Posted on 06/21/2008 4:54:36 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Denver, CO (AHN) - With soaring gas prices, it is not surprising to hear that incidents of road rage are on the rise. A study by a Colorado State University social psychologist said there is a better predictor of road rage behavior among American motorists.
According to William Szlemko, in his recent study published at the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, the more a driver has bumper stickers, window decals, personalized licensed plates and other territorial markers on his vehicle, the greater is his tendency to get mad when someone cuts into his lane.
The road anger may be expressed through his car in the form of honking, tailgating and other known aggressive motorist conduct.
Szlemko and his fellow academics at Fort Collins found a link between aggressive driver behavior and visible markers on cars. "The more marker a car has, the more aggressively the person tends to drive when provoked," Szlemko wrote.
He explained the driver behavior to the concept of territoriality in which the motorist equates public roads as "my street" or "my lanes"
This behavior applies even to drivers whose cars may have peace-bearing messages like "Visualize World Peace" or a threatening marker such as "Don't Mess With Texas" and "My Kid Beat Up Your Honor Student".
Cheney/Rumsfeld ‘08 always gets red faces in the rear view.
This was posted on the 17th of June as well. Lots of funny replies and pictures in #2, 14, 15 and 117.
Sign of road rage may be on bumper
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2032260/posts
I like Flagstaff, but not it's really even in the running. Obviously, you've never been to Brookline, Massachusetts.
If you see a car that looks like a billboard from the rear, it's a red flag that the driver is on a hair trigger. Almost always, the array is distinctly left-wing. As a rule, anyone sporting more than five bumber stickers will have at least one "Impeach Bush" member and a better than 99 percent chance that one calls 9-11 an inside job.
I wouldn’t mind having the Terrorist bumper sticker :D
I have never put a bumper sticker on a car. It’s kindof like carrying a suitcase with London, Paris, Rome, etc, stickers all over it, lol.
the more a driver has bumper stickers, window decals, personalized licensed plates and other territorial markers on his vehicle, the greater is his tendency to get mad when someone cuts into his lane.Really, to counteract this, one only needs a single, classic bumpersticker -- "Don't tailgate me or I'll flick a booger on your windshield".
It says you have a cool truck! :)
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