Tue, 6 Apr 1999

Is the only consequence for a person who has road rage, re-training with DMV? I was almost run off the HWY today by a road raged woman. She threw a foreign object at my car, and tried to run me off the HWY. I got her license plate number and have informed the police. I am waiting to hear from them soon. But what exactly will this person be facing. Will they be fined, jailed, what??? I know that it's my words against hers, but what exactly is the punishment for this kind of behavior? Thanks, May M. X

Tue, 6 Apr 1999

Ms. X, aggressive driving laws vary in different States and counties. Perhaps the local police can give you the information. Please let me know what develops. This is a new area and we don't have much experience with it. Good luck with your complaint. Just a little advice, since I am DrDriving! Try not to take this personally. Of course you are right in seeing this as victimizing to you. Just don't try to make this into an obsession. the laws may not be set up right to give you satisfaction and justice, this time round. Just let it go then. However, you might choose to create greater awareness by forming a Quality Driving Circle in your area. DrDriving

Wed Apr 7 1999

Thank you for replying back to me. I found out that nothing can really be done to people who behaves so violently on the roads. And I personally feel that this is really unfair. The only time when the HWY patrol or police will do anything is when this type of road rages causes an accident or a death. By that time it's really too late.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. The Highways that I use is one of the most crowded highways in the state. So of course you would expect some type of road rage going on. But I would never have thought it would happen to me.

I really feel that people who behave so violently on our highways and road, should be punish for there actions. It should not be tolerated. If they know that they can get away with taunting another driver, they will do it. The authorities shouldn't wait until I or other innocent drivers get killed. They need to seek out these people and let them know exactly what they are doing wrong, and what can happen to them or others through this type of behavior.

These type of drivers shouldn't even be driving because they are endangering the lives of others on the road. But as you said in your email, I shouldn't obsessed about it.

And thank you for that advice, because now that I think of it, I was starting to obsess about being a victim of road rage. I am just really upset with the fact that this person was getting away with attacking me on the highway, and she would go unpunish. I do realize now that it's better for my emotional well being to just forget about the whole situation. It was really stressful for me yesterday because I was thinking so much about it.

Again thank you for responding and advising me on this type of situation. I will take them into consideration. Good luck with your research on Road Rage. Thanks, May M. X

Wed Apr 7 1999

To: May X

Thanks. I'm glad you've regained an objective perspective on your experience. Leon James DrDriving

Wed Apr 7 1999

Dear Dr Driving (Dr Leon James) London Weekend Television is a London based television production company and we are producing a programme called Driving Me Crazy. I was very interested in your work with Road Rage and agressive driving and noted that you have a video course dealing with effective driving psychology methods. Would it be possible for us to obtain a copy of your video? We are keen to see if your methods would work on a London driver who has to combat the nightmare of driving in traffic filled London on a daily basis. I hope you are able to help and I look forward to hearing from you

Regards Rob

Researcher - LWT

April 7,1999

Mr. S, I would be delighted to cooperate with you on your Driving You Crazy program. By the way, that was the title of my first (as yet unpublished book). My second book (as yet unpublished too...) is called DRIVING WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE. So I believe I have something worthwhile to contribute to this topic.

I was among the first experts who started called attention to the aggressiveness/violence issue in driving, back in 1987 in an article for the Hawaii Mental Health Newsletter. You can see that article here: http://DrDriving.org/violence.html  

I have summarized my latest research on aggressive drivers in this recent article (April 1999):

http://DrDriving.org/surveys/survey2/interpretations.html  

This article has links to other topics of interest such as DrDriving's Threestrep Program, or the Driving Personality Makeover techniques, including Lifelong Driver Education and Quality Driving Circles. Other topics include Tests of my road rage tendency and the CARRworkbook or Children Against Road Rage prevention activities for teachers, parents and their children.

I also have a script for an audio-tape written for drivers to help them retain self-control behind the wheel. Though this tape has not yet been produced, the script is available. If you have an opportunity to look at this article, and related linked information, you might like to select a particular focus that I can re-iterate for you in an exclusive interview. I can do it by answering your written questions, or you can call me.

The RoadRageous video course is not yet released, though if you're keen on seeing it, I can get you in touch with AIPS, the distributor and producer of it, and they may let you look at a piece of it.

Sincerely, Leon James DrDriving

Wed Apr 7 1999

Dear Dr: My name is sarah and I was involved in an accident, a very bad accident actually, ten days ago.

This accident was caused by an aggressive driver. I was on an expressway in Mass., and a car cut me off (would have driven into me) had I not swerved to avoid it. I lost control of my car (a mazda miata) and spun around three times, stopped in the roadway and was hit by two oncoming vehicles. My body went in between my airbags and my head into my windshield. Of lesser importance, my vehicle was totalled.

Fortunately, I sustained only a head laceration and concussion, from which I am swiftly recovering. However, I remember the crash vividly and have accepted that the trauma of the incident will take some time from which to heal. The vehicle which cut me off did not stop after the accident, and luckily, there were witnesses who observed his reckless driving and reported it to the State Police.

I find it difficult to understand how the operator of a vehicle weaving in and out of traffic can cause a very horrendous accident and simply not care, and not stop. There was a baby in one of the vehicles which struck me.

I thank God the outcome was not worse. So. I am in the process of writing an editorial to The Boston Globe, and I wanted to reference and "quote with reference of course" a few facts contained on your website. Is this okay? Also, any helpful hints for handling the trauma of such an accident?

I know I am not the most perfect driver, but I know this accident would never have occurred had someone not driven so aggressively on the highway. Thank you very much for taking the time! Sarah

Sorry to hear of your woes with a road rager! You can use all the materials on my site (with reference to its address).

Gook luck. Let me know what develops so I can keep track of these things around the country. By the way, there is a Web site that offers recovery activities for accident victims: http://www.stresspress.com/car/#next  

Take care.

DrDriving

Wed Apr 7 1999

Hi Norma, I've been getting questions about what they could do to recover from stress and shock due to being a road rage victim, like th eone below. Question: should I direct them to your organization for help on this? what address should I use (e.g., Web or email and a name). I've sometimes recommended this Web site on Accident Recovery activities: http://www.stresspress.com/car/#next  

Regards, Leon

Hi Leon, Yes, Recovery self-help training can help people who are trying to overcome emotional trauma as the woman who wrote to you about her car crash. I will not go into long explanations as to the meaning of these techniques right now.

Last night the Recovery Nominating Committee had our last conference call, in preparation for our upcoming Annual Meeting and now I am working on income taxes. After a few days R & R I will jump back to work and would be able to write in more detail about Recovery techniques that could apply to drivers.

Thanks so much for thinking of Recovery as a source of help for those writing to you. For the time being please direct inquiries to our website: recovery-inc.com

If they reply to the webmaster it will go to a veteran Recovery member who will then respond directly back to them through e-mail and answer any questions or concerns they may have.

