Motorists have Jekyll and Hyde personality

Star: Malaysians, usually courteous and loving, become “possessed” when they get behind the steering wheel, says a University Kebangsaan Malaysia psychologist.
“The moment they get into their cars, they become somebody else.
“They seem to develop a personality different from their usual self – they have, what I would call, a split personality,” said lecturer Dr Rozmi Ismail of the UKM's Psychology and Human Development Studies Centre.
“Outside of our vehicles, we are nice, exemplary workers and loving fathers. But behind the wheel, we change suddenly.
“We become impatient, quick to anger and prone to racing with others,” he said in an interview with Mingguan Malaysia.
For this reason, he added, road safety campaigns had not been effective.
However, he does not think this personality change is due to a stressful lifestyle.
Dr Rozmi, who has made several studies on the behaviour of road users and acknowledged as an expert on motorist psychology, said the essence of the problem is the attitude and mindset of the individual driver.
If this is not changed, the problem would haunt the nation to no end, he said.
He told the paper that his studies indicated that the risk of accidents among Malaysians, regardless of whether one was a driver or not, was around 10% to 15%.
“Among drivers, the risk is even higher – at 40% to 45%.
“Those aged between 20 to 30 face even higher risks. The ratio of risk between women and men is 1 to 2 as there are more men drivers and, secondly, women pay more attention to rules.
In another interview related to road safety, Berita Minggu quoted Road Transport Department director Solah Mat Hassan as saying the department hopes to come up with a year-long campaign instead of just the occasional Ops Sikap drive during festive seasons.
The department, he said, know its limitation in terms of staff and budget as well as the rising costs resulting from 24-hour monitoring.
However, Solah added, it would consider placing enforcement officers at high risk areas or places with bad traffic flow, instead of stationing them along highways.