support increased police traffic enforcement; and

WHEREAS, failure to address aggressive driving undermines public confidence in law enforcement and promotes disrespect for the law; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the International Association of Chiefs of Police urges all law enforcement agencies to adopt strategies to curb the incidence of aggressive driving; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is encouraged to develop incentive programs that provide additional highway safety funds for intensified traffic enforcement efforts to jurisdictions with laws that enable law enforcement to use technology; as well as promote research into the psychodynamics of aggressive driving; and that prosecutors and courts are encouraged to treat aggressive driving as the danger to public safety that it is; and that copies of this resolution be forwarded to the National Highway Safety Administration; National Sheriffs’ Association, the National Center for State Courts; and the National District Attorneys Association.

original here

For Law Enforcement
Traffic Enforcement Education with TEE Cards

OFFICER WORKBOOK

by Leon James, Ph.D. and Diane Nahl, Ph.D.
Traffic Psychology Educators

The Officer Workbook and Instructor Guide are recommended for use in conjunction with RoadRageous Aggressive Driver Video Course (American Institute for Public Safety) Road Rage and Aggressive Driving, (Prometheus Books, Amherst, N.Y.).

Contents

Preface

1. DEFINING AND Identifying AGGRESSIVE DRIVING

Aggressive Driving Police Initiatives
Definition of Aggressive Driving
Threshold Method for Profiling Aggressive Driving
Aggressive Driving Legislation

2. Dual Role: Traffic Enforcement and Education

Handing Out TEE Cards in Traffic Stops
A Sample of 10 TEE Cards
Why We Need Traffic Emotions Education

3. HANDLING AGGRESSIVE Drivers

Aggressive Driving Is an Important Social Problem
Managing an Angry Driver During a Traffic Stop
The Chain of Escalation in Angry Exchanges
Causes and Prevention of Emotionally Impaired Driving
The Aggressive Driver Mentality
Analyzing the Thinking of Vigilante Drivers
Aggressive vs. Supportive Driving

Preface

Public safety officers in the 21st century have more qualifications because advanced training is required to meet the new demands on officers' technical knowledge. The federal government requires certification training for officers who use Radar Speed Detection devices, and new certification training is required for those with access to crime information centers that maintain criminal records. Some states require police officers to have annual training to maintain their powers of arrest. This is the age of aggressive driving and officers have a new opportunity to play the dual role of traffic enforcement and education. State legislatures began passing new aggressive driving laws in 1997 using a variety of definitions for violations. Some laws use vague language that makes it difficult for officers to accurately identify the target behavior. Traffic officers now need specialized training in the technicalities of aggressive driving laws, aggressive driving behavior, and prevention:

• What language does the law use to define aggressive driving?
  
• How serious is the problem nationally?
  
• What police initiatives have been tried?
  
• What can law enforcement do to educate the public about aggressive driving?
  
• What are TEE Cards for Traffic Enforcement Education and when do officers hand them out?
  
• How do officers deal with aggressive drivers during a traffic stop?
  
• What are good interaction principles to follow during a traffic stop?
  
• What are the causes and how can we prevent emotionally impaired driving?

As new aggressive driving laws are applied, law enforcement is increasingly called upon to testify in court in aggressive driving cases. Officers are exposed to more angry people during traffic stops for aggressive violations, yet they are expected to take more verbal abuse and show greater restraint in the use of force. Special training in aggressive driving prevention has become a practical necessity for all security and peace officers involved in traffic control.

The dual role of law enforcement as Traffic Enforcer and Educator is supported by the federal government as one of the new ways to contain aggressive driving. In order to enhance public support and cooperation, officers need to be prepared to adequately explain their dual role without lecturing or preaching. This workbook helps to accomplish this by:

• Providing a better understanding of the aggressive driver mentality
  
• Providing appropriate educational responses to motorists

This Officer Workbook is designed for either self-study or classroom use to provide specialized training on aggressive driving prevention. An Instructor Guide is available for classroom use in Police Academies or officer training centers. The course was first used in March 2000 by the San Antonio Police Department in conjunction with the Aggressive Driver Video Course RoadRageous distributed by the American Institute for Public Safety. It is also recommended for use in conjunction with the authors' book, Road Rage and Aggressive Driving (Amherst, N.Y: Prometheus Books, 2000). More information on the Web: DrDriving.org.

Leon James, Ph. D. and Diane Nahl, Ph.D.

For more information please email Dr. Leon James

Definition of Aggressive Driving

Aggressive driving is driving under the influence of impaired emotions. There are three categories of impaired emotions:

1. Impatience and Inattentiveness
   
2. Power Struggle
   
3. Recklessness and Road Rage

The majority of motorists drive in an emotionally impaired state at certain times. Some motorists drive in this state more often than others, and pose a serious risk to themselves and others. Driving violations can be identified by reference to these three categories of impaired emotions. Each category of impaired emotion leads to different types of traffic violations.

