Evidence reveals that emotional states have major impact on different thought process that are crucial elements of situation awareness. Research from driving studies reveal that situation awareness by the driver is very important for road safety and performance. Generally, people lack awareness of their emotions, even when they believe they have knowledge of them. The emotional state of a person can influence immensely on their behaviors and cognitive processes if they lack awareness of the probable impacts of that emotional situation. Powerful emotional effects particularly anger have adverse impact on the driving performance in association with situation awareness. Evidence reveals that angry participants had poor driving performance because they displayed more errors compared to the neutral participants in various types of errors. From this study, the findings indicated that particular effects of anger on driving included more breaches on traffic rules, more lane deviations, and over speeding (Jeon, Walker & Gable, 2014). This paper discusses how emotions such as anger affects driving during traffics in San Diego.
Increase of Traffics in San Diego in the Past Year
Over the past year, San Diego has experienced worsening traffic congestion. It is gradually becoming bad traffic just like that in Los Angeles. It is the second most popular county in California after Los Angeles. Over 3.3 million people live in San Diego and the population continues to grow significantly. San Diego is the top most travelled destination in America, which explains why there is a significant rise of traffic congestion as well as car collisions (Stipp Law Firm, 2019).
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Additionally, traffic Congestion has been facilitated by low gas price and more people employed who commute from time to time going to work and going home after work. Additionally, traffic congestion in San Diego has been contributed to by economic boom. San Diego is growing from a relatively small city to a much larger city, which contributes to increasing traffic jams. The increasing rush hour slog is not getting better anytime soon according to the regional planning experts. Travel routes are on high demand in the county such that traffic jams will be part of the American way of life in the near future (Smith, 2017). Therefore, increasing population and jobs has resulted in increased demand for transportation, which has led to high presence of vehicles on the roads and worsening traffic jams.
According to Ongi (2018), the study by INRIX conducted in 2017 reveal that Americans spent one hour per week in traffic during commuting time at rush hours. The findings reveal that America is recognized as the most congested nations among developed countries across the globe. Drivers or commuters spend averagely 41 hours annually in traffic during rush hour. Being stuck in traffic jams costs drivers approximately $305 billion in the past year, which accounts to $ 1,445 on every individual driver. Therefore, San Diego has been listed as the worst cities in the world in terms of traffic jam especially during peak hours.
The high number of vehicles at peak hours in San Diego County will always lead to car crashes. The increase in car crashes are outstanding considering the reports provided by the California Office of Traffic Safety that in 2013, more than 5,200 victims of car crashes were either killed or injured in San Diego. In 2014, reports indicate that more than 8,600 people were injured or killed in car accidents within one year only ( Stipp Law Firm, 2019).
Ways Emotion can be a Factor in Creating Accidents during Traffic Hours
High-anger driver who yell behind the steering wheel when provoked while driving on the road may pose risk of danger to their lives and that of other people. High-anger drivers have risk-taking characteristics and aggressiveness, which make the roads unsafe. Angry drivers will tend to pay less attention on safe driving and may not reconsider anger-provoking incidences in ways that are less destructive. The characteristics of high-anger drivers include; they tend to engage in more risky behaviors on the road such as switching lanes rapidly. In addition, they are more likely to take part in hostile, aggressive thinking such as having more retaliatory and vengeful thoughts regarding other drivers on the roads. In some cases, they may even plot ways of harming them physically. Furthermore, angry drivers may have traits of impulsiveness and anxiety, which may be triggered by home or work stress. They get angry faster and exhibit more aggressive behaviors such as, honking in anger, yelling at the driver, and name-calling. Moreover, angry drivers end to have more accidents. Evidence reveals that high-anger drivers experience twice many car accidents than low-anger drivers. These accidents may range from off road crush to collision with another vehicle. Evidence by the AAA Foundations for Traffic Safety revealed in 1990-1996, anger emotions on the road resulted in 12,610 injuries and 218 deaths. Moreover, evidence reveals that incidences of road rage increased to about 75 annually within these years ( Dittmann, 2005).
Aggressive driving has the potential to be deadly. According to the study carried out by the American Automobile Association, findings revealed that aggressive driving led to 56% fatal traffic accidents between 2003 and 2007. Speeding was found to be the primary factor of fatal accidents among angry drivers. Aggressive driving may involve speeding, cutting off a driver after passing, tailgating, verbal insults or obscene gestures, changing lanes without signaling, weaving in and out of traffic, and running a red stop sign or red light. Emotions such as stress and anxiety can contribute to feelings of hostility and anger when a driver is disrupted from achieving their goal. For example, if a driver is late but due to traffic congestion during rush hours, a driver can be angry with other drivers and roadblocks because he/she will not be where he/she needs to be at a particular time. Traffic congestion is among the many key examples of how anxiety may result in anger and frustration ( Sreenivasan& Weinberger, 2017).
