Safeco Insurance has just launched an exciting and safety-concious Social Media campaign! #DIFF or Drive it Forward Fridays is a movement to encourage positive driving actions to counter negative driving behavior that can often jeopardize safety.
Jonathan Alpert, a Manhattan-based psychotherapist and author of the book Be Fearless: Change Your Life in 28 Days who has written about road rage offers the following tips to Drive it Forward and move beyond aggressive driving and take positive driving actions:
Know the characteristics of an aggressive driver: Cutting off drivers, tailgating, unnecessary or excessive horn use, rapid lane changes and speeding. If this is you, stop. If not, stand clear.
Encourage good behavior by being friendly and courteous on the road. Give up a parking spot. Or when it is safe to do so, allow other drivers to move into your lane. Just be cautious as other drivers around you may not realize what you are doing. Being nice, but safe, reinforces similar behavior in others.
Normalize the undesirable. Traffic, slow drivers and fast ones are all to be expected and are a normal part of being on the road in the driving community. Accept it. Consider leaving five minutes early to get to your destination as you’ll be more tolerant when you’re not running late.
Don’t personalize other people’s behavior. Just because a driver cut you off doesn’t mean they meant to or did it to enrage you. Consider other explanations such as the driver is en route to an emergency; there’s a crisis a parent is trying to get to at home; or simply, the driver didn’t see you.
Join the Movement. Drive It Forward Fridays.
Take the pledge to encourage positive driving actions.
What your pledge means:
Negative driving behavior is not worth the risk of jeopardizing another driver’s safety. I pledge to be a more courteous driver and share positive driving actions.
Source: Safeco