Category 1: Impatience and Inattentiveness

• Driving through red
  
• Speeding up to yellow
  
• Rolling stops
  
• Cutting corners or rolling over double line
  
• Blocking intersection
  
• Not yielding
  
• Improper lane change or weaving
  
• Driving 5 to 15 mph above limit
  
• Following too close
  
• Not signaling when required
  
• Erratically slowing down or speeding up
  
• Taking too long

Category 2: Power Struggle

• Blocking passing lane, refusing to move over
  
• Threatening or insulting by yelling, gesturing, honking repeatedly
  
• Tailgating to punish or coerce
  
• Cutting off in a duel
  
• Braking suddenly to retaliate

Category 3: Recklessness and Road Rage

• Driving drunk
  
• Pointing a gun or shooting
  
• Assaulting with the car or battering object
  
• Driving at very high speeds
  

Aggressive Driving and the Law

Sponsored by National Criminal Justice Association
and American Institute for Public Safety

in cooperation with

North Miami Beach Police Department

December 7, 2000 - 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm
December 8, 2000 - 8:30 am to 4:00 pm

"Aggressive driving is the leading concern among America's drivers."
U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Rodney Slater

Join the National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA), the American Institute for Public Safety (AIPS), and the North Miami Beach Police Department for a 2-day symposium on Aggressive Driving and Road Rage. Meet the leading experts in the field today in finding solutions to this epidemic on the highways that claims lives everyday. The symposium will feature discussions and workshops on strategies that law enforcement, prosecution and courts can implement in their communities.

"We must raise the bar on safety. It requires a three-pronged approach: - EDUCATION - ENFORCEMENT - AND A STRONG JUDICIAL EFFORT- to prevent this life threatening behavior." U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Rodney Slater

This seminar will discuss the critical issues and opportunities to find solutions to this epidemic on our nation's highways including legislative, educational, enforcement and judicial initiatives. Experts from the American Institute for Public Safety (AIPS), a nationally known organization providing training to prevent "road rage" as well as developing interventions to respond to dangerously aggressive drivers will review the nation's first court referral program for aggressive drivers requiring an educational component, as well as a new approach for law enforcement officers to make the aggressive driver traffic stop a positive attitude modification experience. AIPS offers programs that blend humor in education and deadly serious information about the causes and consequences of aggressive driving.

Faculty for the symposium includes:

Arnold Nerenberg, Ph.D. Dr. Nerenberg is nationally recognized as a leading behavioral authority on aggressive driving and road rage. Commonly referred to as "America's Road Rage Therapist" Dr. Nerenberg appears regularly on MSNBC and CNN giving advice to drivers on how to control their anger, avoid becoming an aggressive driver or become a victim of an aggressive driver. Dr. Nerenberg is a co-author of the aggressive driver course "RoadRageous" and has held over 40 aggressive driving seminars sponsored by the California Department of Highway Safety.

William B. Berger, M.S., J.D., Chief of Police of the city of North Miami Beach, Florida, 2nd Vice President of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and Past President of the Florida Police Chiefs Association. Chief Berger currently sits on the Board of the Florida Auto Theft Prevention Authority. He has been a safety advocate for seat belt safety and has spoken on behalf of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in both Miami and Atlanta. He is a known authority on community policing and a constant advocate of traffic enforcement as a community policing tool.

Christopher O. Huffman, Chief Operating Officer for the AIPS. Formerly Executive Vice President of Cunard Line Ltd. and senior executive for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd. on both sides of the Atlantic. The impeccable safety records of both companies have been recognized worldwide. Chris is leading AIPS in its drive to provide and implement educational solutions to aggressive driving and road rage.

Sergeant Rick Silberman. Sgt. Silberman is a 9-year veteran of the North Miami Beach Police Department. He has worked Patrol, Community Policing and in the Personnel and Training Division. Sgt. Silberman has been instrumental in the agency's mobile laptop program and is the department's webmaster. He is a certified police instructor and has helped develop law enforcement lesson plans for AIP's "RoadRageous" aggressive driving enforcement program.

Who Should Attend?

This symposium will be invaluable for individuals responsible for developing and implementing responses to aggressive driving and the damage caused to the community and victims. A multi-disciplinary team made up of law enforcement officials, prosecutors, court personnel, probation officers, treatment providers, highway traffic safety officials, and victim advocates will return to their communities with proven effective strategies to combat aggressive driving, materials to educate professionals and community members to the nature and causes of aggressive driving and contacts with national experts in the field. If three individuals register from one community, up to two additional individuals from that community can register for half price. All registration forms must be submitted at the same time.

Who is the American Institute of Public Safety? AIPS

The American Institute of Public Safety (AIPS) is dedicated to improving the level of traffic safety awareness as well as saving lives by providing quality, humor-based, proven driver improvement training programs to a wide variety of audiences. The AIPS offers "Aware Driver" and RoadRageous training programs with major emphasis on the attitudes and behavior modification to combat the aggressive driving and road rage phenomenon. In addition, the AIPS works with law enforcement agencies and courts around the country to develop and implement programs to respond to aggressive driving. More information can be obtained by visiting the AIPS website, http://www.aipsnews.com

Who is the National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA)?

