Identifying Aggresive drivers

From the Department of Human Behavior column in the Post.

Drivers of cars with bumper stickers, window decals, personalized license plates and other "territorial markers" not only get mad when someone cuts in their lane or is slow to respond to a changed traffic light, but they are far more likely than those who do not personalize their cars to use their vehicles to express rage -- by honking, tailgating and other aggressive behavior.

Aggressive driving might be responsible for up to two-thirds of all U.S. traffic accidents that involve injuries.

The key to the phenomenon apparently lies in the idea of territoriality. Drivers with road rage tend to think of public streets and highways as "my street" and "my lane" -- in other words, they think they "own the road."

Social scientists such as Szlemko say that people carry around three kinds of territorial spaces in their heads. One is personal territory -- like a home, or a bedroom. The second kind involves space that is temporarily yours -- an office cubicle or a gym locker. The third kind is public territory: park benches, walking trails -- and roads.

Drivers who individualize their cars using bumper stickers, window decals and personalized license plates, the researchers hypothesized, see their cars in the same way as they see their homes and bedrooms -- as deeply personal space, or primary territory.

I see my bicycle in the same way I see personal space, but that's probably because I'm sitting on it instead of in it.

Comments

[Richard Layman]

Interestingly enough, more than 10 years ago I was clipped by a compact truck which had a bumper sticker reading "I'd rather be biking."

I didn't fall. It was just the barest tap.

If someone hit me I'd rather he be biking too!

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Richard wrote: "I was clipped by a compact truck which had a bumper sticker reading "I'd rather be biking.""