Why Do People Blame Their Accident on an Environmental Factor?

A man was recklessly speeding on a slippery highway (caused by the rain) when, in order to avoid another ridiculously fast car, he lost control of the car and crashed into a tree. Before the accident, he had been seeing signs warning drivers about the highway road after the rain. When the police arrived and asked for explanation regarding the accident, witnesses told the police that the man was speeding even when there had been signs saying that drivers should be cautious when or after it rains. After he recovered from serious injuries, the man furiously blames the road for being wet and slippery. The road’s condition, according to him, made his car crash into the tree. It appears then that the man is blaming nature as the one responsible for his accident. We can see from this story how the man was unable to admit his mistake, exemplifying “driver behavior”.

Driver behavior is actually what the driver does, but it can also pertain to the attitude that causes them to blame natural forces such as wet roads after the rain, falling trees (or any other sort of debris on a road) and other things drivers can associate with nature. The driver behaviors that lead to this sort of attitude are a lack of responsibility and lack of self-discipline.

Lack of Responsibility
The driver from the example showed a lack of responsibility when he refused to slow down even after seeing warnings about slippery roads. By ignoring the warnings, he endangered the lives of the people around him. This behavior illustrates the concept of recklessness and of how the driver did not even care about how many lives he jeopardized just by not following the warnings.

Lack of Self-Discipline
The driver from the example, aside from showing a lack of responsibility, showed a lack of self-discipline by not being able to control himself and be responsible. He knew, as all drivers do—after all, all drivers must go through an exam—that it would be wise of him to slow down after seeing a sign about wet roads instead of speeding recklessly. However, despite this knowledge of his responsibility, he did not make a wise decision that would have showed discipline. Instead of controlling himself, he indulged himself in his own (and dangerous) wants by speeding down a road on which it had just rained. This behavior illustrates the concept of lack of the ability to make decisions that would be for his safety in the end.

These two driver behaviors illustrate the concepts of knowing what is right and what is wrong and yet making the wrong decisions, and not admitting making wrong decisions right after something bad happens. As in the case of the driver in the example, he did not control himself and he did not want to take responsibilities, so even after doing something wrong he denies it and blames another factor. This is the type of behavior that should not be seen on drivers as much as possible.