Urban towns now have such bad traffic that people would do almost anything to get in their cars. Running red lights, reading the newspaper, eating breakfast, shaving, and texting while driving are dangerous daily activities. Even if many of us are responsible, it makes us sick to witness others commit these crimes.
If that wasn't bad enough, drivers in one area have reported seeing sofas, televisions, and tires lying around the pavement as they rushed to work every day.
A few years back, honey bees were amassing all over the road while a truck was transporting them divided between Atlanta. Previously, it was a truck carrying live chickens.
The perils we encounter on the high-speed route known as the drive go well beyond just obstacles and bad drivers. In any event, driving can dangerously harm your health, even on a routine day.
Thruway conflict
Your evening commute is already shaping up to be an uncontrolled rage tantrum. What else can be done, then? James suggests a three-step process for altering your thinking while driving.
Consider changing each aspect of your driving one at a time. Use legal flagging at some point; beyond that, let others go before you.
Look at the way you act. In the unlikely event that you do react violently, consider why you did so and how long you were angry. Have you made any sweeping changes or motions?
Modify your actions. Prepare a few phrases in advance that you may use to speak to yourself. Say something like, "It's not their problem; another motorist was swarming them; maybe they didn't see me; they could be on the way to the clinic."
His better half claims that he occasionally tells him to "fix your face" before carefully inspecting himself in the mirror and seeing that he is glaring. I must appear mean, he admits.
Sarkar advises using relaxing music or displaying pictures of your loved ones on the dashboard.
Multitasking Is Dangerous
According to Sheila S. Sarkar, Ph.D., director of the California Organization of Transportation Security in San Diego, "the greatest new threat we see arising is an interruption." She makes reference to contacting and restricting children and adolescent drivers who are traveling with their friends. She claims that most drivers are overly confident and need to learn where their concentration should be limited.
Later, an assessment led by scientists at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University showed these cutoff criteria. They discovered that, in any case, doing tasks that require the utilization of many brain functions simultaneously drains mental capacity.
You must go from one set of mental cycles used on the first task to another set used on the second in order to complete two unique tasks without pausing.
When you switch tasks, the rules that govern the following errand must be launched; this is known as "objective swapping" in research. Unfortunately, trading can take almost a second when the main task involves your mind, which is lengthy enough to result in a serious accident.
The 42,000 people who die every year in traffic accidents and the $250 billion in medical expenses are increased by that one second of delay.
Pollution
You breathe poisonous mixtures of lead and ozone while playing amusement carts with semis and irate drivers. Sarkar chuckles, "People believe they are secure in an SUV, but they are actually exposing themselves and everyone else to greater pollution."
The average adult breathes approximately 3,400 liters of air each day, according to the Ecological Security Organization. Driving for two hours a day exposes you to large amounts of polluted air, which worsens lung conditions like emphysema and asthma.
Time of Fury
Driving may injure you physically, without a doubt, but how can it affect your emotional and psychological health? Professor of brain research at the College of Hawaii Leon James, Ph.D., and his team make participants carry recording devices and capture all of their thoughts while driving. He claims that people are unaware of the negative emotions that overtake them while driving. He points out that driving is "an action where you are surrounded by numerous people having negative sentiments, and the entire framework hinges on whether it's pleasant or hostile." James co-wrote Forceful Driving: Avoiding Aggression.
Poor or Weird Drivers
Are people worse drivers now than they were, say, a while ago, with fewer secondary schools giving drivers' education? James claims that although people have generally been bad drivers, the current roadway congestion (combined with the numerous interruptions) has led to greater hookups.
Driving while impaired by alcohol or medicines has always been a dangerous practice and accounts for a larger percentage of deaths. Sarkar also says that moving when restless might be dangerous. Whether or not you are driving, your body will still need a break, she claims. She advises stopping and taking a 10-minute break.
Accidents might also result from glare. Unlucky habits, such as adjusting your brights often, or even the dreadful predisposition to switch them on in retaliation, can kill people, including you.
And carriers and trucks? The majority of truck-auto collisions are initiated by drivers, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Trucks require more time to halt or turn, thus Sarkar advises maintaining a larger divider.
Be aware of the importance of trucks in public, advises James. We want to think about and be grateful for the food and accommodations these trucks provide to us.
What is the good news?
So, is there any good news regarding the traditional drive time? Maybe a glimmer. Dr. Andrew Baum, a professor of psychiatry and brain science at the College of Pittsburgh, has conducted studies showing how driving or sitting in traffic during rush hour can increase blood pressure and irritability, but that these symptoms subside once you get out of the car.