The NCJA is the Washington-based nonprofit association representing the state and local governments on crime control and public safety matters. The NCJA exists to foster the development of criminal justice systems in states and units of local government that enhance public safety; prevent and reduce the harmful effects of criminal behavior on individuals and communities; adjudicate defendants and sanction offenders fairly and justly; and use system resources effectively and efficiently. In pursuit of this mission, the NCJA promotes recognition of the interrelationships among criminal justice system components and advocates comprehensive planning and coordination in the development of policies affecting the system. The NCJA's core membership comprises high-level state executive branch officials who have been designated by their governors as their state's representative to NCJA's Advisory Council, the association's governing body. The general membership represents all facets of the criminal and juvenile justice systems. More information concerning the NCJA can be found at http://www.sso.org/ncja

Registration Form here

NCJA Southern Regional Meeting
Aggressive Driving and the Law

Sponsored by The National Criminal Justice Association and the American Institute for Public Safety in cooperation with the North Miami Beach Police Department
Atlanta, GA 30303

August 08, 2000 Associated Press

MILWAUKEE-- A one-of-its kind federal grant to combat road rage helped cut traffic accidents, and a program the city developed may become a model for addressing tailgating, speeding and running red lights nationwide, authorities say.

Milwaukee was a test case for federal officials looking for ways to reduce road rage incidents nationwide, and officials used a $500,000 grant to boost patrol units, purchase new traffic monitoring tools and launch a media campaign with slogans such as "The Rude Attitude Patrol."

(...)

State officials decided to fund anti-aggressive driving measures in other areas after a 1998 survey showed 89 percent of respondents witnessed aggressive driving the month before.

(...)

"After the first wave of ticketing, aggressive driving went way down, traffic crashes went down and it became harder to give out tickets," Dane County Sheriff's Sgt. Gordon Disch said.

(...)

For example, the fine for following too closely is $67.90, but upgrading the charge to reckless driving costs $227 plus six points on a license. Disorderly conduct fines can go up to $646, Munger said.

But educating drivers about the dangers of driving aggressively is even more effective than ticketing, Munger said.

"When people are pulled over, we tell them about the risks of escalating aggression," Munger said. "In an instant you can turn from villain to victim."

Last summer, Denise Koenigs, her husband and their two children were injured when a 53-year-old man who said they were driving too slow rammed their vehicle through two lanes of traffic into a ditch on Highway 60 near Hartford. Koenigs said she still has nightmares.

"For a long time it was very emotional just to get in the the car," she said. "Now I'm much more alert and cautious. I'd rather be ten minutes late than dead."

Time and traffic jams top the list of excuses for aggressive driving, said John Evans, director of the state Bureau of Transportation Safety, which set up a road rage task force three years ago.

"Anyone who is 15 minutes late is a prime candidate," he said.

(...)

A study done for the National Highway Transportation Safety Board found during the six-month enforcement period:

-- Crashes in Milwaukee went down 12.3 percent in program areas compared to the same six months the year before. Crashes citywide decreased 4.8 percent.

-- Injuries and fatalities in Milwaukee were down 11.3 percent compared to the same time in 1998. Citywide, injuries and deaths were down 6.6 percent.

-- City police wrote 12,378 more tickets for aggressive driving, a 29 percent increase over the previous year. Those tickets did not include speeding.

-- Sheriff's patrols on Milwaukee's freeways wrote 2,700 tickets for aggressive driving, excluding speeding, a 55 percent increase over ticket-writing from March to September 1998, Milwaukee County Sheriff's Capt. Randy Tylke said.

"That's 2,700 more people who wouldn't have realized they were being watched for aggressive driving. Generally they'll stop once they get a ticket," Tylke said.

Unmarked squad cars are key to catching aggressive drivers because "you have to sneak up on them," Tylke said. During the first week, an officer in an unmarked car had a tomato thrown at him. The driver was ticketed for tailgating and littering, Tylke said.

Besides more patrols, police blanketed the media with anti-aggressive driving mini-campaigns such as the "Basket Patrol," which targeted drivers who "weave" in traffic, and the "Flasher Patrol," to enforce using turn signals.

The "Rude Attitude Patrol" got so much attention a civil liberties attorney appeared on television to explain that rudeness is not against the law, Tylke said.

Nationally, NHTSA plans to base other anti-aggressive driving programs on Milwaukee's strategies, said Joe Ann O'Hara, of the agency's traffic law enforcement division.

(...)

"We found that if you do a good job on enforcement, you'll spend less time investigating accidents," Kuhlman said.

Aggressive drivers see red twice in Minnesota

By: Anna Cornish

Date: 2000-09-01

Anna Cornish is a Public Information Officer with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Office of Communications.

