Citizens and the federal and state governments are all advocates of road safety. Everyone wants the roads and highways to be a safer place both for motorists and pedestrians, this in order to preserve human life and monetary value of property. However, with aggressive behavior running loose and unchecked on the streets, this noble aspiration for the greater good is undermined and made more difficult to achieve. A closer look at the causes of behavior then becomes an important task, a task that can begin with a peek into the environment that harbors aggression.

The Golden Sssshh

Many researchers accept the idea that aggression behind the wheel is triggered or exacerbated by situational causes. Noise is considered one important and interesting variable in the study of driving aggression. One unique thing about noise is that it directly affects the intensity of aggression, rather than directly cause it. In fact, noise may directly influence the frustration that leads to aggression rather than promote aggression by itself.
It has also been observed that the extent of control the driver has over the noise affects his or her aggressive behavior. That is, if the driver has totally no control over the noise, the likelihood of aggression increases progressively. This in turn affects the level of danger that can arise out of such aggression level.

Turning Up The Temperature

While it is widely testified that crimes of violence occur more often during the summer months, actual studies on the relationship between temperature and aggression are few. The causal link between the two is supposed to exist. However, a study was able to make a direct correlation between the variables. Conducted by D.C. Kenrick and S.W. McFarlane in 1986, the experiment involved repeatedly positioning a car at a traffic light junction and ignoring the green light in increasing time duration to test the following drivers’ reactions. The temperature variable, heat, was tested under experimental conditions in which subjects could not avoid or control the level of heat. Indeed the study demonstrated that there is a direct influence of heat on driver aggression.

Being An “I”

Ultimately, the individual differences between drivers affect predisposition to and likelihood of aggression. Each driver’s predisposition to violence will affect his or her reactions to problems encountered on the road with other drivers. Inevitably, a conflict between or among drivers predisposed to violence or aggression would categorically lead to a display of such behavior.
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This article is intended solely for general knowledge purposes. The content should not be considered and is not legal advice.