A good driver will ALWAYS have an awareness to not only their own attitude before and whilst driving, but also a consideration to everyone else on the road.
It is just too easy to jump into a vehicle and drive, without giving any consideration to how our mental and physical health may affect our driving or other people driving.
Just some emotional states that could affect how we drive:-
SAD : JOYFUL : SCARED : MAD : POWERFUL : EXCITED : PLAYFUL : ANXIOUS : INSECURE : SUBMISSIVE : HELPLESS : CONFUSED :
REJECTED : CRITICAL : RAGED : ANGRY : HOSTILE : HURT : GUILTY : ASHAMED : DEPRESSED : LONLEY : BORED : SLEEPY :
THOUGHTFUL : TRUSTING : LOVING : INTIMATE : APPRECIATED : SEXY : CONFIDENT : CHEERFUL : AMUSED :
DARING : EMBARRASED : FOOLISH : INSIGNIFICANT : DISCOURAGED : BEWILDERED :
STRESSED : JEALOUS : FRUSTRATED : FURIOUS : IRRITATED :
STUPID : MISERABLE : INADEQUATE : INFERIOR :
APETHETIC :
The above are just a fraction of some of our states of mind we may experience during our day, week, month, year, or at some stage in our lives.
Yet every single one of them will possible take our attention away from the task in hand, and that is driving.
When you are in control of a vehicle, that vehicle needs your undivided attention at all times.
And not only that vehicle, but anyone or anything that may be around that vehicle.
And as well as this, you have to have an awareness to what ever other road user may be doing, and possibly their state of mind or physical condition to control a vehicle.
Just take a look at these following pictures and you make a judgement call in your opinion as to what state of mind you believe these drivers are in.
Without actually talking to each of these drivers, it's impossible for us to know how they are feeling, what's going on in their lives and how we may be affected by them, if at all.
But what human nature tends to teach us over the years is that body language gives us clues as to how others may be feeling and whether we should give them a wide berth or engage with them.
In driving this is how we make decisions to how we react in different situations.
"Is that driver paying attention?"
"Has that driver seen me?"
"They look like they are in a rush!"
Are just some of the things we might be able to gauge just from looking at other drivers, but it is only our interpretation of what we believe may be going on inside that other vehicle.
We will NEVER be 100% sure, but we need to take what we believe is correct as our decision to how we react.
Sometimes, we are going to get it wrong, but if we have made every choice based on the rules and laws of the road and carried out the correct things based on them, then the only thing we may get wrong from time to time, is knowing how we may react to someone else's state of mind or health may not necessarily end up being the right choice.
Hey! we're only human!
Trying to ensure other road users don't need to second guess you, by making sure you are in a good state of mind and health before driving
will help everyone else out.
Now you may not physically be able to portray that while driving, but it is amazing how when in the driving seat you can browse across at other drivers and just know if they are not necessarily just going about their day and getting things done like the vast majority of drivers on the road.
Body language can send of signals , try and watch out for these, and make informed decisions as to how you act about them.
The best advice is to not react physically, but more mentally, as in possibly be prepared for the unexpected.
If you ever find yourself making a mistake while driving, the easiest way to diffuse a situation is to put your hand up and gesture sorry to the affected party.
Don't rise to any challenge or reaction that may come from them.
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