chapter 7 — personal strategies How often do you take risks? Strategies: identifying your driving attitude or style Peer pressure You in the driver’s seat crash fact How often do you: Always Sometimes Never Shoulder check? Drive within the speed limit? Signal? Avoid drinking and driving? Leave good space margins? To identify your driving attitude or style:  “Aw come on, join the party, have a drink,” your friend says.  You promised to be the driver after the party. You were  going to stick to soft drinks. But this is a new friend and  you really like him.  What choice would you make? It’s hard to resist peer pressure. We want to belong, so we’re  sensitive to what others think of us. There are two kinds of  peer pressure: positive and negative. Friends who persuade  Over 75 per cent of all  drivers travelling at an  unsafe speed resulting in  a casualty collision were  male. Over 37 per cent of  persons killed in collisions  were victims of collisions  caused by unsafe speed.  B.C. Traffic Collision  Statistics, Police-attended  injury and fatal collisions  2007 107 • Ask someone you trust to give you some feedback on  your driving skills, driving attitude and driving style.  • Analyze your attitude and style. If you have a close call,  ask yourself why it happened, and think about how you  can drive more safely so it doesn’t happen again.  • Be critical when you watch a car ad or a car chase scene  in a movie. Ask yourself:  What message am I getting?  Do I agree with this message? Will this message affect  my driving attitude or style?  • Do you find yourself always blaming others for bad  driving? If so, then ask yourself:  Is it really their fault or  could it be me?