Obtaining a driver's license cannot be considered the end of driver training. Continued driver training in the form of guided lifelong self-improvement activities is essential for acquiring new skills. New skills are needed as driving gets more complex: - Multi-tasking; - Reading maps on screens; - Using computers; - Note taking; - Talking on phone; - Allocating adequate driving time; - Coping with hostility. The new driving norms that socio-cultural methods create will be spontaneously adopted by the current generation of children. Individualistic and competitive expectations lead drivers to be aggressive and hostile towards other road users. This aggressive frame of mind can generalize to other interactive settings such as the workplace and the family, creating higher stress and greater conflict. Similarly, the more supportive expectations can be expected to generalize to other social settings, creating less stress and conflict, and more satisfaction and calm. Thus, driving psychology is also a health-enhancing practice. The enormous driving challenge that is facing our society today can become an opportunity for strengthening the community and evolving more humane and compassionate relations. Instead of mutual antagonism, we can express mutual support. Supportive driving styles can help us make peace on our highways, streets and parking lots. We must, or else we will see an increase of hostile behavior in public places, such as parking lot rage, pedestrian rage, bicyclists rage, air rage, sports rage, neighbor rage, and so on. Let's not go that route! And yet more and more people will be tempted to slide into these dangerous forms of behavior due to social imitation and emotional contagion. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting