Driving Personality Makeovers
Stella Yeo
INSTRUCTIONS FOR REPORT 2
Introduction
This course, PSY 409(a) is dedicated to the study of driving psychology. The course instructor is Dr. Leon James, a world-renowned expert and pioneer on the subject. Our class meets once a week in a classroom, where we conduct several debates about the various topics in our readings, and reconvenes in a computer lab, where we study driving psychology by driving in the virtual world of SecondLife. In
SecondLife, we navigate through the virtual world using a personalized avatar.
Goods (i.e. cars, clothing, tools, etc…) may be acquired in SecondLife for free at specific sites or purchased using ‘Linden Bucks.’ Purchase of goods was not a requirement, and all of the items needed to uninhibitedly complete all assignments were easily acquired for free. This course required us to write 2 major papers: the first was about driving in the virtual world, and the second was about applying what we had learned over the semester into our own, ‘driving makeover.’
Part A: Driving Personality Makeovers on the Web
What does a ‘Driving Personality Makeover’ consist of?
An internet search for ‘Driving Personality Makeover’ produced a staggering amount of ‘hits.’ In this class, we were provided with a list of interesting prior generation reports to refer to and assess. Several of these reports were very

interesting and suggested that, even back then, ‘aggressive driving’ was a common problem for students. Many of these students went about fixing their ‘bad driving habits’ by following the ‘Driver Self-Improvement Program’ detailed by Dr. James and Dr. Nahl (2000) in Chapter Six of their book. A prior generation student of the course, Glenn Wada , had an interesting example of a ‘driving makeover’. He explained that he lived very close to his work. He worked two to three times a week and stated that he took twenty minutes to get to work on time. Because he is a procrastinator, he also confessed that often felt stressed out while driving on the road because of time constraints. The conclusion of his ‘makeover’ was that he drove aggressively when he was late, and by leaving earlier, he would foster better driving habits. Another interesting case of ‘aggressive driving’ was presented in a report done by Hiroko Kikuchi . In her report, she stated that while driving, she often behaved as if she was the ‘queen of the road.’ Interestingly, she felt she was a
“passive” driver, and described her driving personality as, “shy, passive and calm.”
Over the course of her ‘Driving Personality Makeover’ assessment, she realized that her driving habits were aggressive, and began to apply the same modification techniques used in my own ‘driving makeover.’ At the conclusion of her report, she questioned the system of ‘drivers education’ in the US and suggested the implementation of a ‘lifelong drivers education’ course. I found myself relating to
Hiroko on many levels. I found many similarities between her ‘driving personality’ and my own; her report relieved much of the anxiety and guilt I felt about my own bad driving habits.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY of web reports on DRIVING PERSONALITY MAKEOVERS:
Kikuchi, H. My Driving Personality Makeover Project http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409as2004/kikuchi/report%202.htm
The author was an exchange student from Japan. To complete a driver personality makeover, she first had to assess her driving personality itself.
She was surprised to find that contrary to her belief, she was a fairly aggressive and ‘selfish’ driver on the road. She began to apply the ‘Three
Step Driver Self-Improvement Program” to her driving and recorded the recurrence of specific driving behaviors and thoughts while on the road. By the end of her ‘makeover’ she had found that problematic behaviors while driving had become more infrequent, and that continued education—on both
Wada, G. My Driving Personality Makeover Project http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409as2004/wada/report%202.htm
a personal and institutional level—was needed.
The author, Glenn Wada, proposed to ‘makeover’ his aggressive driving tendencies through a ‘Three Step Driver Self-Improvement Program.” After completing an initial assessment of his ‘driving personality’ he found that he was an aggressive driver. He found that driving with time constraints made him prone to stress and aggression. His ‘makeover’ was conducted during ten of these 20-minute long commutes to work. Since the author’s girlfriend

also worked with him, she provided additional passenger feedback. The resulting data found that an increase in time constraint and stress correlated with an increase in aggressive driving behavior.
Why do we need ‘Driving Personality Makeovers?’
In Dr. James’ book, Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of
Highway Warfare (2000), he and co-author Dr. Diane Nahl tackle the common—yet, sadly understudied—issue of ‘Road Rage.’ Although the media coined the specific term, ‘Road Rage’, there remains no specific definition for this phenomenon. Dr.
James and Nahl (2000) found that, ‘road rage’ is often used by people to refer to
“…an extreme state of anger that often precipitates aggressive behavior, sometimes restricted to words and gestures, sometimes as assault and battery” (James & Nahl
2000, p. 22). They explain that the need for a ‘Driving Personality Makeover’ logically stems from the need to correct aggressive driving. Aggressive drivers
impose their will on others; it is a deadly habit, killing two to four times more people than drunk drivers, and costing society approximately $250 billion dollars annually
(James & Nahl, 2000, p. 23, 25). These alarming numbers substantiate the value of a
‘Driving Personality Makeover’ for all drivers.
What is a ‘Driving Personality Makeover?’
Following an assessment that may be either self- or passenger-conducted, Dr.
James guidelines the three successive steps composing a ‘Driver Self-Improvement
Program’ on his website, drdriving.org
as:

1) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
2) WITNESSING
3) MODIFICATION
Acknowledge:
The first step in the ‘Three Step Driver Self-Improvement Program’ is to acknowledge and understand that we, as drivers, have road rage. Only after first recognizing our bad habits, can we begin to change them. Similar to other programs to stop problem-behavior, the first step is acceptance. After completing a driver self- or passenger-assessment, the first step is to acknowledge our bad habits in three critical ways: emotions, thoughts, and
overt actions. Only by recognizing each vista of our ‘three-fold self’ can we truly understand the processes involved while we are driving.
Witness:
Once these negative behaviors, attitudes and thoughts have been acknowledged, the next step is to systematically self-witness these behaviors in order to achieve self-directed change. A degree of specificity is needed regarding what we witness in order to track improvements or decline. In order to systematically self-witness our driving habits, the behavior we wish to modify should be observable and measureable quantitatively rather than qualitatively. This self-witnessing should be done on all levels of the ‘threefold self.’ In order to measure our habits, we may use vehicle gauges (i.e.

speedometer), visible acts (i.e. fail to make a complete stop, or posture and facial expressions while driving), or negative comments while driving (i.e. frequency of profanity usage). In addition, a small tape recorder may be used
Modify to keep a verbal record of thoughts and emotions while driving.