The Minnesota State Patrol is implementing a new means of apprehending aggressive drivers—shooting them (with a video camera, of course). As it heats up outside, so do drivers' tempers on roadways in Minnesota, USA. This flux in dangerous driving behavior has the Minnesota State Patrol going to great lengths to address the issue of aggressive driving.

"Aggressive driving is a lethal cocktail of dangerous driving behavior—speeding, following too closely, running stop lights and signs, weaving in and out of traffic, and passing on the shoulder," says Minnesota State Patrol Lieutenant Mark Peterson. "Speed alone is cited as a contributing factor in approximately 30 percent of all fatal crashes. Combining this grim statistic with other aggressive driving behavior is not only risky—it's deadly."

The Minnesota State Patrol is targeting areas in the Twin Cities area known for aggressive driving with troops on the ground and in the air. Aircraft are equipped with FLIR Systems Inc U6000 Series Thermal Imagers. These cameras include both a daylight video camera and a thermal imager for use at times of low light or darkness. The pictures and images from the cameras are transmitted to a portable receiver in a police squad car on the ground. During the operation, fixed wing aircraft pilots spot aggressive driving behavior, notify officers on the ground, who in turn apprehend the driver.

The process doesn't end there. After the ground trooper apprehends the driver, the offender is afforded the opportunity to review his/her actions by watching the footage shot from the fixed-wing aircraft above. Patrolling roadways from the air has been a common practice by the Minnesota State Patrol for many years, but not until recently has there been a direct link from an aircraft video camera to a car-based monitor.

Twin cities media will also receive copies of the aggressive driving and eventual arrest footage. The goal of this operation is to end aggressive driving through education, enforcement, and a high prosecution percentage. This new technology provides actual footage of dangerous driving behavior—not of a stranger on a television screen, but by you, in your car. Accountability is a powerful deterrent to intentional hazardous behavior—especially when that behavior is on the six o' clock news.

original article here

Learner drivers in Singapore have a new test to pass before getting their license - mock road rage attacks from angry drivers.

Before learners can tear-up the L-plates, they will have to pass the 'practical' - a confrontation with a mad, red-faced bulging-eyed 'motorist' to check how they handle verbal abuse and physical intimidation during road rage incidents.

Jittery new drivers, often the target of abuse from more experienced motorists, will get the mock 'stress' tests as a new part of the country's Highway Code.

As well as learning the 'mirror, signal, manoeuvre' mantra, they will be taught how to behave under road rage conditions; how NOT to react; and advised to count to 10 if they feel the red mist descending.

The new curriculum, to be introduced by Singapore's road transport department next month, will also help learner drivers to deal with accidents, emergencies and driving in heavy traffic through cities.

Mr K Balakrishnan, a spokesman for the department, said: "They will now be taught how to control their emotions in an enacted scenario."

"When facing situations like these, drivers are most likely to feel anger, shock, panic or confusion," he told the New Straits Times.

A recent case of road-rage in the sub-tropical country resulted in a road bully, a karaoke lounge waiter, being jailed for 10 years for killing a factory worker following an accident.

Andrew Howard, head of road safety at the Automobile Association, said the 'practical' will probably not catch on in the UK, but road rage is a problem the world over.

"The British Highway Code has begun to have little bits of warnings about keeping your cool and being courteous," he said. "It is all about common sense, being courteous to others and calm.

original here

An effective partnership must be created between the three Es--Engineering, Enforcement, Education. This partnership can work to maintain a highway learning atmosphere that will support in the public's mind, the concept of Lifelong Driver Self-improvement.

Drivers in traffic need to be taught to act as a team with a structure that requires

1. voluntary cooperation for a collective traffic goal among otherwise independent strangers
   
2. voluntary obedience to traffic control regulations
   
3. commitment to achieving high predictability in motorist behavior
   
4. lifelong participation in a Quality Driving Circle (QDC)
   

TEE CARDS express and promote DrDriving's approach called Driving Psychology. This is the idea that driving habits occur in three domains: emotions, thoughts, and sensory-motor actions. These three must act together to be effective. TEE CARDS can also be used in other settings such as

• law enforcement education
  
• public schools
  
• driving schools
  
• safety clubs
  
• court mandated classes
  
• family or individual efforts at Aggressive Driving Prevention.
  
• driver self-improvement programs
  
• commercial fleets
  
• quality driving circles
  
• public information programs
  
• radio campaigns
  
• posters
  
• books and readers

The educational objectives for TEE CARDS are:

• to serve as a reminder and warning at a time the motorist is focused on the officer
  
• to give motorists a feedback assessment on their mistakes
  
• to point out emotionally intelligent alternatives to aggressive driving
  
• to strengthen a driver's sense of social responsibility to other drivers
  
• to provide facts and statistics about the consequences of aggressive driving
  
• to promote the idea that anger management takes serious practice
  
• to provide information on self-improvement activities for drivers
  
• to promote acceptance of a personal Lifelong Driver Self-improvement Plan
  
• to promote acceptance of Quality Driving Circles or QDCs
  
• to help de-glamorize aggressive driving
  
• to reinforce appropriate driving attitudes to children passengers riding in the stopped car
  
• to remind parents of their responsibility to model appropriate motorist behavior for the sake of their children's future driving attitudes

Each card stands as a true mini-lesson unit that takes into account three types of behavioral objectives:

• affective objectives (regarding attitude, responsibility, emotions, alertness)
  
• cognitive objectives (involving knowledge, judgment, emotional intelligence)
  
• sensori-motor objectives (competence in vision and vehicle control).
  

