THE IMPORTANCE OF ATTITUDE

In addition to teaching advanced driver knowledge and skills, driver education programs should be accompanied by direct presentations about driver attitudes. This article discusses how driver education instructors can instill lifelong attitudes that will help a student to survive the dangerous early years of driving. In the past, it was common to use scare tactics by showing a "blood and guts" movie. Another approach is the logic method. The idea is to tell students the consequences of certain actions and convince them that it is unsafe to act that way. Many driving instructors ignore the attitude angle and concentrate completely on the mechanics of driving, believing that students come to them with preset attitudes. Some instructors spend time developing the ideas of citizenship and cooperation on the road. Students are then left to decide for themselves how to act, but at least they have been presented with a role model to follow. The article calls for one unified approach, integrating all of the above. Key to this technique is the instructor's awareness of the need to teach cooperation.