Even thought Jerry is the web

master he does not receive or respond - someone else does that. People can also contact our headquaters at:

Recovery, Inc., 802 North Deerborn Street, Chicago, IL 60610 or call HQ at (312) 337-5661 for more information.

A few of the tools that could be used are: Plan, decide and act (what plans could be made to try and avoid a repeat?); change the thoughts so the feelings follow (to live a bad experience once is enough why keep reliving it and the resulting disturbing emotional and physical symptoms and distressing thoughts that thinking about it causes, over and over again in the mind by continuing to rehash and rehearse the event); replace insecure thoughts of I could have been killed with the secure thought I'm OK; another secure thought, my air bags were effective and they will be again if I need them; possibilities and probabilities (although it is possible to have a repeat of the crash how probable is it for the same thing to happen twice.

Also, if a person becomes fearful of driving again we would tell them to be "self-led and not symptom-led" and "self-control leads to self-respect and self-leadership". We also point out that when a person avoids an event that caused them symptoms, often the reason they don't want to do that event again is not because of the fear of the event but a fear of having the distressing symptoms they formerly experienced.

We then say, "it is distressing but not dangerous" with regard to the symptoms. This may not totally apply if a person is really fearful of another crash. Having been in several accidents I know you can get a little gun shy soon after the accident.

Then we would say the reaction is "phasic and not basic" meaning that the gun shy will pass and you don't have to live with it for the rest of your life. However, if a person becomes symptom led and allow their world to become smaller and smaller it can turn into a more serious problem by their own choice.

We also can 'when you say you can't ,you are really saying that you care not to." No time for more but I think you get the picture. We can talk about it more next week. Oh, Drs. Hanson and Moore from the Mayo Clinic want to join the meeting if I can get it set up with Jane Brody.

Next week I will work on a letter to introduce you to Ms. Brody. I must get off line and back to work. Thanks again for thinking of Recovery, Norma

Thr Apr 8 1999

My name is Robyn and I am a student in the UHM nursing program. I am currently enrolled in Psychosocial Nurisng and as a group project we picked the topic of road rage. My group members and I found your homepages extremely helpful in bringing up topics to discuss.

As part of our project we must get the class involved with our topic. We were wondering if you knew of any interactive activities that you have found successful in your traffic psychology class. We are already having our classmates fill out a rating survey of their own road rage habits.

Thank you for your time and patience. Mahalo, Robyn

April 8,1999

Ms. R, I'm glad you did your project on road rage. Maybe you can send me a copy of your report by e-mail. One interactive Web site is this one with seat belts: effects of wearing and not wearing on injuries: http://www.fitzpatrickengineering.com/  

Another suggestion is for your classmates to go to the Web site where my students are discussing road rage issues, and participate in the discussion by posting a message and reading the others that are there. To get there follow these steps:

1) go to: http://www.fitzpatrickengineering.com/  

 2) register under your own name and any password

3) select UH Courses

4) select Spring 1999

5) select Psychology 459 and 409 (L. James)

6) participate in any of the topics there.

Good luck. Dr. James

Sat, 10 Apr 1999

Dr. James, Thank you for the information that you sent to me. Unfortunately, our instructor felt that road rage would not be an appropriate topic for my group to do because she felt that we would not be able to relate it to the nursing setting. We were very disappointed becuase we had so many ideas that we were hoping to share with the class.

Hopefully another class will give us the opportunity to share the road rage knowledge that we have gained from your homepages.

Thank you....Robyn

Thu Apr 8

Hi! My name is Joe. I have been conducting a year-long senior project at Zionsville Community High School (near Indianapolis, IN) that addresses automobile safety issues. One component of the the research is to do some type of community service concerning your topic. Although I'm sure you are not familiar with programs in my area, I figured that you might have an idea where to look for something like this.

I really appreciate anything you have to offer on the subject.

Sincerely, Joe

Thu April 8

Mr. O, concerning your request below: The only thing I have to offer right now is the CARRworkbook activities at this address: http://DrDriving.org/youth/carrsurvey.html  

These are aggressive driving prevention initiatives that teachers and parents can use with their children as passengers. You might also consider making up your own materials by borrowing from here and there. I will be glad to publish your outline or selections to make it available to others in Ohio or anywhere for that matter. You can do it!!

Take care and remind everyone that DrDriving Says...Pretend you're from Hawaii--Drive with Aloha

Thu Apr 8 1999

Dear Leon:

I had asked for your permission to publish a road rage article you had written for Paradigm. I believe it was the summer of 1997 issue. I cannot find the article. We would appreciate it if there is a way we could get it from you, or be given permission to use what is available on the web.

If you are agreeable to us publishing this article, please send us your picture. If you have an already scanned picture, please e-mail it to me.

Sincerely yours,

Bob

Publisher, New England Journey

April 08, 1999

I grant permission. Please send me word of its publication and location. My photo is available here: http://DrDriving.org/about/

This message might be of interest: As we are starting our second century of car society, there is a dawning realization that the nature of driving has changed. Drivers today and tomorrow are expected to have new skills behind the wheel. Not only do we need to learn how to manage our emotional life while driving, but we also need to learn multi-tasking driving: talking on the phone, doing our e-mail, using computers for maps and road information, managing children in the back seat, using tape recorders, radios, CD players, and all the other gadgets and devices drivers will have to deal with, besides each other in dense traffic!

Clearly we need help to acquire these new skills. My answer as DrDriving: let's all get into QDCs (Quality Driving Circles) which are small groups, either workplace or neighborhood based, meeting regularly and supporting each other with Lifelong Driver Self-Improvement Activities such as keeping a Driving Log or doing a Driving Personality Makeover or working with your children--see my CARRworkbook for aggressive driving prevention initiatives for children against road rage--on the Web at http://DrDriving.org/youth/carrsurvey.html

Dr. Leon James "DrDriving"

Fri, 9 Apr 1999

Dear Doctor James, I could swear that in recent months I have seen at least two instances in the media in which it was asserted that, somewhat surprisingly, women are more likely to commit road rage than men. I see from a web search that there appears to be no support for this assertion, with the possible exception of your figures on self-evaluation in which women appear more aggressive than men when in SUVs and one or two other categories of vehicle. My question is, do you have any idea where this faulty assertion sprang from? (Have I dreamt it?) Enjoyed looking at your work on the Web. Thanks for any help you may be able to give, Bruce

Fri Apr 9

I WAS WONDERING IF YOU COULD HELP ME, I AM LOOKING FOR INFORMATION ON GENDER BEHAVIORS AND STOPPING AT STOP SIGNS. I AM CURRENTLY WORKING ON A RESEARCH PAPER ON THIS TOPIC. PLEASE FORWARD ANY INFORMATION TO KATHY

Sat Apr 10, 1999

Can you help?? Hi my name is Erin, I'm from Toronto, I am doing a small project on the breathalyzer Test, I was wondering if there was anyway that you could e mail me or point me in the right direction... I need to actually know how the breathalyzer works. Thanks so much

Sat Apr 10

Dear Dr. Driving, I was conducting research for a term paper and I know within one of your web sites you referred to SUV's (sport utility vehicles) and their connection with aggressive driving behavior. You quoted "These vehicles are perceived as "tough", as a "land yacht", our tank, our 5,000 pounds of armor protecting us from road rage ... Could you please direct me back to that specific location on the web. I can't find it and you cited some excellent points that I would like to include in my paper.