For aggressive driving, a person must be caught violating the state's ''reasonable and prudent speed'' law, plus at least two of the following:

• Failing to obey a traffic control device.
• Making an unsafe lane change.
• Overtaking and passing a vehicle on the right by driving off the pavement.
• Following too closely.
• Failing to yield.

The driver also must create an immediate danger to another person or vehicle.

Aggressive driving is a Class 1 misdemeanor that can carry a six-month jail sentence, a fine up to $2,500, plus a 30-day suspension of driver's license and 8 points on the driver's record.

original here

President Clinton and Vice President Gore have made safety this Administration’s highest transportation priority --investing $6.8 billion over the next six years to increase safety on our nation’s highways.

Your attendance and commitment to finding workable solutions regarding aggressive driving shows that safety, too, is your highest priority.

Aggressive driving is one of the leading safety concerns among America’s drivers. In the survey we are releasing today, more than 60 percent of drivers believe unsafe driving --including speeding --by others was a major personal threat to them and to their families.

And as Secretary of Transportation I have met with the survivors of crashes caused by aggressive driving.

Speed --improper lane changes --improper passing --red light running --operating a vehicle in a manner which endangers or is likely to endanger others all fall under the category of aggressive driving.

Who are these aggressive drivers? Unfortunately, about two-thirds of the drivers in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) survey admit to unsafe driving. Why? --late for meetings --traffic congestion --frustration --we all, at one time or another, have either purposefully or unwittingly taken on the role of an aggressive driver.

We can and must do better --which is why we are here today. We must raise the bar on safety. It requires a three-pronged approach --education --enforcement --and strong judicial efforts to prevent this life-threatening behavior from occurring again and again.

A majority of drivers from the NHTSA survey believe that the amount of law enforcement is about right. At least twenty-two states and the District of Columbia currently have active programs to reduce aggressive driving violations.

The Federal government, law enforcement agencies and local communities are partnering through programs like "Smooth Operator" to combat aggressive driving and we are seeing results.

Right now in Wisconsin, a $476,000 NHTSA grant is helping the Milwaukee Police Department to reduce aggressive driving. This 18-month demonstration project, the first in the nation, will provide information and enforcement results to law enforcement agencies across the country. I am pleased to announce we will expand the project into two additional communities later this year.

The Federal Highway Administration next month will release the results of a very successful, $600,000 "Red Light Running" campaign. Through education and enforcement, crashes at 31 sites throughout the nation dropped significantly --some by as much as 43 percent. Communities are so delighted with the results they are continuing the campaign indefinitely --and without federal funding.

(...) We have a great opportunity, through this symposium, to formulate a national policy regarding the seriousness of aggressive driving and to develop recommendations for consistent treatment of offenders.

We can shift the paradigm on aggressive driving penalties just as we shifted the paradigm on drunken driving penalties. No longer can these offenders expect a slap on the wrist --there will be serious judicial consequences for their actions. We want --the public demands --the same course of action for aggressive driving offenders.

America is making progress in the battle for safer roads, but safety is everyone's responsibility and we must all continue our vigilance. Through education, enforcement and uniform judicial policies we can raise the bar on safety. (...)

Answer:

We're looking at an enormous problem when we deal with aggressive driving.

There are 177 million licensed drivers in the U.S., and the majority have been raised in a cultural atmosphere that

• condones aggressive driving
• encourages competition behind the wheel
• allows the expression of hostility towards other motorists
• promotes a sense of entitlement about having the right to drive the way they want
• condones cynicism and disrespect of the law
• promotes the idea of territorial freedom around the vehicle as one's private castle
  leads motorists to be time-bound and feeling anxious about getting there
• provides people with multi-tasking activities in cars without training (eating, phone and communications equipment)
• creates a diversity of drivers with different competencies and purposes for being on the highway

The 35 million American boys who are growing up today have seen an increase of 27% in violence from 1981 to 1998. The anger culture today often equates "masculine" with reckless and high risk behavior.

Parenting today does not include a focus on moral skills and emotional intelligence
a steady dose of violence in cartoons, movies, and video games desensitize the population, raising public tolerance for aggressiveness against strangers and lowering the threshold of expressing it overtly in public places.

