Territorial Markings as a Predictor of Driver Aggression and Road Rage¹

Abstract

Aggressive driving has received substantial media coverage during the past decade. We report 3 studies testing a territorial explanation of aggressive driving. Altman (1975) described attachment to, personalization of, and defense of primary territories (e.g., home) as being greater than for public territories (e.g., sunbathing spot on a beach). Aggressive driving may occur when social norms for defending a primary territory (i.e., one's automobile) become confused with less aggressive norms for defending a public territory (i.e., the road). Both number of territory markers (e.g., bumper stickers, decals) and attachment to the vehicle were significant predictors of aggressive driving. Mere presence of a territory marker predicts increased use of the vehicle to express anger and decreased use of adaptive/constructive expressions.

Content-Based Analysis of Bumper Stickers in Jordan

“…She adds that bumper stickers are used throughout the year in response to daily political, social, or economic events. Szlemko et al (2008) who studied territorial markings and their relationships to driver aggression and road rage considered bumper stickers as markings of territory. They found that bumper stickers were the most common means of indicating territory among the studied drivers.…”

The Values of Psychological Science: Student and Faculty Perspectives on Research Ethics

“…More than 15 million political bumper stickers are printed every year ("Bumper stickers," 2016) and there is evidence that their presence affects other drivers, including increased risk of road rage (Szlemko, Benfield, Bell, Deffenbacher, & Troup, 2008). The purpose of the present study was to test the effect of a political bumper sticker on prejudice through a randomized experiment.…”

“…Furthermore, does ownership of the same political bumper sticker or number and valence of political bumper stickers matter? Evidence has suggested that the more stickers one has on a car, the more susceptible that person may be to road rage (Szlemko et al, 2008), so it stands to reason that seeing someone with an equally large number of stickers for the same or opposite values would produce an even stronger ingroup or outgroup response. In addition, it would be worthwhile to investigate differential effects of highly partisan stickers versus more inclusive stickers or their absence.…”

Bumper Stickers in Jordan: A Structural Analysis

“…Despite the abundance of studies that have tackled bumper stickers including Belk (1988), Block (2000), Szlemko et al (2008), Stern and Soloman (1992), Chiluwa (2008), Jay Nordlinger (2015), Burt and Simes (2015), Haynsworth (2008), and Norton-Meier (2004) among many, most if not all of these studies have focused on the themes of stickers; their positive or negative consequences on the reader and drivers at the same footing; and how they reflect the social, economic and political issues.…”