I would really appreciate it.

Thanks for all the information you put out on the web, Jeanne

Sun Apr 11 1999

I'm doing a speech on road rage and you web page was so helpful. In the future please put some Canadian statistics.

Thanks!! Mike

My wife and I argue. She says that the more often I change lanes, the greater my chance of being in an accident. Any truth to this? Any URL's or other sources I can check with? Thanks Les

Sun Apr 11 1999

Hi, Les, you can look up all sorts of information about driving safety prinhciples, especially if you look around this file: http://DrDriving.org/infohighway.html  

though you'll have to hunt around for awhile. You have to be really interested if you want the motivation to find the answer. In the meantime, think about this:

First, if she is a passenger, she should have the right to ask you not to behave in ways that she finds stressful or worse. It took me years to accept this rule, but it is correct and true, and will make you into a better person.

Second, consider the idea as you drive, second by second, the choices you make determine the risk you're taking. You can't eliminate the risk, but you have to work consciously and wisely to keep the risk to a minimum. This is the principla imperative for a truly competent driver.

Now make a list of the risks you normally take, and line them up in terms of category (e.g., high risk, medium risk, low risk). Now if you do this (I hope you do it with her), you will find that changing lanes is one of them. Each time you cange lanes, you are increasing the risk in comparison to not changing lanes.

And there are complicating factors you need to include: if you change lanes at a high speed, the risk is so much more than if you change lanes at a low speed. Then you need to think of additional complications (please let her help you think of these). E.g., how you change lanes (safely or less safely--I did this unsafely without knowing it for years...), what mood you're in, how ready you are to react properly to the unexpected, and perhaps other factors you can discover.

I hope this helps to get you to start thinking about driving in an emotionally intelligent way. See my document on this at: http://DrDriving.org/rr.html

Write back and tell me what happened. Show this message to your wife. It will make her day. It took my wife years to start helping me become a better driver, on account of the fact that she was terrorized as a passenger and I would punish her for criticizing my driving. But now I'm a reformed driver, thank God! Leon James DrDriving

Mon Apr 12 1999

I am a graduate student currently enrolled in Behavioral Statistics and am required to survey and brief results of that survey. Your site interested me immensely because I have experienced more than some exposure to roadrage by other drivers.

I drive a small red sports car and have often wondered if other drivers were reacting to the size or model of my car. From exploration of your surveys it appears that the question of a driver's reaction to the size and model of other drivers' cars was not explored.

I would like to combine that point and request use of portions of your survey. I do not intend on using the portion on the possible solutions. The project I am required to complete is not that complex. I respectfully request use of your survey to further your work and to help me better understand statistics.

I assure you the work will not be used for monetary purposes. Nancy University of Central Texas

Mon Apr 12 1999

Ms. Nancy, I hereby grant permission. Please send me your report so I can post it on my site to help others. Thanks. Leon James DrDriving

Mon Apr 12 1999

Dear Dr. Driving,

I am writing a research paper on human aggression and how it relates to road rage. I would like to use a summary of your suggestions on how to avoid road rage. Would you be willing to give me permission to do so. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Richard L.

Mon, 12 Apr 1999:

Permission granted. Please give the address of the Web site as Reference. Thanks. I'd like a citation for your article, if possible. thanks.

Leon James DrDriving

Tue Apr 13 199

I am doing a project on the possible effects on music to road rage. I was wondering if you had seen any studies of that that you could show me. It would be a great help. Thanks

Tue, 13 Apr 1999. Try this file: http://DrDriving.org/articlesmusic.htm

 DrDriving

14 Apr 1999

I'm gonna vent here for a minute, and then maybe you or your readers can offer some constructive suggestions. (I know you post letters on your web site. When you do, please remove my email address. It's not that I don't like people, but that spam makes me almost as angry as bad drivers.) I live in Atlanta, a wonderful place except it's second only to Los Angeles as an example of the Car Culture gone bad. Everyone is always complaining about the traffic, even while sitting in their single-occupancy sport-utility vehicle talking on the phone while stuck in it.

There's morning rush hour, evening rush hour, lunchtime rush hour, soccer mom rush hour and occasionally a few more between. From my office, I can watch the daily carnage on GA 400, also known as the "Alpharetta Autobahn" that runs from near downtown far into the northern suburbs.

Until very recently, the only action the state had was to build new roads. At least the new governor has some sense to do something about a regional transit plan, although there is a lot of opposition to it in the suburban counties where fear of crime and racism combine to make people complain that transit access will allow residents of south Atlanta to come to their homes and carry their television sets away on the bus. What they refuse to see is that lack of it is making poor neighborhoods even poorer because all the jobs have moved out of the city where there is no transit, and their neighborhood local McDonalds can't get people to flip burgers because potential employees can't afford to live a reasonable distance from their jobs.

This place has been a haven for land speculators because "If I buy it, they will build" is nearly certain as the state creates more and more miles of highways out into the wilderness to support ex-urban development. I'm sure some of these counties can't generate enough tax revenue to support their own infrastructure, so pretty soon now everybody is going to start complaining about taxes as well, and then the cycle starts all over again.

So, enough about socio-political theories on sprawl. What really pisses me off are the drivers. Before I moved here, I knew the traffic was horrible. My new job was near transit, so I made sure my new home was as well. I can take the bus and train to the office and have a nice comfortable, reliable ride. I wanted to avoid driving so I wouldn't have to sit in traffic. Well, now that I've lived here a while, I want to avoid driving even more, and the drivers are even making my daily walk to and from the office a nightmare. Public transit here is pretty good as long as you live in the city but it is nowhere near New York or Chicago or even San Francisco. I have to drive because the bus doesn't run evenings or weekends for shopping, entertainment, or pretty much anything other than commuting. I make a lot of local trips on two-lane surface streets, often narrow and winding.

If the reactions of other drivers are any indication, I am a horrible person who is deliberately causing them pain by doing the speed limit, stopping for yellow lights and pedestrians and generally paying attention to all that stuff they told me I needed to know to get my license. Heaven forbid I do not start from a light as quickly as possible to reach an "acceptable speed" with minimum delay. I am often tailgated so closely that I can only see the top of the car behind me over the tailgate of my truck, at night I can hardly tell there is someone there. I am waiting to witness or be involved in a head-on collision because someone has passed me in a no-passing zone and hit an oncoming vehicle. I have seen near-misses more times than I care to think of, and remember I don't drive that much. I am sure they will claim I made them do it by "driving slow."