These cultural factors have created and are maintaining the driving style of the population. So the problem is vast and deep and serious:

• 40,000 deaths per year
• 6 million crash injuries per year
• 100 billion aggressive driving exchanges per day
• 250 billion dollars direct cost per year
• untold numbers of stress related health problems and human suffering
  

Question 2: What traffic education role is desirable for law enforcement officers?

Answer:

A major initiative by law enforcement officials and personnel is needed to re-educate the public. Traffic related work puts officers in a position of importance regarding the traffic education of motorists. Consider these facts::

• Americans spend 500 million hours per week in their cars
  they travel 3 billion miles annually
• the current death rate is 1.6 per 100 million miles
• the average driver receives 1 ticket every three years
• a motorist will commit 2,000 traffic violations for each one being caught
  by the year 2020 traffic fatalities will be the world's third leading cause of deaths (after heart disease and depression)
• since the year 1900, 3 million Americans died in car crashes (vs. 635,000 American casualties in all wars combined)

Law enforcement officers have for decades been playing a major role in traffic safety education for elementary public schools. This educational role of police officers is going to increase because the need for it is increasing. Consider the traffic stop. It is a window of opportunity for an educational mini-lesson because the motorist and passengers have got your full attention. In some cases they will know what they did wrong, and in other cases they will not know. The officer needs to be prepared in order to be authoritative and effective.

Question 3: What do law enforcement officers need to know in order to play an effective traffic education role?

Answer:

There are two parts to this answer.

Part 1: Knowing how to identify the aggressive driver's specific behavior.

For instance New Jersey police uses these traffic violations

Speeding
Following Too Close
Unsafe Lane Change
Driving While Intoxicated
Reckless, Careless or Inattentive Driving
Disregard Of Traffic Signs and Signals
Improper Passing
Driving While Suspended

The New Jersey Chiefs of Police and Traffic Officers Association have identified aggressive and impaired drivers as the primary targets of patrol activities. Traffic enforcement officers are working to identify aggressive driving through observed motor vehicle violations such as

driving while intoxicated (DWI),
speeding,
following too closely,
unsafe lane changes,
tailgating
careless and inattentive driving
disregarding traffic signals and signs
failure to keep right
flashing lights to move the slow driver out of the way
cutting drivers off
hand gestures
weaving through traffic
needlessly honking the horn
impatience

Part 2: Being adequately prepared to deliver an effective mini-lesson

Knowing how to suggest driving tips to aid in dealing with aggressive drivers without upsetting them or causing the law-abiding motorist harm. For instance, New Jersey officers have been taught to give out these tips:

Make every attempt to get out of the aggressive driver's path
Do not challenge them
Avoid eye contact
Do not make or return gestures
Do not block the passing lane and avoid switching lanes without signaling
Do not tailgate
Allow plenty of time for your trip
Stay away from drivers behaving erratically
More effective methods involve the use of a Traffic Enforcement Education Curriculum.

DrDriving's TEE CARDS are samples of such a curriculum. Officers themselves need to know and understand the curriculum before they can believably distribute the cards and legitimately play the combined role of enforcer and educator. This knowledge will make the officers better traffic educators as well as better drivers, on and off the job.

DrDriving recommends the RoadRageous Video Course as an effective method of teaching law enforcement officers a knowledge and understanding of aggressive driving psychology. This course prepares the officer to understand the TEE CARDS they distribute. A description of the course may be viewed at this Web address: DrDriving.org/video

Question 4: What are "Traffic Emotions"?

Answer:

Driving involves the whole person: emotions, thoughts, sensory input, motor output. It's common knowledge that your driver personality in traffic can be very different from how you act and feel at other times. This is because our emotions in traffic are specific to that environment or situation. Traffic emotions are generally undisciplined habits we acquire in childhood while riding in cars. Most drivers are unaware of their traffic emotions until they make an effort to monitor themselves.

Question 5: What is "Emotions Education"?

Answer:

People believe that emotions and feelings just happen due to circumstances. However psychologists have proven that emotions and feelings are "affective habits" we acquire as part of our up-bringing. It's common knowledge that you can change the way you feel about something if you are motivated to do so. Educating your emotions is necessary for survival and happiness. One of our primary responsibilities as drivers is emotions education. We are required to monitor our emotions behind the wheel so that we may modify them. Emotions education is being used in public schools (e.g., "Self Science Program" and "Conflict Resolution" Curriculum) and in the workplace ("Emotional Intelligence" workshops and "Anger Management" clinics).

Question 6: Why do we need traffic emotions education?

Answer:

Our society is gearing up to face and handle the epidemic of aggressive driving that causes 42,000 fatalities, 6 million serious injuries, and 250 billion dollars in annual cost, not counting untold human suffering. Law enforcement initiatives are becoming more aggressive, and invasive, and States are passing new and tough aggressive driving legislation that land people in jail. Motorists consider traffic aggressiveness as their number one worst daily hassle. People's health is affected, and the nation's glue of civility is torn apart by the war zone on our highways. Neither legislation, nor law enforcement, nor driver education can solve the problem totally, though they all help and are necessary, and should be increased. But what will solve the problem altogether is general, widespread traffic emotions education.

