Volume 124 Issue 89
kansan.com
Friday, February 3, 2012
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increases in the percentage of drivers who say roadway traffic has increased their stress levels. New York, for example, came in at 45 percent in 2011, compared to just 13 percent the previous year.
Aaron Naparstek is the founder and former editor-in-chief of streetsblog.org, an online hub for everything transportation-based out of New York City. He says there is something inherent about the automobile that makes us angry at each other. "We're in these massive metal boxes, unable to communicate with each other, other than with these horn blasts," Naparstek says. "We're facing the same direction like we're in a race, competing with each other for precious, limited road space."
Part of what increases anger among commuters in congested roadways is the personal, at-home feeling we have in our automobiles, Naparstek contends. "We think we're in the private realm because we're surrounded by multiple cup holders, sitting in a plush leather seat with our iPod," Naparstek says. "We have an illusion that we're in our own personal space—our own roaming living room—but we're actually in public space."
IBM ranked the emotional and economic toll of communing with an index based on 10 issues, ranging from the amount of anger caused by driving to the belief that the price of gas is too high. Both of those are contributing reasons why Sarah Hicks, a senior from Bennington, admits to having road rage. "I would consider myself a bad driver," Hicks says. "I have road rage. I'm not very patient, especially when people are crossing. I'm just kind of annoyed."
While she admits to having road rage, Hicks rarely lays on the horn, saying she prefers to just sing in her car and keep her anger bottled up internally. However, during a recent altercation on Iowa Street,
《 we have an illusion that we're in our own personal space our own roaming living room but we're actually in public space. 》
she became the victim of someone else's rage. "Apparently we were going slow and this guy came up beside us, honking on his horn and flipping us off," Hicks says. "He pulled out in front of us and started going really slow. I was a little bit scared, but my friend kind of egged him on a bit."
Some would use Hicks' experience as evidence that road rage is mostly a phenomenon among impatient young people. However, Josh Kellerman, a technical trooper for the Kansas Highway Patrol, says that is a common misconception. "I compare it to texting," Kellerman says. "It seems like a lot of people want to push that off on teens, but when I am patrolling on the road, I see a lot of adults doing the same thing. You can't really put an age on who is an aggressive driver or who is getting road rage."
Kellerman says most incidents of road rage he sees occur as a response to someone else violating the law. While it may be difficult to shelve animosity toward someone who just put your life in danger, Kellerman says that is exactly the advice he gives frustrated drivers. "Put your pride in the back seat," Kellerman says. "If someone is being aggressive toward you,
don't challenge them."
That advice may be needed most in cities outside of the United States. The Commuter Pain Survey found that many of the cities that ranked highest on the index were in developing countries. One of those cities is New Delhi, the capital of India, which is seventh on the list with a commuter pain index of 72, compared to the 28 measured for New York City, which ranked 15th. Denise Fernandes, a junior from Kuwait, was born in India and spends much of her time in the developing country. She says driving the roads there can be a terrifying experience. "It's kind of like dancing all over the place on the road," Fernandes says. "There's lots of traffic going on and there aren't traffic lights everywhere. You have to figure out where to go and show hand signs, and it's really frustrating."
The combination of new drivers and an insufficient infrastructure makes driving in developing countries a highstakes game. Fernandes has spent a lot of time in the Indian college city of Manipal, where four of her very close friends died in motorbike accidents. Despite the personal toll poor driving has taken on Fernandes, she says she does not engage in road rage. "We all just have one life to live," Fernandes says. "If I'm not doing anything wrong and they're just in a hurry, then OK, they can go. If they want to die, they can die. I'm not going along with them."
While most of his work centered around road rage in New York City, Naparstek occasionally heard from someone abroad who put things into perspective. "It's funny. When I was doing all the stuff on horn honking, people used to say, 'You think the horn honking is bad in Brooklyn? You should visit New Delhi," Naparstek says. "If those developing cities go in an American direction, which some of them are, the more cars they squeeze into a city,
the more road rage they're going to have."
There is evidence that mobile devices and technological distractions are huge contributors to poor driving, especially in those developing countries. According to Sky News, accidents fell 20 percent in Dubai and 40 percent in Abu Dhabi during a three-day BlackBerry outage from Oct. 10-12. Naparstek does not think that's a coincidence. "I think our mobile devices are making us less patient human beings outside of our cars," Naparstek says. "When we get inside our car and there is a whole new layer of distraction and responsibility, this mobile device is nagging away at you, making you more anxious and angry at the people in your way."
To combat road rage, Naparstek came up with a unique way of dealing with stress on the road. It's called honku, and much like its haiku counterpart, it consists of three lines of five, seven and five syllables, respectively. In 2003, Naparstek released "Honku: The Zen Antidote to Road Rage," which is described as a collection of more than 100 very funny haikus that "shines its brights on the dark side of America's car culture."