I have tried calling the police to report speeding, dangerous driving and other unsafe conditions. Usually I get "Thank you, goodbye." Once I got "Yeah, they do that to me, too." But the general consensus is that people are jerks and they will drive any way they please and there is nothing you can do about it. When I complain to my apartment complex that residents were speeding and running stop signs through the development and in the parking lots, they humored me and then ignore it. When I talked about being threatened by cars in crosswalks or as a cyclist, they looked at me like I was a freak and I should get a health club membership like everyone else if I wanted to exercise.

I know why the number of pedestrian deaths has been steadily declining: fewer people are walking. There are places I'm fully capable of walking to, except I can't get there safely on foot. When I walk the last half mile to the office, I regularly have to deal with drivers who run lights (particularly in right turn lanes) and are incapable of comprehending "Yield to Pedestrian in Crosswalk." It's not like I'm jumping out in front of them or anything. Pedestrians have to pay attention to traffic control devices, too.

There is a big supermarket across the street from the office now, it opened last year. The office complex has been very good and put in sidewalks so people don't have to tramp through the landscaping anymore, even if the original designers only put in jogging trails to nowhere instead of useful sidewalks. So now there are more people every day walking across the street at lunch for the supermarket or shops or fast food that is over there.

Every time I go, I am nearly hit by drivers making a left turn out of the complex and onto the six lane divided road. I have to dodge cars every time to avoid being splattered on the pavement because they can't be bothered to stop or even slow down. All this is quite illegal of course, but since nobody has died yet, I guess it isn't that important. I've called the police about that, too, and they said they would look into it. I'm not holding my breath.

What can I do? The offending drivers certainly don't care. Whether I am in a vehicle or on foot, I am merely an obstacle to their progress, to be avoided. I don't understand this concept, because when I'm driving, I feel it is my responsibility to be careful because I am bigger and faster and better protected than pedestrians and cyclists. Based on my observation, the more usual opinion is that cars are bigger and faster so therefore more important. In addition, I would add that most drivers appear to believe that *they* are the most important thing on the road, and that others should go bother someone else and get out of their way.

This is pretty much confirmed with conversations with other people. Some of the younger people are proud of it, while older people, particularly those with young children, are clearly resigned to accept it as The Way Things Are. Even my Significant Other of some years, who lives in another big city with even fewer transportation options, agrees with this assessment. When I call and say I've had a bad day because some idiot in a Suburban tried to kill me again, he tells me to just ignore it because there is nothing I can do. If I am afraid of being splattered on the pavement, he tells me, I should stay home and lock myself in my apartment; I need to just admit that the road is for vehicles first, and drivers do not and will never care about anything other than getting from point A to point B as fast as possible.

He also drives like this, and it scares me when I ride with him. I have stopped asking him to slow down or to drive more carefully because I'm tired of getting a lecture about how traffic laws are for fools and he's a better driver than everyone else anyway. I try to understand my environment so I can best adapt to it. As I see it, the only way I can is to become just like everyone else and drive everywhere as if it were a God-given right to do as I please.

I want to live in a community, not go from insulated box house to insulated box car to insulated box office where nothing matters except what I want, and nobody else's interests need be considered. I see this kind of non-community all around me and I can't imagine how anyone can survive in it. Is this what the car has done? Or is this what society has done, using the car as the tool? How do reasonable people live like this? Or is it because there are few reasonable people left to care? Many times I've been told that I am just to sensitive, and I should just deal with it. Why do I have to?

April 15,1999

Dear Dr. James, I am working on the issue of speech-hand interaction. A few weeks ago I heard somewhere (tv, radio?) that the chance of an accident occurring while drunk is as great as when speaking on the mobile while driving. Did I imagine this or can you help provide me with a reference? Thanks.

I enjoyed your traffic psyche page! I have a PhD in experimental psyche from UConn. I specialized in ecological (Gibsonian) perceptual psychology and motor control. Regards, Paul

Apr 15, 1999

Dr. Driver - How come I cant send an email to the State Police to post the license plate ## of an aggressive driver incident? I could see civil liberty issues but am thinking of starting such a web page myself (protected by my own civil right to free speech and allowing space for driver response with apologies to remove their license posting within 30 days) - Eventually the data base could be used as information for consideration in court sentencing incidents - it should be a State Police function!

I bet some license plate numbers would slowly start to get "records" on them - I have personal experience with police states out of control but would prefer to see aggressive drivers "publicized" more than sex offenders or such - at least those former felons are normally in a treatment program or such (I think) or have paid society its due - the road warriors go on and State Police do little to take citizen feedback -

Regards Dave L.

Apr 16,1999

Sir very much enjoyed your web site. Have printed out a bunch and will be spending the weekend reading.

I myself am actually a clinical psychologist, licensed in Israel and Germany. My main interests in the area of driving in the past years have been accident prediction for general, professional, young, L.D., M.BD and elderly drivers mainly using procedures which originate in Europe. Have you performed any research in that area.

I have just started teaching driving psychology on a college level and would much appreciate input and experience

Sincerely

Michael

Apr 16,1999

Hi Mr. C, I am also interested in predicting accident involvement but I think this is a brand new field for behavioral and clinical psychologists. I have started a national driver personality survey that will be operational in a few days. You can preview the instrument here: http://DrDriving.org/surveys/surveyblank3.html  

 Let me know if these types of personality items interest you and we could work something out so you can use it in your context and we can compare results. I'm glad you're teaching driving psychology and that you find my materials helpful. For reference, you can use the short address for my site: http://drdriving.org  

A new article on Driving Psychology from the academic perspective can be found here: http://DrDriving.org/articles/driving_psy.htm  Shaloha, Leon James

Apr 17,1999

What do you do when you've been a victim of road rage--when you've been driven off the road-- when you've been tailgated and bumped--when the woman has approached your car with her being--and you finally had drive to the nearest police station because you were so frightened? I had never encountered anyone this angry. I knew if she had had a gun she would have used it.

I have looked all over the internet for ways to deal with it; I can't find any. A person realizes that it wasn't them, that it was the anger in someone else that went off on them, but how does that person get past feeling scared?

April 17,1999

Hello, Let me explain to you the real problem. Some people think that flashing one's lights is a sign of aggressive driving. Some say it's the honking of one's horn. Still other's say it's tailgating. Let me tell you that these are signs of communication. One can't very well just tell someone what they are communicating when out on the nation's highways. The only means are those mentioned above, in terms of volume.

The real cause of aggressive driving is not the emotional instability of the aggressive drivers, but rather, the insensitivity, ignorance, and general stupidity of other drivers on the road. It is these drivers that clog the nations highways due to their lack of driving knowledge and skills. These drivers need to be taught the real rules of the road - highway etiquette.

1) The left lane is for passing and passing ONLY.

