Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warfare [Paperback]

Leon James (Author), Diane Nahl (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2000

Do you drive with stress and frustration? Do you frequently complain about other drivers or get involved in hostile interactions with other motorists? Are you afraid for your teenage drivers in this climate of highway warfare? We are in the midst of an escalating epidemic of aggressive driving, which eats up 250 billion dollars a year in economic cost and causes the misery associated with 6 million injuries every year. Now the government has declared war on road rage with tough new laws that can land people in jail for behaviours they are used to doing every day.Traffic psychology educators Dr Leon James and Dr Diane Nahl trace the aggressive driving problem to its roots in childhood when child passengers imbibe their parents' aggressiveness towards other motorists and their cynicism towards regulations and the law. By the time teenagers begin to drive they have been exposed to years of media portrayals of the fun and excitement of aggressive driving with no serious consequences. The authors argue that road rage and aggressive driving are common traffic emotions experienced by the vast majority of drivers.This authoritative book - the first to synthesise the subject of aggressive driving-presents conclusions of recent studies, highlights citizen activism, and summarises legislative and police initiatives. Besides vivid anecdotal evidence and personal stories of typical road rage incidents that we have all experienced, James and Nahl present self-tests that readers can use to estimate their own road rage tendency, and they prescribe activities to help every driver learn self-improvement and self-awareness skills behind the wheel. The authors outline their innovative three-step program to help people transform themselves from aggressive to supportive drivers. This book redefines driver education for all drivers, including commercial drivers and truckers. Our traffic emotions need to be trained, the authors stress, and they provide the explanations and activities needed to strengthen critical thinking about road events.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...the definitive book on the aggressive driving epidemic..." -- Palo Alto Daily News, November 4, 2000

About the Author

Leon James, Ph.D., and Diane Nahl, Ph.D., founders of "driving psychology" and professors at the University of Hawaii, are the nation's foremost authorities on road rage and aggressive driving. They are coauthors of the ROADRAGEOUS aggressive driving video course used in driving instruction, and maintain the DrDriving.org web site, providing information to drivers of all ages.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 298 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573928461
• ISBN-13: 978-1573928465
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,179,667 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #71 in Books > Professional & Technical > Automotive > Driver's Education

More About the Author

Leon James was born in 1938 in Rumania under the name of Leon "Licu" "James" Jakobovits. He went to school in Belgium and college in Montreal, Canada. He obtained a Ph.D. in Psychology at McGill University in 1962. He taught at Laval University in Quebec, University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, and at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu where he is currently Professor of Psychology. He specializes in driving psychology and maintains a Web site at DrDriving.org In 1981 he came across the Writings of Swedenborg and after years of study he developed a modern version of Swedenborg's psychology which he calls theistic psychology. His books and articles on this topic are posted on the Web at TheisticPsychology.org He can be reached by email at [e-mail]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book saved our family, December 1, 2000

By 

Leon James (Hawaii) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warfare (Paperback)

Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2000 From:[e-mail] To: [e-mail] Subject: Thank you for your Book Dear Dr. James-

I had to write and tell you how incredible your book is. After having written to you about a month ago and getting your supportive and helpful replies, I ordered your book through Amzon com. I found it extremely useful and chock full of practical suggestions. It has not only helped me as a spouse of rageful driving husband, but he agreed to read it!! His agreement followed your recommendation of asking all the family members to write him a letter of what his problem has cost us emotionally. My son of 26 choose to tell him directly rather than write, but the talk was also very effective.

We are also utilizing your idea in contracting before riding together, and he is using the more of "the supportive" driver techniques (rather than being oppositional and so arrogant).( Progress not perfection!!) We both have a long road ahead of us- no pun intended- but your help was a phenonmenal series of tools to aide in ameliorating this life threatening problem. I have to add that I myself am a licensed psychologist in private practice in Ohio and I am now recommending your book in recurrent cases where wives (usually) complain of this concern.

Again, my massive thanks for a fantastic and much needed book.-

Marilyn - Ohio

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Road rage (or the caveman inside), November 7, 2007

By 

rickzz "rickzz" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warfare (Paperback)

The authors of this book are regarded as experts on the subject- they also set up a website on driving, which is widely cited by the media.

Overall, this book is well worth reading. It's divided into 3 parts: part I describes the problem of road rage and cites some horrific incidents; part II is a "self-help" manual for reducing driving stress and improving one's "emotional intelligence"; section III consists of misc. topics and is a bit dated since this book was published in 2000. Each chapter cites a variety of references and academic studies; however, because of this, the writing and organization are a bit jumbled.

I'm fascinated by road rage because it's amazing how people with no criminal background can commit extreme violence with so little provocation....driving literally taps into the cavemen inside us all. Basically, reducing road rage is about emphatizing with other drivers (letting other drivers into your lane which is what you'd want in their place; or slowing down when someone makes a right-turn, which is again what you'd want in their place). It's also about becoming less competitive- realizing how futile it is. The final step is to NOT respond with insane fury when someone provokes you without cause (like giving you the finger)....in "Mean Genes" (2000), I read that evolutionary psychologists believe we retaliate so instantly and without thinking because we evolved in small communities where it was important to maintain one's reputation because we would encounter the same people time and time again- in the case of driving today, the chances of encountering the same driver again are near-zero, so we should just let it go...easier said then done. (Also, there's a BIG difference between retaliating with a fist fight and while moving in a hunk of steel at 70mph!)

One thing the authors get wrong is when they insist road rage is learned behavior (esp due to parental influence) vs. biology. Well, in that case (for biblical fundamentalists), Adam and Eve must have been abusive parents- how else could the cycle of violence have begun?

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable reading for anger management studies., January 4, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warfare (Paperback)

What are the symptoms of road rage and how can aggressive driving patterns and encounters be halted? In Road Rage and Aggressive Driving, the authors trace these problems to childhood roots and attitudes toward the law: they argue that road rage is experienced by most drivers, and tell how to use self-tests to estimate personal road rage tendencies. A three-step program to transform drivers from aggressive to supportive drivers is included.