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Watch Out for Cars with Bumper Stickers. They Are Dangerous!

washingtonpost.com — That's the surprising conclusion of a recent study by Colorado State University. 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 but they are more likely than those who do not personalize their cars to use their vehicles to express rage

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 18, 2008

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  • ShempRider, on 06/18/2008, -7/+71Biggest ***** I've ever seen: "Save The Planet" bumper sticker on a Land Rover.
  • krisscofield, on 06/18/2008, -8/+57My mom used to have "My gamer fragged your honor student." Beat that.
  • madmanontherun, on 06/18/2008, -6/+541 out of 10 women are battered, I like mine plain! ~ Bumper Sticker~
  • swingerbone, on 06/18/2008, -4/+48"Keep Honking, I'm Reloading"
  • swingerbone, on 06/18/2008, -3/+34"My son got your Honor Student pregnant"
  • williamlee, on 06/18/2008, -17/+44Do Suburban owners really need bumper stickers to remind us that they're douchebags?
  • inactive, on 06/18/2008, -23/+49Too perfect not to be true...

    I was driving yesterday when I saw a guy driving a hummer with the following:

    1) License Plate: Sci Fi 6
    2) The Jesus Fish
    3) Bush/Cheney sticker
    4) A sticker saying "marriage = (man bathroom symbol) + (woman bathroom symbol)
    5) a 9-11 "We'll never forget" thing..

    So, he thinks that Jesus would vote for Bush, destroy the environment, deny people the choice of loving who they choose and refuse to forgive.

    Too funny.

    p.s. His nasty fat ass wife was wearing a big fur so I guess Jesus would also kill animals for fashion.
  • Kohaxx, on 06/18/2008, -3/+25"Szlemko said that, in an as-yet-unpublished experiment, he conducted tests of road rage in actual traffic. He had one researcher sit in a car in a left-turn lane. When the light turned green, the researcher simply stayed still, blocking the car behind.
    Another researcher, meanwhile, examined whether the blocked car had bumper stickers and other markers of territoriality. The experimental question was how long it would take for the driver of the blocked car to honk in frustration.
    Szlemko said that drivers of cars with decals, bumper stickers and personalized license plates honked at the offending vehicle nearly two full seconds faster than drivers of cars without any territorial markers. "

    What a weak study, no wonder it's unpublished. Pretty large conclusions from someone who basically blocked traffic and saw what customizations the cars behind had. "This just in! Drivers of black cars honk 1.5 seconds earlier than other cars when cut off on the freeway! *add sweeping generalizations here*"
  • terajoule, on 06/18/2008, -1/+23"Horn broke. Watch for finger." Or, "This vehicle insured by Smith and Wesson"
  • Infidelcastr0, on 06/18/2008, -1/+20So essentially this study has discovered that people who assert themselves are assertive.
  • inactive, on 06/18/2008, -4/+22Kinda like the Earth Day sticker on Al Gore's private jet.
  • alex4u2nv, on 06/18/2008, -2/+19It was astonishing to me, when a woman with a "Jesus is the answer" bumper sticker tried to run me off the road. She literally pulled into my car, yelling and cussing because I was cruising in the slow lane through a hot pedestrian zone.

    It was a Sunday after lunch, and it looked like she had just gotten out of church too!
  • antonio97b, on 06/18/2008, -2/+18My son sells drugs to your honor student
  • Poovey, on 06/18/2008, -1/+16I guess COEXIST doesn't necessarily mean on the same road.
  • SpectralSounds, on 06/17/2008, -19/+33"Three horrors await Americans who get behind the wheel of a car for a family road trip this summer: the spiraling price of gas, the usual choruses of "are-we-there-yet?" -- and female drivers."

    I fixed it.
  • jamauss, on 06/18/2008, -0/+13^ suburban driver. heh.
  • inactive, on 06/18/2008, -1/+13"...I was totally planning on rear-ending her butt once I saw the Baby-On-Board..."

    And all I had to do was add a "t". Great success!
  • itsme92, on 06/18/2008, -2/+14They probably bought the Land Rover for their annual trip skiing, because any other car couldn't handle a plowed, paved road.
  • InspectorGadget, on 06/18/2008, -1/+13One of these things is not like the other things/
    One of these things just doesn't belong...
  • williamlee, on 06/18/2008, -1/+12Professors of Social Psychology?
  • nymphetamine, on 06/18/2008, -0/+10Tailgaters are fun to mess with. Especially when they follow me for miles when all other lanes are clear. Good times.
  • Emachine, on 06/18/2008, -0/+10"I'M NOT SLOW, IT'S THE LAGGGGG..."
  • Disgod, on 06/18/2008, -4/+14I generally assume anybody with anything more than 1 bumper sticker to be a hazard on the road, mostly because the people with the most bumper stickers drive the ***** cars.
  • Mononuclear, on 06/18/2008, -1/+11It is less expensive because women crash more often but cause less damage. If you crash 10 times at $200 each, that is the same as one big crash at $2,000. Women crash much more often but at slower speeds. Men crash less often but when they do crash they usually total their car and sometimes a few others. Thus it is cheaper to insure a female driver even if they do crash more often.