2) Slower traffic should ALWAYS keep left.

3) Flashing of the headlights (day or night) means "MOVE RIGHT."

4) Honking means "YOU IGNORANT FOOL, MOVE RIGHT, ARE YOU BLIND TO MY FLASHING LIGHTS?"

5) Tailgating with a combination of 3 or 4 means 4 at a multiple of 10.

6) Drivers must be aware and considerate of other traffic. That means scanning mirrors.

Drivers in the US simply don't understand the rules of the road. I always see ignorant drivers abuse the left lane. This is why good drivers are forced to pass on the right, ride shoulders, honk horns, flash their lights, give the bird, and shoot idiot drivers dead. Until the police stop ticketing for speeding and start ticketing for improper lane use by left-lane squatters, nothing will improve. The number of ignorant drivers is huge.

The lack of intelligence I see astounds me. I find it surprising that these people can tell the brake from the accelerator. The aggressive driver is not the bad person. It is the ignorant driver who is to blame.

Rahul

April 19,1999

My ABCs of Driving Here is what I used for my son when I taught him -

A - Assume Nothing

B - Be Aware

C - Concentrate

D - Drive Defensively

E - Expect Anything --

Edward Jakobovits, Ph.D. eddyjake@sciweb.com

April 19,1999

THANKS SO MUCH FOR INTRODUCING ME TO YOUR WEB SIGHT. I AM CURRENTLY WORKING ON A RESEARCH PAPER ON GENDER BEHAVIOR AND STOPPING AT STOP SIGNS. HAS ANYONE RESEARCHED THIS TOPIC? IS THERE ANY INFORMATION OUT THERE? David Anderson

Apr 19,1999

I was wondering if there is any other information you can give me on road rage. I am an extramural student here at Cornell University. I am taking comm117, and have a research paper that I am doing. I am showing how Social Judgement Theory directly applies to Road Rage. Any extra information you could give me would be greatly appreciated. Thank You,

Brenda

April 19,1999

Try this file on social judgment theory-related stuff and driving:

http://DrDriving.org/ch11.html  

DrDriving

April 20,1999

Dr. James Mrs. Norma L has asked me to write to you. I am pleased to confirm that Recovery, Incorporated is a very legitimate self-help organization with chapters nationwide. Recovery groups seem to nicely complement professional mental health services for many individuals. I have appended a few references.

Mark R., M.D., Chair Mayo Clinic Division of Adult Psychiatry REFERENCES: SELF-HELP GROUPS

April 20, 1999

Thank you Dr. H. I appreciate the information about Recovery and the References. I'd like to use Recovery as a referral place for people who write to me about getting help for their suffering from memories of aggressive driving or road rage experiences. Perhaps one day Recovery might have a Web address I can link to that discusses this specifically.

Norma's various materials on road rage and aggressive driving that she was kind to show me, might be suitable for content, along with additional information. Sincerely, Leon James

Tue Apr 20 16:29:09 1999

Dr. James, my name is Joe and I'm researching the role that communication, (ie. either between individuals or interpersonally) plays through out a road rage episode. I'm having trouble locating documented research about the psychological state one enters while experiencing road rage. I would appreciate any information or advice could relay to me. (jcrum@ups.edu) Thank you for your time.

20 Apr 1999

The only data I have are the observations I made on myself and other drivers' reports of the observation they made on themselves. Both of these are displayed on my Web site in several places and modalities. Leon James DrDriving

April 20.1999

Hello Dr. Driving, I have been trying to access your site. http://aloha.net. None of the sites are able to be logged onto. I have a speech to give on Tuesday, April 27 and the info from these would be very helpful to me. Thank you Cassie Simpson

April 21,1999

Hi, I'm Lori , a free lance writer from Miami, Florida. I'm currently working on an article and I was wondering if you'd be willing to give me some quotes for it. We can do it by phone or by e-mail. I always prefer the phone. I write self-help articles with humor and the one I am working on pertains to those things drivers do that take us all to the meltdown of cool. Let me know. Thanks, Lori

Thu, 22 Apr 1999

When you get there, you can give the Find On This Page Command and type in Florida. I'm looking forward to your questions. Leon James

April 22,1999

Thanks, Dr. Driving. I'll e-mail you some time next week to give you a list of things I'd like to talk to you about. It will give you an idea as to what "I'm driving at" in my article. I wonder if you've ever studied Florida drivers, we're on the top ten list of the worse cities in America to drive in. Thanks again, Lori

April 21,1999

Mr. B, thank you for communicating. I enjoyed your transcripts of Dr. Kirby's inspirations while driving. What an excellent and creative way of "mining the intellect." Perhaps you might find the following information of interest in relation to what the transcripts say about "journey" and "cars" in relation to rational and spiritual development.

First quoting from your transcript: "This to me feels almost revolutionary; it would give us the idea that the whole purpose of a journey is to make a better world. Beginning with the world of the road itself, the journey, in order to make a better road, to make a better social network of transport.

What would it mean if, for just one journey, two people made that the goal of their journey, not just to get to their destination?" This reminds me that in Swedenborg's works,

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/abbrev.html

making a journey (as a natural activity) stands for changing one's mental state. Thus, changing your state to something entirely different constitutes a longer journey than changing your mental state just a bit.

In driving, a journey or trip to work or home represents a daily change of state spiritually (mental=spiritual). A bad journey such as driving hassles in traffic resulting in a negative mental state or mood, represents a change in spiritual state that is harmful, perhaps even evil.

A good journey by car together represents a spiritual state of congeniality or community (as in ancient times--breaking bread together that represented spritual communion, and indeed so it is in the christian churches still today). Breaking bread took place as part of a journey.

In modern times drive-in restaurants or motels (and hotels) represent the equivalent of breaking bread, that is, communion with those we find congenial, with whom we can feel connected, from which we derive spiritual benefits (encouragement, security, acceptance, validation, inspiration, empowerment, courage), and all virtues are thereby made easier to receive and hold, that is to be and to accomplish.

The car or vehicle (or chariot in earlier times) represents our doctrine. Thus the car represents our philosophy or belief system. Driving a car thus represents using our doctrine to change spiritual states (or making a journey). Aggressive driving represents a false doctrine that leads to evil works that are spiritually injurious.

Supportive or compassionate driving represents a community of saints living together in peace (connectedness). A highway or road system represents the marriage between good and truth, or our manner of living and loving, how we treat others in relation to oneself. Road rage represents our spiritual fall, or mental downfall. It is the transformation of a good car on a good journey into a killer weapon on a war's journey. That is, transforming good loves into selfish ones, and true cognitions into falsities that serve selfish goals.

oad rage in the natural world thus represents spiritual death in our mind where evil is seen as good (as for instance when we justify aggressive driving as assertive driving), and where falsity is seen as truth (as when drivers refuse to admit that tailgating has moral implications, not merely legal or safety). One last point: you might like to see what my students have written about driver communication. See here:

http://DrDriving.org/articles

Dr. Leon James DrDriving

April 22,1999

Dear Dr. James, thank you very much for your quick and friendly response. Have managed to read most of the materials ( as you can most likely trace on your site ) partly aided by our work - free - independence day which we celebrate today. I have not found such an extensive effort before to link different psychological theories and finding , especially from social psychology and personality theories to issues of driving and especially enjoyed your initiatives to translate your findings to self-improvement programs. I will try to implement some of your ideas into my programs here.