Naparstek says honku began as a way to deal with the non-stop honking outside of his New York apartment. "I actually had a near-death egg throwing experience with a motorist outside my window," Naparstek says. "He'd been honking for three minutes straight and so I hurled an egg at him, and he got pissed off."
The best way to cope with road rage, Naparstek says, is deep breathing. It also helps to understand one's own role in the problem. "The traffic is not something outside of you. You are a part of it," Naparstek says. "You are imposing yourself on others, too. The only thing you can control in those situations is how you feel."
Wallace, the Olathe sophomore, admits that he is just as much a part of the problem as the drivers he gets enraged with. But sometimes those situations are unavoidable, he says. "I have pulled out in front of people before, which is terrible, I know," Wallace says. "But you sit there long enough and you have to go. You can't just be there all day. You have to take a chance. But sometimes I cut it a little too close."
ASHLEIGH LEE/KANSAP
Gov. Sam Brownback shares his experiences of witnessing human trafficking in multiple countries from Uganda to North Korea during a lecture Thursday night in the Kansas Union Ballroom. Brownback encouraged students and local residences to take action by working with redemption programs and going to countries to see first hand the affects of human trafficking.
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Brownback shared why he thought human trafficking was an important issue to a crowd of more than 200 people at the event hosted by the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center.
Gov. Sam Brownback stressed the importance of community involvement while giving a talk and answering questions at the Kansas Union Ballroom about human trafficking Thursday night.
"It's important, it's key, it's happenin g in your world," he said. "You need to do something about it."
Brownback started to explore the issue of human trafficking when he
heard about occurrences in Sudan. He visited in 2004 and listened to anecdotal stories. Since then he has visited shelters in different countries with trafficking problems including Uganda, North Korea and Myanmar.
The U.S. Department of Justice defines human trafficking crimes as actions that "focus on the act of compelling or coercing a person's labor, services, or commercial sex acts."
Brownback wanted to give the audience an idea of how trafficking affects the people in these countries. "It's the worst you can imagine," he said.
Brownback was an original cosponsor of the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, a bill
However, Kansas is specifically considered a state with weaker laws, according to political science graduate student Laura Dean, who played an integral role in getting Brownback to speak on campus.
"We're missing lots of things like victim service protection," Dean said. "Many victims suffer STDs or are pregnant when they come in."
that sparked reform of trafficking laws. The act was renewed in 2008.
Dean, 31, researched trafficking in Kansas and worked in a shelter for trafficking victims in Latvia. "Right now they go to half-way houses," she said. "But there are no shelters dedicated specifically to trafficking victims."
"Pick an area and focus on it," he said. "...give (victims) a name and a face."
He also said he talked to Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little, who was in attendance, about raising money for a center of human trafficking on campus where students can earn degrees that would help them eliminate trafficking.
After the event, Dean said she was glad a large crowd showed up and that Brownback had some good points. "I think he showed his knowledge on the subject," she said. "It was a great opportunity to share his experiences."
Brownback hopes his talk raised awareness of trafficking.
"I hope they get the scope of what's happening," he said. "And I hope some of them were motivated."
Brownback said he hopes law-
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Edited by Nadia Imafidon
"The University police have as much authority by state law as any other police officer in the state of Kansas within their jurisdiction," said Chris Keary, University assistant chief of police.
The only tickets issued on campus handled exclusively by the University are parking tickets. All other tickets issued are the same as any citation given by Lawrence police officers. Keary gave the example of a speeding ticket, saying that one issued by University police will be handled at the Douglas County Courthouse and the fine will be the same as if issued by city police.
Campus police jurisdiction extends to all property owned or operated by the University, board of trustees, the endowment association, athletic associations, student groups associated with the University and fraternities and sororites, though Keary said the University generally lets the LPD handle calls
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and make stops in the others' jurisdiction if a crime is observed by an on-duty officer. Both LPD and the University can also enter others' jurisdiction while in pursuit, or if there is reason to believe a person who committed a violation is in other jurisdictions.
"We can also enter other jurisdictions when asked to do so by the governing police department," Keary said. "Years ago we used to go to Manhattan to help with the KU and K-State games, because they asked us to, and when we were there, we had the same powers they did."
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Pierce thinks if he had known that information beforehand, he might have behaved differently.
"I was polite," Pierce said. "But if I would have known to take it as serious as if anyone were else were stopping me, I probably would have done things a little different."
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All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2012 The University Daily Kansan
- Edited by Nadia Imafidon
SUA's Spring Campus Series is featuring the film "Immortals" tonight. Go see an inexpensive movie with your friends.
Today's Weather
Showers and a chance of thunderstorms. Winds gusty from the east.
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"It's raining men, hallelujah!"