Cars: with bumper stickers, such as the one above, have been linked with aggressive driving, according to a study released by a team of psychologists from Colorado State University. Expressing your views via these stickers can affect people in traffic around yo
“Get off the phone and drive,” “My kids think I’m an ATM machine,” “W the president,” “I’m still hot, it just comes in flashes” and the ever popular, “My kid beat up your honor student,” are a few of the bumper stickers you might see decorating a vehicle’s back bumper or window while driving around town.
Did you ever think there could be a direct correlation between aggressive driving and the number of stickers a car has on its rear?
In a recent study at Colorado State University, social psychologist William Szlemko and his team of researchers claimed drivers should be leery of vehicles covered with such decals and even customized accessories, such as rims and flashy paint jobs.
The study showed there is an undeniable relationship between aggressive driving and bumper stickers on a car.
The Colorado State University research group surveyed a select group of drivers and asked them to answer various questions about past driving experiences, and those with personalized items on their vehicles were more prone to harbor aggressive driving tendencies than drivers without.
“I think bumper stickers are about identity,” said Katie Reid, a junior in public relations. “I recently got an internship with Apple Inc., so I plan on putting some Apple stuff on the back of my car. Really, the only bumper stickers that bother me sometimes are the political ones.”
According to the aaafoundation.org Web site, road rage and aggressive driving are not synonymous.
Road rage can be defined as uncontrolled anger that could result in violence on the road and possible criminal behavior.
Aggressive driving does not rise to the level of criminal behavior, but includes dangerous roadway activities such as tailgating, speeding and sudden lane changes.
“While an occasional case of road rage is reported to us, it is not something we see often in Auburn,” said Capt. Tom Stofer, Public Information Officer for the Auburn Police Division. “We have no statistical information to show, one way or another, that there is a correlation between road rage or aggressive driving and how personalized a vehicle is to include the amount of bumper stickers displayed.”
Although Stofer had no statistics of the correlation between bumper stickers and aggressive driving, some believe there is a lesson to be learned.
“We should all be courteous drivers, and if a bumper sticker serves only to offend other drivers, it could be seen as aggression,” said Fairley Mahlum, AAA foundation for traffic safety communications director. “It’s hard to know just who we’re driving beside on the roads out there, and you want to avoid any potential triggers to set people off; an offensive bumper sticker could be a trigger.”
Szlemko’s research states drivers experience three types of territory space in their mind: personal territory, temporary territory and public territory, and these spaces are coupled with specific emotional responses. Instinctively, we are protective of personal space, of which, could include our personalized vehicles.
Aggressive driving is likely to occur if a driver feels as if their primary territory is disrespected or violated while in a public territory, such as the roadway. This is not to say that car owners without a personalized touch are removed from the hot seat completely.
The study goes on to show that this certain group is less likely to act on their emotional responses as quickly as those drivers with the entire back window screaming sticker mania, if at all.
Rising gas prices and distracted cell phone users might not be the only things drivers need to worry about while on the roadways.
Think twice before giving a mean look or lifting the middle finger to the speedy red mustang that pulls out in front of you. After all, most people have made poor decisions behind the wheel.
June 27, 2008 - 9:19am
Aggressive tailgating is
Aggressive tailgating is endemic in England, too. I can thoroughly recommend a book to see how we deal with – mine. When It Comes To The Crunch centers on a man with a special reason for hating tailgaters, so with a little help from his friends he invents a device to combat it. One drawback – it causes chaos on the roads. It's a fast funny read. See the website, www.huckbooks.co.uk