Many of those who sit behind the wheel, it is simply impossible to quote further. As if some kind of dark mechanisms are included in us along with the turn of the key in the ignition. Where does this madness of emotions and actions come from?
Recently, I was visiting friends, having arrived without a car — we agreed that their daughter would then give me a ride home. Frankly, I was a little worried about the driving skills of a 19-year-old young lady. As it turned out, in vain: she drives very decently. But it does not express itself very well. It’s not that I haven’t heard anything like this before — I heard it, but mostly from the lips of junior sergeants and corporals while serving in the army, and not from a sophomore at Moscow State University. The girl herself was very worried, obviously trying to restrain herself, and in parting she asked me not to tell my parents everything. I promised, but shared with my wife. She looked at me ironically and grunted: “Have you ever heard yourself while driving?”
Road to infancy
According to sociologists, 47% of Russian drivers consider the extremely low level of culture of road users* to be the main problem on the roads. At the same time, the very presence of a car seems to imply a certain level of education or qualifications that are simply necessary in order to earn money on it. So what happens to our education, upbringing and culture when we get behind the wheel?
In English, there is the concept of «road rage». It can be translated into Russian roughly as «aggressive behavior on the road.» But it will be too clumsy and neutral. Road rage is anger, rage, intolerance, which literally overwhelm many drivers. And these feelings are as familiar to us as they are to the British and Americans.
THE MACHINE GIVES THE ILLUSION OF A PROTECTED AND ONLY OUR SPACE. DOES THIS MEAN THE OTHER IS ONLY A HINDER FOR US?
It is curious that this ferocious beast wakes up in us not just in the car, but behind the wheel. Agree, in the passenger seat, few people think of scolding gaping pedestrians or “playing tags” drivers with the last words. Apparently, aggression comes along with the understanding that we are in control of the situation.
This is absolutely true, says psychologist Leon James, who has spent many years studying the behavior of aggressive drivers. After all, when we take the wheel, the car, in fact, becomes an extension of ourselves. “It allows us to exercise direct control over the world around us,” explains the psychologist. “The machine is powerful and obedient, it instantly responds to our orders, and this gives rise to the pleasure associated with a sense of power” **.
But psychoanalysis tirelessly reminds us that the desire for an infantile feeling of omnipotence lives in each of us. And behind the wheel we are very close to him. Is it any wonder that any obstacles on the way to its achievement cause a storm of anger in us? The insolent man who squeezed into the turning lane in front of us, the red light flashing at the wrong time, the truck barely crawling in front of us ruthlessly return us to reality from the world of sweet illusion, in which everything is subject to us.
Protection illusion
Leon James notes another reason for unpleasant changes behind the wheel: “Even people who are very reserved in everyday life can become irritable when driving. This is largely due to the peculiar effect of anonymity: we do not know who is driving the other car, and we tend to attribute the most negative traits to these unknown drivers, criticizing them harshly (although this criticism does not reach their ears). It is unlikely that we will unleash the same anger on a person who accidentally hits us with his shoulder in the subway or on the street. At least, without making sure at first that we are not dealing with a gloomy big man. The machine removes this restraining barrier. It creates the illusion of a protected and undivided space that belongs only to us.
The metal body serves as armor (whose reliability, alas, we all tend to overestimate). And the comfortable interior sets you in a blissful and carefree mood: comfortably adjustable seats, head restraints and a steering column, a radio tape recorder with excellent sound quality and a large screen, and recently even the ability to access the Internet right from behind the wheel — all this dulls our vigilance. “In a sense,” the psychologist adds, “this feeling of comfort and safety makes the car related to the mother’s womb, further strengthening our craving for infantile omnipotence.”
Both word and deed
The habit of swearing while driving does not paint any of us, to put it mildly. However, this is by no means the worst manifestation of that same road rage. It is much more dangerous when aggression is embodied not in words, but in deeds. And in terms of aggressive driving, we can easily argue with the reckless drivers from Turkey or Egypt. The craving for complete control, and the illusion of protection, and vigilance blunted by comfort can manifest itself not only in the flow of curses, but also in the gas pedal pressed to the floor. There are other reasons for recklessness behind the wheel.
Aggressive driving may be an unconscious ploy to protect oneself from constant existential anxiety, says psychologist Jean-Pascal Assailly, a researcher at France’s National Institute for the Study of Transport and Security. “Clear danger is better than ‘intangible’ stress, the causes of which are not clear to us,” he explains. — A similar replacement, by the way, also occurs with phobias, when an anxiety incomprehensible to a person is embodied in the fear of spiders or closed spaces. He himself creates for himself a convincing reason for horror: that which torments from the inside takes on a name and appearance. Thus, everyday stress is quite capable of turning a quiet office clerk, whom no one will suspect of aggression, into a real monster on the road.
Finally, our desire for thrills also has a physiological basis: in a situation of danger, the brain releases a special substance dopamine, which causes a feeling of little comparable excitement and pleasure.
In a word, we have enough reasons for aggressive behavior behind the wheel. Is it possible, in spite of all these reasons, to subdue the “road beast” in oneself?
The art of staying alive
If desired, yes, psychologist Ernest Light answers. In the past, our compatriot, he has been working in Canada for many years. In this country, many insurance programs provide a course of psychotherapy for participants in an accident. That is what he is doing. “When I got my driver’s license in San Francisco in 1991, I had to pass a traffic test,” says the psychotherapist. — Among all the questions, I remember one that I simply could not imagine in the USSR. It sounded like this: «Safe driving is …» And the answer options: a) compliance with traffic rules; b) taking into account the traffic situation and choosing the right distance; c) the art of staying alive. Option «c» was dropped immediately as irrelevant, and I chose, it seems, «a». I then passed the test, but among several errors was the answer to this question. It was right: “Safe driving is the art of staying alive.” And my long experience of working with people who have been in car accidents constantly confirms the wisdom of this answer.
* The survey «Road safety through the eyes of its participants, traffic police officers and society» is available on the VTsIOM website wciom.ru.
** L. James and D. Nahl «Road Rage and Aggressive Driving» (Prometheus Books, 2000).
*** J.-P. Assailly “Mortality among young people” (PUF, 2001).