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Road Rage Linked To Automobile Bumper Stickers

Ponca City, We Love You sends news of a study by Colorado State University psychologist William Szlemko that recorded whether people had added seat covers, bumper stickers, special paint jobs, stereos, or plastic dashboard toys to their cars. Szlemko found a link between road rage and the number of personalized items on or in people's vehicles. "The number of territory markers predicted road rage better than vehicle value, condition, or any of the things that we normally associate with aggressive driving,' says Szlemko. What's more, only the number of bumper stickers, and not their content, predicted road rage... Szlemko suggests that this territoriality may encourage road rage because drivers are simultaneously in a private space (their car) and a public one (the road). 'We think they are forgetting that the public road is not theirs, and are exhibiting territorial behavior that normally would only be acceptable in personal space,' the researcher says.

16 of 1,065 comments (clear)

  1. Not hard by smittyoneeach · · Score: 5, Funny

    This problem's not hard,
    And for societal win,
    To irresponsible retard:
    A safe, simple Schwinn
    Burma Shave

    --
    Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
  2. No stickers in the UK by Psiren · · Score: 5, Funny

    Here in the UK you rarely see bumper stickers, yet road rage is not exactly rare. So I don't really see the correlation. Having said that, whenever I see the Jesus fish on the back of a car, I do want to run it off the road on general principle. But maybe that's just me.

    1. Re:No stickers in the UK by aproposofwhat · · Score: 5, Funny
      It's not the fish, it's the driving style.

      They pull out in front of you, drive at <speed limit> - 5 mph, and wonder why you're driving up their sanctimonious arse honking and flashing!

      Bastards, the lot of them.

      And they always double park on a Sunday when they get their weekly dose of self-flagellation.

      Did Jesus say 'Pick up thy bed and drive'? I think not :P

      --
      One swallow does not a fellatrix make
    2. Re:No stickers in the UK by YeeHaW_Jelte · · Score: 4, Funny

      It doesn't say love thy neighbour to me, it's says I'm better than you, you stinking infidel.

      --

      ---
      "The chances of a demonic possession spreading are remote -- relax."
    3. Re:No stickers in the UK by Zocalo · · Score: 3, Funny

      Whenever I see the Jesus fish on the back of a car, I do want to run it off the road on general principle

      If you can catch one parked up I find it much more satisfying to draw little legs under it with a dry marker and give it a "Darwin is right!" caption. Sometimes you'll see the same car going around for *weeks* before they notice and clean it off. :)
      --
      UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
  3. Other people's stickers? by snarfies · · Score: 4, Funny

    I walk past a car at my work's parking lot that has Bush stickers all over it. I have fantasies about keying the holy living shit out of that car as I pass it. I don't DO it - I don't really know how to key a car, never having done it before, and I can control my impulses.

    Not everyone can control their impulses.

    1. Re:Other people's stickers? by n3tcat · · Score: 4, Funny

      You key a car the same way you unlock it...

      except you miss.

  4. Very helpful by Dan+East · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is very helpful information. Now I'll know which vehicles my wife should keep the gun trained on.

    --
    Better known as 318230.
  5. Makes me wish I had a bumper by antifoidulus · · Score: 4, Funny

    as a cyclist I lack opportunities for such displays of wit(I guess I could use my backpack), but if I did, it would have to read:

    "The size of ones genitals is inversely proportional to the size of ones vehicle"

    The best part is that SUV drivers would run out of fuel before they could even catch up!

  6. Ixthus + Volvo badge by threaded · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ixthus fish and a Volvo badge: that combination is my number one worry when I'm out on a bike.

  7. Re:No brains? by Dog-Cow · · Score: 3, Funny

    Are you insinuating that strawberries have low IQs? Perhaps they are simply too intelligent to deal with lower life-forms such as ours?

  8. Re:in other news by chooks · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think I saw that phrase on a bumper sticker....

    --
    -- The Genesis project? What's that?
  9. No no no no by gelfling · · Score: 4, Funny

    Road rage is caused by me being unable to shoot you in the head for being such an asshole. Attention shitheads here are the things you should avoid:

    Driving a white Buick 25mph under the speed limit.
    Slowing down when I'm behind you and speeding up when I try to pass.
    Being shorter than the dashboard.
    Zoning out at a green light.
    Goosing the throttle on your Harley you fat fuck.
    A ricer wing bigger than Mexico.
    Passing me on a one lane highway ramp.
    Stopping, yes stopping at the end of a merge ramp on to the highway you redneck motherfucker.
    Waiting for a half mile of no traffic in both directions to make a left turn.
    Green light, asshole, it's not getting any greener.

  10. Re:Nice by Inda · · Score: 3, Funny

    No we don't. How very dare you to even suggest such a thing. We comment because we can, not because we have sigs. If you don't like it, you can fuck off.

    --
    This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.
  11. Re:in other news by jahudabudy · · Score: 4, Funny

    then create a list of who you would kill first, as emperor of your perfect little world.

    Special Olympics kids would be way down on my list. First, I'd kill that sorry bitch that cut me off in traffic this morning, then that asshole that flipped me off b/c I merged into his lane right in front of him, then that sorry sack that was going 2 mph under the speed limit in the middle lane...

    --
    ...sometimes, in order to hurt someone very badly, you have to tell that person terrible lies. - PA
  12. Re:in other news by evilandi · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm going to get a bumper sticker that says "get the fuck out of my way, asshole!" Why? Do you spend a lot of your time driving in reverse gear?

    --
    Andrew Oakley - www.aoakley.com