Nevertheless, there are quite a few points in which I would suggest widening the perspective and would appreciate hearing your opinion. Let me first explain, that my initial training in traffic psychology Verkehrspsychologie) is from Germany and Austria. They are very big there in evaluating drivers as far as accident proneness is concerned.

Some years ago I published data I got in Israel showing I was 90% successful in predicting accident involvement in a small sample of truck drivers over a three year period and see in my private practise that an 80-90% hit rate is the usual ball park. We have similar data from Europe and even India. The interesting point here is that the tests ( I used an improved protocol of ART90 ) basically have nothing to do with personality but test attention and split attention, reaction speed, eye tracking and similar mundane functions. To give a simple example I think it is important to know if someone who caused an accident whilst entering an intersection which wasn't free was acting risky, aggressively or if he simply couldn't assess the speed and distance of the approaching vehicle.

Similarly it is important to know if a person driving "wild" is "crazy", "inconsiderate" or whatever or if he or she suffers from problems perceiving and analysing visual stimuli. In a small study I found huge similarities between group A repetitive accidents ) and B ( dislectics ) but those similarities were not found in safe drivers or good students.

Another question I would raise is how close is the relationship really between bad or inconsiderate driving and accident involvement. ( may there be no misunderstandings; I myself NEVER speed and my car is not even capable of parking next to a red line ) . Our traffic police ( who do not especially like me and my publications ) spend most of there day and budget in setting up radar traps and stopping speeding cars.

Nevertheless their own statistics (e.g. for 1998 ) show that less than 0.5% of the fatal accident were caused to driving over the speed limit. Worse than that. Last year they had an initiative in which they double and triple checked the "blood roads" ( 700 kilometers which had most accidents ). The outcome apart from an improvement in the government's income ) was a minor drop in the accident rates on those roads....but a significant raise all around.

I would thus suggest using your attitude to self-improvement but doubt if the violations / target behaviours you relate to are those I would want to emphasise. Similarly I think one should strongly advocate improving skills as part of the attitude changing process. Just a few thoughts. Would be happy to hear your opinions. As for today I am off for a hopefully safe car trip to nature with my kids which is the traditional way for celebrating independence day. Michael

April 22,1999

Dr. C, I appreciate your message. Allow me to comment on various parts. try to implement some of your ideas into my programs here. Nevertheless, there are quite a few points in which I would suggest widening the perspective and would appreciate hearing your opinion. Thank you, I need it!

In the sense that there are no traffic psychology experts or enthusiasts in my surrounding and I work alone together with my partner, Dr. Diane Nahl, who as my wife and passenger, has courageously forced me to look at my own driving, whereupon I discovered many things about drivers, not just myself.

Would it be possible for me to see that study? I receive inquiries about commercial drivers and I want to educate myself. If you don't mind, I will consider you my expert consultant on truck drivers (I recently started a Trucking Safety web page at

http://DrDriving.org/professionals/  

My focus is to empower truckers with behavioral skills with which they can engineer a change in public image from bad to good--e.g., smiling, keeping a 6-sec following distance, waving, reminding us of their utility, etc. free was acting risky, aggressively or if he simply couldn't assess the speed and distance of the approaching vehicle.

If you can send me some reports or articles, my address is:

Dr. Leon James

April 22,1999

Leon, Some time ago I contacted you about your work on road rage. Thanks for the material you sent. I am wondering whether you have any information on this as relates to either pedestrians, bicyclists or motorcyclists (do they show road rage?), as opposed to car/truck drivers. ANy info on this you can provide would be helpful. I indicated to you that I was writing a book on traffic safety, and you agreed to review my chapter on "Individual Differences". It includes emotion, motivation, personality, etc. It will be ready in a couple of months or sooner I hope.

Take care. Bob

April 22,1999

Robert, Regarding bicycle rage, look in this file: http://DrDriving.org/bicycling.html  

Regarding driver personality, check out a neat chapter by Wilde here: http://psyc.queensu.ca/target/chapter10.html  

A new article of mine putting driving psychology in perspective is here: http://DrDriving.org/articles/driving_psy.htm  

Regards, Leon DrDriving

April 22,1999

Do you chat online about the retards on the road these days? I could talk all day. I don't mind slow or safe drivers but too slow is unsafe and too fast is unsafe. Stupidity is unsafe in every facet and I hate stupid, slow,fast drivers. I want them to stay home or take the bus. I've lived on O'ahu and only the tourists in their rented Geos and Sunbird convertibles drive like mainlanders. Even people in Mexico know what "Slower traffic keep left" means. Better skills equals less road rage.

April 23,1999

Dear Dr.James, As introduction, I am a post-graduate Student in psychology and doing a research. and interest doing research in traffic-research ( Bandung- Indonesia ). I would ask your favor to send me one copy of your interviews and guide's manual and scoring. Thanks and best regard; Irene.

April 24,1999

Driving to slow in the left lane. This causes me to misfire in a hurry. Learn how to drive slow drivers, keep right. James

April 24,1999

I think drivers get angry on the freeway because many people don't know that you are supposed to keep right if your not passing someone. The left lane is for passing only. Someone "parked" in the left lane can cause alot of anger for the drivers behind him because there's no way to get around them, especially on a two lane freeway. THAT'S what I think. Louise

April 26,1999

Hi Dr driving, I'm a psychology student at Sheffield Hallem University in England. I need data on the differences in gender behaviour when crossing the road. Do males take more risks crossing the road? Have you any studies that I can quote. Hope that you can help, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks Louise Barber

April 26,1999

Ms. B, the only files where you might find info on gender and pedestrians are these three. Let me know if you find anything.

http://DrDriving.org/articles/gender.htm  http://DrDriving.org/facts/references.htm  

http://DrDriving.org/facts/topics.htm   

DrDriving

April 26,1999

Dear Sir, I wanted to take the time and introduce myself. My name is Jeff , I work for the State of Utah, in the Division of Risk Management. I am responsible for writing an article for our State Employee Newspaper.

This coming month I will be writing an article on Road Rage. I found your site most helpful and informative. I would like to use some of your information in the article. I would list the sites address so people could check out the information themselves.

I recently left the States Highway Patrol office to work for Risk and I wanted to do this article. We would not quote you in anyway. Just list your ideas about ways to combat the problem. Please let me know if this okay with you. I will hold off on the information I got from you until I hear from you.

