Car Safety1. The focal point of the project: Road

Car Safety
   Well, good afternoon. In today’s session I will be sharing some of the findings of my project from last term. I had been interested and horrified by several newspaper reports on what people call "road rage". For example the famous incident of a man getting out of his car in a car park and hitting the driver of a van who had overtaken him earlier. So I decided to make this the focus of the project.
   For our research we depended mainly on talking to individuals, asking them questions rather than using written questionnaires. Well, we found 93% of respondents had had some kind of problem. A surprisingly large percentage—24% had their car damaged in some way, but the main type of incident was being shouted at—79% had experienced that. The police tended only to be informed when there was physical violence involved.
   So what strategies had people developed to ensure their own safety? We found that both sexes made the point that it’s much safer to get keys out well in advance as you go towards your car. Men were very aware that muggers or whatever might be concealed behind the car. They also made the point that you should leave plenty of room when you park your car so you can make a quick getaway if you need to. Finally, locking doors at all times.
   Besides self-protection skills, when road rage does happen at the very moment, something needs to be done. Maryland, like many other states, is working on the problem by stepping up efforts to crack down on aggressive drivers. Hefty fines for dangerous drivers and speeders are on the front line against road rage. California is approaching the problem with technology. A new automated system being installed by the state automatically takes photographs of the license plates of vehicles that run red lights. It even captures accident scenes for police review. A key factor in reversing the process is an apology. A road rager can become upset because you accidentally cut in front of him or her, or for other reasons that were not intentional. Over 85% of road ragers said that they would drop the matter if the other "careless" driver simply apologized. Instead, road ragers claim, the "careless" driver seems to be unconcerned about what they just did and, therefore, needs to be taught a lesson. In a car, only one method is effective in conveying an apology: A sign. We have found that it is very effective in warding off anger. In fact, many drivers actually smile when we raise a "SORRY" sign to them after we have accidentally done something wrong. We keep a "SORRY" sign in the map holder on the driver’s door and the passenger’s door. It could also be kept under the sun visor if it is fastened with a clip or rubber band so that it doesn’t hit you in the face when the visor comes down.
   To sum up, I have described the phenomenon of road rage, explained the findings of the survey, and presented the strategies to ensure safety and self-protection skills. That’s it for today.