Longwood is one of the growing numbers of Central Florida law-enforcement agencies cracking down on aggressive driving.
I drive up and down that part of State Road 17-92 all the time.
There are certain elements in this campaign that ring my cynicism bell:
Leon James, a University of Hawaii traffic psychology professor, said aggressive driving is a national epidemic. Drivers need to relax behind the wheel. Instead, adults are teaching children bad driving habits, he said.
Yay, citing a psychology professor is one of my favorite ploys by the powers that be to control the unruly populace. And it's a double whammy -- the learned prof also manages to squeeze a reference in to the Children™. (And it's an academic from the University of Hawaii -- I know someone who'd get a big laugh out of that.)
One academic is not enough. Further down they cite some other egghead from SUNY Albany. Loretta Malta, a "clinical psychology doctoral student," tells us earnestly:
Some aggressive drivers are competitive young drivers, and others have serious psychological problems, Malta said. Many are "regular folks" who take uncharacteristic chances on the road, she said.
No kidding. I thought they were all aliens from outer space. Then again, maybe some are -- earlier in that paragraph we are assured:
Aggressive drivers cross age, gender and socioeconomic lines, experts say.
Even crazy drivers can't escape the New Diversity.
Posted by Andrea Harris at April 30, 2003 12:44 AMHmm. Is this the same school of psychology that claims that 90% of us come from dysfunctional families? Gawd, I'd love to find some of them on the open road. I'd teach them.
Posted by: Ken Summers at April 30, 2003 at 08:45 AMHrm, why does UH have a professor of traffic psychology anyway? It's not like there's a lot of traffic patterns to study in Hawaii (unless you're studying the negative affect of having too little road capacity).
Posted by: Chris c. at April 30, 2003 at 12:26 PM