Answer:

We need to place in people's hands a method of learning and changing. We need to empower people, not just with cars, but with "inner power tools" that will make them effective in their own traffic emotions education. Each TEE CARD is an inner power tool. When you study one TEE CARD, you're building one block in your Driving Psychology. The more TEE CARDS you study, the more building blocks you have for your knowledge of driving psychology. This is the knowledge that you need for traffic emotions education.

My research as DrDriving convinces me that every single driver needs traffic emotions education, and TEE CARDS will help everyone of all ages and all experiences. Driving is a lifelong activity and it is so complex and so changing over time that you constantly have to keep up-grading yourself. Children need TEE CARDS because they use the roads and parking lots and ride in cars. Our driver education starts then, not later. People who drive all day long--like police, truckers, taxi cabs, etc., also need TEE CARDS. Race car drivers too, because they get to drive home on our roads!

Question 8: Are there additional benefits to TEE CARDS?

Answer:

Yes. Society, the nation, the community, the neighborhood, the family, the school, the workplace--all benefit when drivers change their hostile emotions and cultivate positive, supportive emotions. This change generalizes to other situations because emotions intervene everywhere all day long.

Question 9: What formats and sizes do TEE CARDS come in?

Answer:

The design of TEE CARDS is a combination of scientific knowledge, instructional design, and creative or artistic presentation. They come in all shapes and materials since distributors or producers create their own innovative features. However, one aspect remains unchanged in all TEE CARDS: their content. This is provided exclusively by DrDriving. They are the creation of Dr. Leon James and Dr. Diane Nahl, the two founders of Driving Psychology.

Question 10: How do I get the TEE CARDS?

Answer:

Please e-mail DrDriving with your request and specific interest.

We need more parental involvement in a positive way. Currently the parental influence on children is negative. We expose our children to years of aggressive driving attitudes as they ride in our cars. Then, as they get behind the wheel, they act like their parents, or worse. We start our driver education as infants riding in cars. We pick up attitudes and feelings and orientations--all non-verbally, by osmosis.

Later, we do it verbally as well. We imitate and practice these attitudes on streets, in parking lots, in shopping centers. So we need to teach children about civility, human rights, and compassion in public places where we share space. Attitudes towards others' rights and respect for authority should be taught in elementary school (this is called Affective Driver Ed).

Then in intermediate school, children should be taught how to reason about traffic and pedestrian behavior and events (this is called Cognitive Driver Ed). Finally in high school, teenagers would get hands on driving instruction (this is called sensorimotor Driver Ed). Beyond that, each individual would be enrolled in a QDC of their choice, either neighborhood, church, or workplace. This plan would take care of Lifelong Driver Ed and would transform our killing highways into a highway community in one generation. I have written a video course that focuses on the this social responsibility of drivers--available here.

As a society, we must recognize that cultural transmission and tradition are responsible factors in aggressive driving, and contribute to it. Therefore cultural techniques of re-education are needed to reverse the generational trend. We can collect all sorts of advice and hints for how to stop the increase in aggressive driving (see my large collection here, culled from the Web). If this trend is not reversed, we can expect aggressive driving to increase, despite the more extensive law enforcement and electronic 'surveillance' initiatives that are being instituted throughout the country.

The full solution or elimination of this problem lies in consciously and deliberately reversing the cultural tradition that allows us to express hostility behind the wheel (see here for a list of the top 100 complaints drivers have about one another). It's obvious that feelings run very intense and to solve this problem is easier said than done. In my role as DrDriving, I have been providing various types of self-management tools and socially dynamic methods of motivating drivers to accept the idea of Lifelong Driver

Education as a matter of social responsibility, as outlined in this document. The overall goal of driver education must be explicitly stated in positive terms, rather than merely negative. The goal must be to evolve a cultural norm for driving that can be called Supportive Driving, in opposition to Aggressive Driving. Oddly enough, research by psychologists has remained limited to a few problems--see my large bibliography of driving research here

We need to understand the difference between these two opposing driving styles and philosophies. Car society is now beginning its second century. For the first century society was able to license drivers through minimal training and examination, and this approach worked for a while, but things started braking down in the 1950s when more and more drivers began to drive the fast moving vehicles placed in their hands. The death rate climbed to above 50,000 for many years. It was brought down to its current 40,000 fatalities a year through better car design, better road engineering, more safety laws, better paramedical services.

Still, 40,000 fatalities year after year turns the highways into war zones (about 40,000 American fatalities were incurred in the entire six-year Vietnam war). Add to this amazing carnage, 5 million crashes with enormous suffering and disruption to lives for millions, and an economic cost of 200 billion per year, and you begin to realize that we are having an enormously serious problem to fix. The goal: to turn the 177 million drivers in this nation (the number is climbing...) into Supportive Drivers. Since this philosophy is contrary to tradition, habit, and convenience we are faced with people's massive opposition to their self-transformation. Drivers have their own theory as to why drivers makes them mad. These popular but non-adaptive attitudes and rationalizations must be abandoned in favor of emotionally more intelligent alternatives.

