The Simple Six-Second Fix for Road Rage
Bad behavior on roadways is increasing during the pandemic, says EI expert Harvey Deutschendorf
EDMONTON, AB, Oct. 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2016, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety published a shocking study in which it reported that 80% of drivers admitted to committing road rage. They confessed to everything from punitive horn-honking to flipping the bird to tailgating, cutting people off and assaulting them. And now that more people are behind the wheel of automobiles under the stress of a pandemic, road rage incidents are increasingly in the news.
"With the added stress of not having a job or being able to pay the bills, or having few places to get away from it all, people are more likely to act out on the road," says emotional intelligence expert Harvey Deutschendorf. He engaged in road rage himself before figuring out how to stop doing so.
One incident happened to him last summer. "I was driving in the city just before rush hour traffic. It was a clear day and I was in the right lane on a three-lane road. All of a sudden, a driver cut in front of me, causing me to hit the brakes. Of course, I right away got angry. My first reaction was to use both my hands, one for the horn, the other, for … well you know. But I had taught myself what to do when this happens."
Deutschendorf uses this story in his TEDx talk as a teachable moment, one he hopes other motorists will take to heart. He describes how the simple act of pausing and counting to ten diffused the situation by the time he had reached six.
The strategy works, he says, because road rage is a manifestation of human beings' primitive brain which kicks in before their thinking brain takes over. It takes about six seconds for messages to reach the thinking brain.
In an interview, Deutschendorf can answer these questions:
- What other strategies could work besides counting to ten?
- How can becoming curious about why the other driver did what he did help?
- In the incident you described, what was the true cause of the driver's erratic behavior?
About Harvey Deutschendorf
Harvey Deutschendorf is an emotional intelligence expert, speaker and internationally published author of The Other Kind of Smart: Simple Ways to Boost Your Emotional Intelligence for Greater Personal Effectiveness and Success (Amacom); the book has been published in four languages. He also writes for Fast Company and HR Professionals Magazine.
Contact: Harvey Deutschendorf, (780) 757-5949; [email protected]; www.theotherkindofsmart.com
SOURCE Harvey Deutschendorf
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