Understanding The Psychology of Driving
Caeva O'Callaghan | July 13th, 2015
When you have been behind the wheels you must have often said to yourself;” Its fun being reckless. It is alright to do anything on the road as long as I am out of trouble. Who cares about exceeding the speed limit. Speed is true excitement” A significant section of male drivers will agree to have raced a car on a public road leading to fatalities as indicated in the graph above. Clearly, our attitude to the world around influences our driving to a large extent. It is our perceptions about ourselves and the external authority which effect our driving. At times few of us may feel that the speeding limits are too restrictive spoiling the fun of fast driving. But on the contrary, these limits have been imposed to ensure our safety on the roads which few of us realize.
A motorist’s psychology
Drivers can be categorized into two categories; the reptilian drivers and the cortical drivers. When a motorist tries to merge into a lane, a cortical driver may get annoyed but tell himself that there is nothing he can do about it. On the other hand a reptilian driver will drive aggressively with the thought that he needs to get ahead of the motorist.
However, this quote sums up the true essence of being behind the wheels for all drivers, “The fights with his machine often lead a motorist to bitter anger and sorrow. But the good side is that this creates precious qualities like patience, skill, inventiveness and courage. Our motorist will therefore accept all adversities of the road without despair but with laughter: for the automobile bestows strength of will.”
Essential figures and facts
A study undertaken by a psychologist reveals that males below 25 have reported of breaking the 60km speed limit for more than 10 kilometers. Some have reported of breaking the 120km speed limit and overtaking a car when it has been maintaining the right speed for a particular condition. In real life if you have been driving for a while you will be able to relate to incidents when you have witnessed obscenities flying from the driver’s mouth or a level headed woman suddenly turning into a road warrior much to your disbelief. Situations such as these can be classified under road rage which can worsen your experience while driving.
To tackle road rage avoid eye contact with the other driver and try to move away as soon as you can . To meet the challenges of driving, it is essential that you develop your cognitive skills. At the same time, by making the endeavor to hone your driving skills and practicing defensive driving you can ensure greater safety on the road. Predictably, this insight into the psychology of driving will help you to drive better.