{"id":2434,"date":"2011-12-01T16:40:12","date_gmt":"2011-12-01T16:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shaundejager.com\/?p=2434"},"modified":"2012-12-11T16:44:13","modified_gmt":"2012-12-11T16:44:13","slug":"three-states-of-mind-for-drivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shaundejager.com\/road-safety\/three-states-of-mind-for-drivers\/","title":{"rendered":"Three States of Mind for Drivers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"State<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

As a former race car driver, advanced driving instructor and Founder of RoadAwareness.org, I constantly advocate that people take additional courses to learn how to improve their skills. Without a doubt they can be a lifesaver. I\u2019ve often said that the greatest problem on our roads is a lack of skill and situational awareness, although our behaviour is a huge factor too. Even if everyone had the skills of professional race car drivers, collisions would still occur if our state of mind were a problem. In my teachings, I make a point to teach drivers such essentials like situational awareness, forward thinking and the techniques of smooth, precise driving. But no matter how good you are as a skilled driver, our state of mind will always play a factor. A bad day at work or a fight with a significant other can change the way we drive. Ever found yourself driving more aggressively after having a fight with someone at work? Be honest now\u2026we all have. Have you ever given any thought as to how your state of mind actually affects your driving and how your driving affects other drivers around you? Probably not.<\/p>\n

There are \u201cThree States of Mind\u201d exhibited on our roads, which is a concept which seems to be lost upon most drivers but every driver falls into at least one of the following psychological states of mind.<\/p>\n

Child State<\/strong>
\nWe see this one all the time. The \u201cChild\u201d drivers are the ones that speed along excessively, weaving in and out of traffic, seemingly without a care in the world or any consideration for other motorists. They are the ones seen cutting people off, tailgating and generally putting everyone (including themselves) at risk of a collision. They believe that the road is theirs and theirs alone and are frustrated that you are in their way. Or worse\u2026think the road is their personal racetrack. If you will forgive the generalization, they are usually younger males who think they are invincible and that they have the skills to perform risky manoeuvres time and time again without any consideration for those around them. They have no sense of personal responsibility for the task of driving a vehicle and are generally want-to-be racers, driving supped up cars or super sport motorcycles. However the only proper place to race is on a racetrack, which is also a foreign concept to \u201cchild\u201d like motorists.<\/p>\n

Parent State<\/strong>
\nWe see this one a lot too. The \u201cParents\u201d are the ones that for whatever reason think that it\u2019s their job to teach other drivers a lesson of some sort. When someone cuts them off, they will tailgate or worse pass them and cut the \u201coffending\u201d driver off too in an attempt to teach them a lesson. They are also the ones seen \u201cclosing the door\u201d on drivers who are attempting to merge into their lane but wait for the last moment to do so, refusing to let them in. \u201cOh no you don\u2019t! You waited too long\u2026I\u2019m not letting you in now\u201d. For whatever reason, they feel that they need to enforce their own ideas of the rules of the road. This type of behaviour can be just as dangerous (if not more so) as the \u201cChild\u201d state. When they see a driver behaving dangerously, they tend to add to an already dangerous situation in their attempt to teach others a lesson. This often escalates into road rage, which can in turn become very dangerous, especially when squaring off against \u201cchildren\u201d who retaliates with their own \u201cI\u2019ll show you\u201d attitude. The child becomes a parent too and now two \u201cparents\u201d are going head to head and things only get worse from there.<\/p>\n

Adult State<\/strong>
\nThe \u201cAdults\u201d are the ones that, I believe, we actually see the most, although recognize the least. They are the ones that always take a deep breath and think rationally and calmly. These are the drivers that, by their own actions, reduce the number of collisions on our roads because they don\u2019t allow dangerous situations to escalate and allow for a dangerous situation to become a safer one. They don\u2019t drive recklessly or erratically. When someone cuts them off, they ease off the throttle to open a safe distance and when someone needs to merge into their lane\u2026they let them. These are the safe, courteous drivers on our roads and the ones who should be commended for remaining calm and attentive to their surroundings. They recognize dangerous drivers and give them space and therefore avoid collisions far more often.<\/p>\n

We see examples of all three each and every day on our roads but we should all try and be \u201cadults\u201d. Skill and situational awareness are hugely important but so are our attitudes and behaviours.<\/p>\n

So next time you go for a drive or a ride on your bike, ask yourself\u2026what State of Mind are you in?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  As a former race car driver, advanced driving instructor and Founder of RoadAwareness.org, I constantly advocate that people take additional courses to learn how to improve their skills. Without a doubt they can be a lifesaver. I\u2019ve often said that the greatest problem on our roads is a lack of skill and situational awareness, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,90,7,9,1,38,5,65],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pedVzR-Dg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shaundejager.com\/road-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2434"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shaundejager.com\/road-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shaundejager.com\/road-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shaundejager.com\/road-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shaundejager.com\/road-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2434"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.shaundejager.com\/road-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2441,"href":"https:\/\/www.shaundejager.com\/road-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2434\/revisions\/2441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shaundejager.com\/road-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shaundejager.com\/road-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shaundejager.com\/road-safety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}