I believe that the enormous driving challenge that is facing our society today can become an opportunity for strengthening our community and evolving more humane and compassionate relations with each other. Instead of mutual antagonism, we will feel and express mutual support. Driving can increase our humanity by forcing us to make peace on our highways and streets and parking lots. We must, or else we will see an increase of hostile behavior in public places, as people are now beginning to talk about

parking lot rage
pedestrian rage
bicyclists rage
passengers rage
air rage (sky rage)
etc. See here.

and so on. Let's not go that route! And yet more and more people will be tempted to slide into these dangers forms of behaviors due to social imitation and emotional contagion.

Based on DrDriving's Road Rage Survey--National Results 1998

Note: I kept the language typed in by the respondents, but I lumped similar versions that refer to basically the same act. You'll note, however, that additional lumping together is possible, depending your situation. The purpose of this list is to help law enforcement become familiar with how motorists describe each other's behavior. This type of empirical list can also be consulted when considering the language of aggressive driving legislation--see above. You can obtain more examples from my article on the Nine Zones of Driving Behavior.

1. people who don't know how to drive through four-way stops
2. putting on the turn signal a mile early
3. slowing down then speeding up then slowing down then speeding up then slowing down
4. talking on hand held cell phone when traffic is congested
5. hostile --not merging when lanes are closed until last possible second
6. aggressive braking or acceleration
7. being rude
8. blocking (driveways, turns, passing lane, street, entrance ramp)
9. cutting into your lane then slowing down (cutting off or cutting too close or cutting in slowing down)
10. following too close
11. general disregard for anyone else on the road
12. gestures intended to insult the other driver
13. going slow in the fast lane (or hogging)
14. having bright lights on (not lowering them)
15. honking (when they shouldn't)
16. jamming in front rather than waiting in line
17. jockeying for position at the red light
18. never giving any one a break
19. not allowing me to change lanes
20. not concentrating on what is occurring on the road.
21. not getting out of the passing lane when a car is coming up fast behind them
22. not letting you into a lane
23. not paying attention
24. obscene gestures
25. passing dangerously
26. passing too close
27. passing unsafely, just being plain stupid
28. pedestrian abuse--being rude to walkers who have the right of way
29. preoccupied
30. preventing passing
31. reckless driving
32. shining bright lights
33. slamming on brakes
34. speeding up to beat the traffic light
35. speeding up when one is trying to change lanes so that you have to wait and enter the lane behind them
36. stereo too loud
37. thoughtless and in a hurry
38. trying to run over me
39. wanting to just slam on the brakes when people are tailgating me
40. yelling (cursing, yelling back)
41. disobeying traffic laws
42. double parking
43. driving on your side of the road-forcing you to stop
44. failure to yield
45. going through red lights
46. going too fast
47. lane changing in a reckless manner without signaling or erratically or weaving through traffic
48. not keeping up with speed limit (too fast or too slow)
49. not stopping at stop signs
50. not yielding
51. passing on a double yellow line
52. passing on the right shoulder when a car is turning left
53. racing on the freeway
54. running red lights
55. tailgating
56. turning without signaling
57. running late
58. showing off their car
59. want to get somewhere fast, rushing, being impatient
60. being inattentive.
61. being boxed in
62. blocking passing lane (holding up traffic in the left lane)
63. closing the gap (speeding up to prevent a vehicle from changing lanes, even when the lane-changer has signal on)
64. confrontational
65. cursing
66. cutting drivers off (slowing down in front of me)
67. double parking in rush hour.
68. driving slow (5-10 mph under speed limit even under good conditions)
69. not being considerate of other drivers
70. failure to keep right
71. following too closely (sometimes with brights on)
72. gesturing insults
73. going under the speed limit when it’s not necessary
74. honking
75. honking when at a red light
76. leaving their brights on at night
77. making a complete stop just to turn a corner
78. merging at the last minute with 1/2 mile warning
79. not signaling when changing lanes or making turns
80. not slowing down for pedestrians (even in a marked crosswalk)
81. not yielding to merging traffic
82. not yielding to pedestrians
83. other car speeding up when I am passing on two lane highway
84. parking in handicap zone
85. passing illegally
86. passing stopped school buses
87. racing people to cut them off before the lane ends
88. weaving or zig-zagging (switching lanes continuously trying to get to the front)

The San Antonio Police Department is the first in the nation to use DrDriving's TEE Cards. Its special program has three components:

1) Special aggressive driving prevention course for its officers using the RoadRageous Video Course and the Officer Workbook.
2) TEE Cards handed out during traffic stops. See their Drive Smart--Be a Cool Operator Program to which we contributed
3) Aggressive driving surveys before and after the initiative. Take a look at the Online Aggressive Driving Survey for San Antonio
4) PSAs during the initiative. (see below)