Posted by Fleet Safety
Attitude is the most important aspect of driving. Driving actively does not just happen, we have to choose to drive active / proactively. Simply put: if you choose to use the knowledge and skills they will work for you, if you choose not to… they won’t.
Driving In Congested Areas
Congestion is the reality of driving on today’s streets and highways. A trip that 5 years ago may have taken 15 minutes, will now take anywhere from 25 minutes to an hour, depending on traffic circumstances. Often drivers caught in congested traffic feel frustrated and can even become angry.
This type of anger may not result in aggressive behaviour directed at another individual specifically but can cause a driver to disregard courtesy and good judgment. It may cause a person to drive dangerously fast, disregard traffic rules, and take chances that they would not otherwise accept. Their risk perception may become impaired.
Managing Anger
Each of us has only a limited amount of energy to expend each day. Where we choose to spend our daily allotment will determine to a great degree how effective we are in life and in driving. An effective anger management technique is to distinguish between areas of concern and control and choose a positive and effective approach, accordingly. To help illustrate this, it is necessary to understand two terms:
Area of concern
Your area of concern includes everything in life that you have any interest in or that affects you.
Area of control
Your area of control includes everything that you can control. It is much smaller than your area of concern and much smaller than most of us realize. What do you really have total control over? In reality, you are only in control of what you do and what you think. Everyone and everything else is outside your control and you can only choose how to respond to it.
We all choose our own attitude. We can choose to act as a professional or we can choose not to. You must choose a professional attitude when you are driving. If you need more driver training or if you have trouble controlling your frustration or anger while driving, contact us today to sign up for online or in-vehicle driver improvement programs.