Frank C. Ely
Surviving Today's Roads is a no-nonsense treatise on a timely subject. It aims to teach drivers how to improve individual driving habits and show them how to avoid confrontations with other drivers. The book offers a fresh approach to driving, using the positive meaning of aggressive behavior -- assertiveness. Millions take to the roads every day. The annual highway death rate is about 42,000 (1996 statistic.) If you are seeking practical help in surviving the current chaos on today's roads, these tried, true and tested practices will help you elevate the quality of your driving by generating a major change in attitude and techniques. In short, the book will enable you to steer clear of 'road rage' situations and other types of threatening scenarios.
Frank C. Ely is a retired Science Instructor. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Education degree from Cornell University. He has driven for fifty-two years over a distance of 680,000 miles without a chargeable traffic accident.
Chapter Four
Effective Driving
In order to survive on today's roads, there are, essentially, two requirements: One, drive in such a manner that you create no problems for yourself or other drivers. Two, develop techniques which will effectively handle poor driving from others.
This chapter will attempt to bring before the reader proper attitude, knowledge, and techniques which will, if put into practice, meet the above requirements.
COMMUNICATION WITH OTHER DRIVERS
If we had the road to ourselves, there would be no collisions with other vehicles - head-on, rear end, or side-swipe. In short, the risk of getting into trouble would be greatly reduced. Of course, that is a dream. Circumstances have us all on the road interacting with complete strangers. How we relate to one another as drivers becomes a key element in whether or not we will be able to cope with today's highway scenario.
Get behind the wheel, drive down the road, and you will be communicating with all drivers in sight, and they will be communicating with you. Any driver worth his or her salt will quickly size up the situation and will judge the quality of other drivers in his or her vicinity. Sometimes the judgment is positive - sometimes negative. If the feeling is positive, this means that drivers are getting along well with one another. Congeniality exists, and people are not threatening one another.
If the feeling is negative, drivers are not getting along well with one another, and those with a tendency to do so will most likely act aggressively, with hostility, creating dangerous traffic conditions. In order to handle today's driving successfully we all must be totally aware of our situation with regard to how our driving is interacting with all of the other drivers out there with us.
We will discuss typical situations frequently encountered and how to react to those situations:
