The way you drive a car can be affected by numerous things. Most people will think of alcohol as a major culprit. However, there are many other variables as this self development article shows.

Driving and Music

Whether you are male or female, did you realise that music can have quite a significant effect on your driving? Research has shown that if you play calming music, you automatically drive more sedately. Music with syncopated rhythms and an energetic beat causes you to put your foot down and drive faster.

How this works is that music stimulates brain processing to have a multitude of thoughts all at the same time. Your highly charged mind can cause your driving to become more erratic. You start wanting to move from lane to lane in an attempt to get in front of slower drivers. More relaxing music tends to calm down the 'nerves' and you become more accepting of what is happening on the road around you. In fact, you can actually use music to change your mental state when driving.

Driving and Personality

It is said that the way you drive shows your true self or personality. If you are generally impatient with life, studies have shown that you tend to drive faster and more erratically. If you tend to get worried easily, you often drive with less concentration. The calmer you are inside, the smoother your driving is. You can almost tell someone's true personality by the way they drive.

Driving and Age

The way you drive can also be correlated with age. Generally speaking, the older you are, the more experience you have had on the road, and the more carefully you tend to drive. But then again, some reports indicate that the elderly have as many fatalities as 'young male drivers'.

Driving and Profession

Some studies have shown that if your job entails very specific control, e.g., the operation of complex equipment, you tend to drive with similar precision.

Driving and Your Gender

For many years there has been debate about who is the better driver – males or females. People commonly believe that women are worse than men. Some surveys have shown that women need more driving lessons to pass their driving test than men. Does this prove that men are better drivers? Surveys have also shown that women are more nervous before their driving test and this might be the main reason for failing more often.

And when you hear comments like "men have more accidents than women" is this because men:

* take more risks?
* are on the road for longer periods?
* show off more when they are in a car?
* are more easily distracted when driving?

Looking at various studies, overall, men and women appear to have similar numbers of accidents.

Driving and Vision

Vision is an interesting variable. Putting aside age-related problems, research suggests that your eyes get tired faster if you are male. It is thought that this is because male eyes are designed for long-distance vision so they tire when they have to concentrate on the dashboard, side mirrors, etc. Men are also believed to have poorer peripheral vision which suggests that they cannot see 'surrounding' danger as well as women. However, in the dark, men have an advantage as research suggests that women cannot see as well after nightfall.

Driving and Multi-tasking

It is often said that women are better at multi-tasking, i.e., doing several things at the same time. Does this mean that they are better at weighing up everything that is going on around them, leading to more careful driving? Or are men so focused that they make the better drivers? This is certainly a debate that will go on for a few more years.

What Affects Your Driving - Self Development Summary

As this self development article shows, the way you drive can be affected by several variables including music, personality, age, profession, vision, etc. Your gender is perhaps the most controversial of those and will probably remain so for as long as people are driving.

To receive further articles do visit the 'FREE Self Development Newsletter' link below. For my Background, Passions, and why I write articles like these, see: Dr JOY Madden