Illustrating the negative point while driving when being distracted
Driving while being distracted is very dangerous to road safety. Examples of distractions include checking on the brake, being absorbed in the conversation with passengers, failure to make use of turn signals, applying makeup, drinking and driving, and texting or talking on their cell phone while driving ( Sreenivasan& Weinberger, 2017).
According to Knapton (2016), reaching for an item while driving increases the risk of an accident by nine times. For instance, picking up a mobile phone and dialing a number increases the risk of car crash by more than 12 times. In fact, evidence found that talking on the phone was no longer distracting for drivers compared to fiddling with the air conditioning or radio. The most risk factor for an accident was found to be consumption of drugs or drinks while driving, which increases the chance of a car crash by over 35 times. Moreover, browsing online or texting was found to be a big problem, increasing risk of an accident by six times. The need to want to stay connected is projected to have the potential to raise distraction-related crashes in the future. Therefore, these activities are diverts the drivers attention from focusing on the road, which could lead to fatal road accidents such as knocking over pedestrian or colliding with other vehicles.
Stipp Law Firm (2019), points out that 30% of the crashes occurring in San Diego could be prevented if all the diversions were removed from vehicles. A poll by AA recently found that 38% of drivers confirm that they do experience distractions while driving, and this poses significant danger on the road safety.
The Psychological Reactions of Drivers during Rush Hours in San Diego
With the high number of vehicles in San Diego and the high rate of accidents occurrence, it can be concluded that most drivers in the county are high-anger drivers. The assumptions of the psychological reactions of drivers at peak hours in San Diego could involve aggressive behavior such as yelling at other drivers to the point of wanting to involve in physical fights, which may lead to body injuries of one party or both. This kind of behavior may explain the high number of injuries on the roads in San Diego at peak hours. Additionally, other psychological reactions may involve experiencing feelings of anger, anxiety, and sadness due to drivers spending more time on traffic jam. According to Knapton (2016), driving while angry, sad, or anxious is more likely to lead to a crash than using a phone or being fatigued while driving. Research reveal that a healthy emotional state is very crucial for safe driving. Having feelings of agitation, anger, and sadness while driving increases the risk of accident occurrence by about ten times more.
Conclusion
It is evident that the different types of psychological reactions of drivers on the roads have a huge impact on the performance of a drivers and road safety. More road errors and car accidents have been attributed to emotional states of drivers such as anger, anxiety, feelings of sadness, and having vengeful thoughts. These are traits of high-anger drivers, who pose significant risks on the road safety and performance. Such traits explains the high number of accidents occurring on the roads of San Diego country. The negative emotional states have been attributed to the high traffic congestion during peak hours in San Diego that triggers these emotions. Therefore, having a healthy state of emotion is important in ensuring road safety and performance.
References
Dittmann, M. (2005). Anger on the road. American Physiological Association , (36), 7. Retrieved from: https://www.apa.org/monitor/jun05/anger
Jeon, M., Walker, B. N., & Gable, T. M. (2014). Anger effects on driver situation awareness and driving performance. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments , 23 (1), 71-89.
Knapton, S. (2016). Which emotion raises the risk of a car crash by nearly 10 times? The Telegraph. Retrieved from: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/12168472/Which-emotion-raises-the-risk-of-a-car-crash-by-nearly-10-times.html
Ongi, J. (2018, February). Study shows San Diego traffic is among the world's worst. News San Diego . Retrieved from: https://www.10news.com/news/study-shows-san-diego-traffic-is-among-the-worlds-worst
Smith, J.E. (2017, 25 November). As economy booms, San Diego's traffic congestion worsens. Los Angeles Times . Retrieved from: https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-san-diego-traffic-20171125-story.html
Sreenivasan, S & Weinberger, L.E. (2017). Driving While Angry: Things to think about to avoid being a victim or perpetrator. Psychology Today . Retrieved from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/emotional-nourishment/201705/driving-while-angry
Stipp Law Firm. (2019). Why is Traffic Increasing in San Diego. Retrieved from: https://www.sd-personalinjury.com/increased-traffic-resulting-car-crashes-san-diego-california/