Thanks again for your time and work in this field. Sincerely Jeff

April 26,199

Mr. R, you have my permission to refer to the Web addresses in your report. Also, you have my permission to quote samples along with the address of the document they come from. Your work sounds fascinating. I'd like to see your report on Risk.

Have you seen this book called Target Risk by Geral Wilde--available full text at his Web site: http://psyc.queensu.ca/target/index.htm  

 Take care!

Leon James

April 26,1999

Hi Leon, Do you have any suggestions for what more, if anything, I should say to AAA about the emotional state of the driver before they present to law enforcement? I told him about my past history (before Recovery) of driving with stress related symptoms, being upset before getting into the car, and of driving while preoccupied then doing things that others could misinterpret as aggressive driving to which they could have responded in a negative way.

What exactly do you mean "Very sensitive issue"? What are come consequences if things are not handled in the best way? I sure don't want to do anything that will make matters worse for people with emotional disorders. I am not qualified to consult with AAA any further than I just did.

A speaker at their summit is Darrold Hanasa, a Phd who focus is Road Rage and aggressive driving from Madison, Wisconsin. I would think that he would be advising them. You are seeing my old insecurities peaking out, thinking I may have done something wrong that will cause problems.

Regards, Norma

Hi Norma, thanks for the news. Thanks also for recommending DrDriving's approach through so many channels. The interest of law enforcement in the "emotional state of the driver" (as you indicated for Minnesota) is going to be a very sensitive issue.

It's important they consult people like you and me in order to maintain a behavioral definition of affective and cognitive (i.e., mental) aspects of drivers.

 Regards and Blessings.

Leon

April 26,199

Hi Norma, you have done everything right! A person like you would be more sensitive to the issues that might threaten emotional drivers than the AAA people whose outlook is of course different. You have the personal experience, and the psychology concepts and language, to be able to consider yourself an expert. I hope you can trust that, rather than the sneaky insecurities from the distant lands of your Christian mindscape. If you assert yourself as an expert, as you are--just listen to me, then you can do more uses with the talents the Lord has given you. That's how I see it.

Whatever you find to say to them that represents your point of view, is useful for them to add to their own perspective. Thus if you don't do it, that perspective may be left out of their consciousness.

By transmitting your perspective to them, they are given an opportunity to re-orient towards more humane decisions. The Lord constantly works with each person to bend the person's orientation away from the inherited tendency and toward Himself, that is, toward love and wisdom. And what's marvellous, the person doesn't have to be a Christian. The Lord strives to turn them toward their good, or conscience, which everyone has from Him, whether they acknowledge this or not. The Lord is God, and there ain't another to do these things for them.

About why I think it's a sensitive issue to have law enforcement and judges make decisions about emotional or mental states of people accused of a crime: Basic freedoms have to be won at each level of human interactions. In order of development from the fallen nature to the heavenly angel, we start with external things, then we go INWARD to intermediate things, and at last we end with inmost things. Inward means more spiritual, since we're talking about heaven as the end state.

Law enforcement and public instruction thus starts with the external--what we behaviorally call the SENSORIMOTOR domain. To be arrested for a driving offense, the officer must enter what crime on the books was allegedly committed. The evidence has to be concrete and external to the driver: tailgating, not signaling, going through red, yelling, making an obscene gesture, going over the speed limit, measuring above the allowed BAC level. Note the use of video on top of the police car--for documenting what happened EXTERNALLY. Etc. But now we're moving inward to the intermediate stage, closer to spiritual issues, when we talk about a police officer reporting on some driver's emotional state.

What will be the basis? (this is always an excellent question you can ask everyone who talks about this) Take for instance this kind of thing: "I could determine the driver was in a highly disturbed state, talking excitedly and loud, blaming the other driver for the collision. He was obviously the aggressive person who was too much in a hurry." Or, this one: "She cried and acted hysterically. It was obvious that she was in a state of disturbance that would make her incompetent to handle an emergency." You see what I mean? What kind of observation might an officer make in order to be able to categorize the emotional state of a driver who is already disturbed by being stopped or hit? Laws about the emotional state of drivers would be unprecedented in our democracy.

Now of course I'm thinking this way, possibly because I uninformed as to what they might mean or have in mind. Please let me know if you get a more definite understanding. Thanks, and the Lord bless your efforts. Leon

April 26,1999

Hi Dr. James, I'm still working on this road rage piece for Mademoiselle, and once again am looking for women who are aggressive drivers. Can you pass along any names? Thanks again, Darcy

April 26,1999

Hi Kenny, she wants aggressive female drivers to interview...Got any?

Regards, Leon

April 27,1999

Dear "Dr Driving" I was very interested to read your paper on "Aggressive Driving and Road Rage, Dealing with Emotionally Impaired Drivers" through the internet.

Currently I am an undergraduate at Edge Hill University College in the UK and for the Research Methods module of my Applied Social Science degree, I am doing a project with a Licket Scale comparing gender differences in aggression and driving. Unfortunately part way through your paper came up "Transfer interrupted" and I was unable to read it in its entirety or to find the bibliography and previous research details. I feel that this background information would be of great benefit to my research as I am finding information a bit thin on the ground.

If you could find the time in your very busy schedule to email me further reading: journal references, previous papers and research or any other information, particularly that relevant to gender issues, I would be immensely grateful. Thank you in anticipation of your assistance.

Kind regards Karen

April 27,1999

Ms. H, I have two files that might be relevant. Please check them on the Web. One is a Bibliography of several hundred items. The other is a directory of my students' reports on gender and driving--all of which are available online. Hope you can get to it... DrDriving http://DrDriving.org/facts/references.htm  

http://DrDriving.org/articles/gender.htm  

April 27,1999

Dr. James,

My name is Frances and I am a student at City College of San Francisco. I am doing a speech on road rage and I would like to ask you a few questions. Your testimony was dated July 17,1997; are there any recent declines or increases? I have read many articles and I noticed that there aren't many recent statistics. Are there any studies currently being done? You say that driver's education needs to start in early childhood and I agree. Are there any programs being started that will teach young children proper road etiquette?

The Quality Driving Circles are a good idea, how is that doing? Are there more QDC's? How effective are they? I would appreciate any information you could give me. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Drive Safely!

Aloha! Frances

April 28,1999

About QDCs: they have not been tested but I'm looking for test runs. Would you like to start one?? DrDriving

About children programs: here is my CARRworkbook for children aggressive driving prevention activities:

 http://DrDriving.org/youth/carrsurvey.html  

DrDriving

April 28,1999

We are pleased to inform you that your website www.DrDriving.org/  is included in www.booksearchengine.com - the first portal focused on books, writing, and related websites. Over 100,000 websites have been catalogued, categorized, and also given titles and descriptions. There are 24 top level categories and 3900 subcategories covering every possible related subject. This constitutes the largest fully categorized book related content to be found anywhere on the world wide web.

