You’re supposed to be somewhere at 3:00 p.m., but the traffic has suddenly slowed down to a crawl, sending you into nothing short of a full blown panic attack. Reluctantly and with no other options, you sit there growing more and more frustrated with each passing minute. And when the traffic finally does start to pick up again, your zipping in and out of each lane as you still try to make it on time.

Sound familiar?

Too often, we allow external circumstances to stress us out, placing even more of a burden on ourselves than we know. After all, we can’t control the traffic patterns. Perhaps if you had left a few minutes earlier, you wouldn’t have felt yourself fall into a tailspin. Despite all of this, with increased populations each year and issues such as suburban sprawl, there are more upset and agitated drivers crowding the roadways, turning what once used to be a relatively safe trip to the store down the street into an obstacle course of failed turn signals, rubbernecking, tailgating and speeding through red lights. So, what can be done?

According to a study being conducted at MIT, Ford Motor Co. and researchers are studying ways in which technology can help to strengthen the connection between the driver and the vehicle, thereby reducing stress from behind the wheel. But what exactly does this mean? Will the future consist of cars that can sense when we are starting to feel stressed out while driving and will talk us down? Or will the future consist of vehicles that will react to tense situations by physically taking over the driving, forcing us to slow down, etc.?

Only time will tell.

What do you think are some effective ways for drivers to remain de-stressed behind the wheel?

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