In addition, the portal provides a search and price comparison service for books, utilizing 48 bookstores around the world. Your site may be found under the category path - Booksellers:Specialized:Transportation:Auto. Should you wish for us to change the title or the description given to your website, please email us at: content@booksearchengine.com This is a one time announcement to welcome you to

http://www.booksearchengine.com  

April 28,199

i was wondering if there are any actual, concrete causes to road rage. any information would be greatly appreciated

April 28,1999

You will find this information here: http://DrDriving.org/articles/book_toc.htm  

DrDriving

April 29,1999

Hi Norma, thanks for your prompt action with the AAA official. He got in touch with me and I gave him the AIPS fax number and he said he did it. The conference is today, I think. I've been looking at this Web Recovery Guide: http://www.recovery-inc.com/guide.html  

and I think it would be appropriate to have your material listed there--the aggressive driving handout you prepared for your Nov. 98 anger management class #2. No hurry--just a worthwhile use for your pages when you decide they're fine, just the way they are (I think so), then you have a chance to amend them later. That's the beauty of the Web: instant communication of your latest inspirations as they occur.

It's the quickening of the Holy Spirit, as I see it. Web publishing is creating an exchange of thoughts and feelings never equaled before. It's the kind of integration of humanity Swedenborg talks about, and his admirer Henry James, Sr. So: put up your pages. I edit my pages every day--so my site is constantly growing toward something....

By the way, I had one student review the Recovery site for a class oral presentation. His brief report and the question/answer exchange can be found at: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409as99/ne/oral1.html  

Have a blessed day, Norma! Leon

Thu Apr 29 1999

I was wondering if you know of any statistics on how much of our lives is spent sitting in traffic?

April 30,1999

I have started a survey of my own. I have started to count on each week day the percentage of drivers who are behind me (i consider behind me the stated 3 car length distance) who get too close to me while i am driving. So far, on average i have found that between 80 and 95 percent of people get extremely close to me before they will change lanes.

The majority of these people have the option to change lanes way before they ever get close to me, meaning that traffic is light, there are no cars in either the left or right lanes except for me and the tailgater. Yet, the tailgater is incessant in getting as close to my rear bumper as possible before changing lanes.

What exactly is the cause of this behavior? I feel that this is a definite form of control. I allow other drivers to drive as fast as they want, I do not go out of my way to deter fast driving in others. Yet, others seem to feel that they must go out of their way to make me feel inferior for driving at the posted speed limit. The interesting thing is that recently, I started putting on my hazard lights when I see someone coming at me at a high speed in my lane.

Believe it or not, those same people who would normally get about two inches off my ass to change lanes, actually changed lanes at a 'considered safe' distance from the back of my car. What explanation is there for this behavior? My manager at the company i work for recently bought an 'SUV'. One day she was stating her feelings about driving the thing. "I don't usually go for such big cars like this, but boy!, it gives me such a feeling of "POWER" when I drive it".

I think that is the definitive statement right there for some women. I have personally come to call women with children driving around the roads in mini-vans, "bitch-in-a-van". I'm still waiting for the toy version to come out in the TOYS-R-US stores. The typical 90's woman has been stifled by life. She has endured the pain of having children, she has gone to jobs where men are the supposed superior, she has done all the shopping, she has done all the house-hold chores, and she has done all the child-rearing.

Now she is expected to run around the city she lives in on top of it all, to take her children to their nursery schools, sports practices, dance lessons, music lessons, or god knows whatever else it is that will make her children a "star". By eleven o'clock at every single night, this women has done abosolutely nothing for herself. Her identity has literally been lost. So, it seems to me that there are a couple of reasons for "bitch-in-a-van".

First, she is probably late for the child care center, or the sports practice, or whatever else it is that she has to get her child to in a hurry. Second, this is the only time in the entire day when she is in control of her own life. Those few minutes when she is on the "road" with the feeling of "POWER". I feel that people who drive 'SUV's' are not that different than "bitch-in-a-van". Somewhere along the way, we lost our ability to have identity or importance.

Based upon a society that can't do anything without it's "roads", we have developed the idea that we are "someone" if we drive a vehicle that is approximately the size of Montana. Our personalities are no longer defined by the in-born talents we have, or the interests we have in certain subjects.

No, now we are defined by the size of our car, and the bigger it is, the more important we are. Now, we have the legal right to "blow" other people off the road, we have the right to get two inches off the ass of another just to prove that we are "someone"; that we are better than those who drive smaller vehicles. Well, these are only a couple of observations from my own perspective.

I have the task of driving to my job every day Monday thru Friday. And every time I get behind the wheel, I keep wishing that there was some better way of life. Every time I back out of my driveway, I start to wonder who it is that is going to "blow" me off the road. It has almost become an anxiety with me. Why the hell would I even want to drive to the neighborhood supermarket, when I know I will be tailgated about 5 to 10 times on the trip there?

The supermarket, by the way, is about 1 mile from my home. I am honked at for driving at the posted speed limit, people will put their bright lights on me from behind if I am driving at the posted speed limit. Some people will finally go around but in my own lane, as if I have had no right whatsoever to be out in a vehicle. Some people have almost caused me to rear-end them, because they go from directly behind me to directly in front of me just to make a right-hand turn. (That's without signals of course).

In Ohio, it's against the law to use the turn signal that is installed on every vehicle. I have considered riding the bus to my job, but there is no bus that comes even remotely close to where I work. The timing studies showed that it would take me two hours to get to my job, and two hours to get back home every day if I used public transport. I don't think there is an answer. I think the aggressive driving will get worse and worse over time. I think that it will become commonplace to have a firearm in our vehicles just to stay alive as a result of the anger of some drivers. I live in kind of a small city, and the driving behaviour here is unbelievable.

But this is a speck of a community compared to other major cities, I can't even imagine what it is like to be out on those roads. I guess I would rather be put to death than to have to live in a big city where the aggressive driving is even worse that what I experience now. Bye, from someone who is fed up

April 30,1999

Hey, fed up--thanks for writing. I note that you are unusually sensitive and intelligent in your driving, very observant, and having respect for regulations. You are the type of driver that has the potential of reaching excellence--like me, that's why I became Dr. Driving.

I think I can help you, if you're willing to listen, without holding me liable if it doesn't work or whatever. Get a portable tape recorder and leave it on the seat next to you recording as you drive. Don't pay attention to it, just turn it on when you get into the car and turn it off when you get there. Throughout the trip talk your thoughts out loud. Just speak out loud what's in your mind.

After a few trials, you'll be albe to talk loud enough so it would make a decent recording to listen to. When you feel calm and rested, listen to the tape with your Driving Diary open and make notes from time to time, stopping the tape recorder while you write. That's it. Please write again after you tried it two or three times.

Take care.

Dr. Leon James

(DrDriving)

Tue, 4 May 1999

I will soon be moving to Texas. I've tried to look up the age one can receive their license. Do you know where I can find this information?