    Note: I am not saying men or women are better drivers. I am just stating some simple facts. You could use this to argue that men drive better because they crash less, or women drive better because they are safer and cause less damage, etc. I will let you make your own assumptions. I don't think one group is better than another. It all comes down to the person regardless of sex.
  • BDOUG, on 06/18/2008, -1/+11Stickers and aggression aren't even scratching the surface of bad drivers in the USA. I think the Insurance Institute (or perhaps even multiple insurance companies pooling their money) should run a humorous ad campaign on "how not to drive". The quality of driver education in the USA is staggeringly bad, and yet something like 70% of us think we are in the "top 90th percentile" of good drivers. This is so freakin' typical of our cultural hubris and NASCAR wannabe mentality. I see all of the following poor driving habits almost daily on my commute: 1. Trying to merge onto a 65mph interstate (where most are doing 75mph) by driving 30mph on the entrance ramp. 2. Tailgating the person in the right lane so closely the tailgater has to tap his brakes constantly (causing a horrible ripple effect for miles behind them)..and meanwhile the left lane is OPEN for passing. How &^@# lazy does one have to be that they'd rather work at tailgating then simply pass the person on the left? Yet I see it DAILY. 3. Cruising in the left lane at the speed limit or slower...these people need to repeat out loud until they fall into a stupor: "the left lane is for PASSING". 4. The light turns green and the driver moves approx. 1mph through the intersection and there are 50 cars waiting behind him or her to get through. 5. Not understanding what "alternate merge" signs mean. 6. Aggresively passing someone, pulling in front of them, and then slowing down slower than they were going to begin with 7. Thinking they have the right of way coming out of a parking lot when no, in fact the people on the busy street in front of the parking lot have the right of way including those in the turn lane waiting to get into said parking lot. 8. Turning left across a divided highway by pulling out halfway then stopping there with their tail hanging out in the way of oncoming 9. Not securing loads in the pickup bed or trailer and all sorts of debris flying out 10. Yup: cell phones. Some people can drive and talk just fine but MOST cannot. For the greater good and public safety, cell phone use while driving should be illegal.
  • BDOUG, on 06/18/2008, -2/+11I'm sure your "superior male driving" is why auto insurance is less expensive for women.
  • TexasShiv, on 06/18/2008, -4/+13Baby On Board.
  • inactive, on 06/18/2008, -2/+11You drive a ***** box covered in bumper stickers dont ya?
  • inactive, on 06/18/2008, -4/+13Not sure why he is getting dug down, bumper stickers are for ***** cars driven by poor people. The more you have on your car, the bigger piece of ***** that it is.
  • Kohaxx, on 06/18/2008, -0/+9*****, I was totally planning on rear-ending her but once I saw the Baby-On-Board I changed my mind.
  • Mononuclear, on 06/18/2008, -2/+11You will be dugg down because A. your one example does not invalidate anyone's claim and B. bragging about what kind of car you drive and how much you make a year makes you look like an ass especially on the internet where people often lie about their life and there is no way to prove it.

    BTW I make $2 million a year and drive a 91 Geo Metro
  • phybere, on 06/18/2008, -1/+9Good point, correlation doesn't mean causation

    I have to admit, when I'm in my old off-roading truck (no bumper stickers, by the way) I tend to assume that the Mercedes next to me will get out of my way...
  • inactive, on 06/18/2008, -2/+10The Jesus bumper sticker cleanses all of her sins.
  • ShadowXOR, on 06/18/2008, -16/+24Poor people who have ***** cars use bumper stickers. People with decent cars don't want to make their cars look like *****. Of course they're more willing to use their car to express rage when they're coming at my 2007 Honda with their 1985 Ford, what do they have to lose?
  • inactive, on 06/18/2008, -2/+10People with ignition interlock devices are by far the most enraged drivers out there. Talk about dangerous... a booze lover that can no longer sip back on a cool one during rush hour is not a pretty sight.
  • SinisterBunni, on 06/18/2008, -1/+8what about the carnage you left behind you from the make-up putting on, radio ***** around with, lighting a cigarette, talking on the cell phone, reading a book, texting on your blackberry, and ***** with your hair?
  • inactive, on 06/18/2008, -3/+10Oh one counter-example. I guess SpectralSounds was wrong after all and women are the best drivers ever.
  • helleborus, on 06/18/2008, -0/+7The one that gets me is "Fear This". I should be afraid of your car? Your bumper? The sticker itself? Makes no sense - talk about misplaced, random aggression.
  • omnithought, on 06/18/2008, -1/+8I don't believe them... I men I only have a dead fish on my car and I never-GET THE ***** OUT OF MY LANE *****!!!
  • partrow, on 06/18/2008, -8/+15Cars with bumper stickers are dangerous? Hmm, I would think it would be the driver who is the dangerous element here.
    Reminds me of the gun control claims. Better ban guns because they kill people. Right.
  • phybere, on 06/18/2008, -6/+12Once again, scientific methodology verifies what the general public has known for years.
  • dafunkmonster, on 06/18/2008, -0/+6I personally know more than ten women who have gotten into accidents, and not reported them to the insurance company. One of them even caused $1500 worth of damage.

    I know one guy who got in an accident. Some lady pulled out in front of him, and stopped. He inevitably t-boned her. She's now trying to claim that the accident was his fault. The guy had to file with his insurance company because the car was totaled. His rates are going up because the other driver's a dumbass.

    Insurance rates don't mean jack *****.
  • g33kfu, on 06/18/2008, -0/+6"Jesus loves you. Everyone else thinks you're a *****"
  • panicofficer, on 06/17/2008, -25/+31I don't think it's about "territorial markers". People with bumper stickers tend to feel strongly about something and may be more inclined to feel strongly about another drivers' inconsiderate behavior or aggression.
  • inspecality, on 06/18/2008, -1/+7"My son was once friends with an Honor Student."
  • thelock65, on 06/18/2008, -0/+5The dude abides.... ~Bumper Sticker~
    im pretty sure the owner of this car wont be getting involved in roadrage
  • derek20cali, on 06/18/2008, -0/+5You need some midol or something...
  • FTLJohnson, on 06/18/2008, -0/+5Amen. I made a left turn, and some teenage girl (probably 16 or 17) was speeding her ASS off, came around the corner and was messing with her radio... She looked up, saw me, and swerved like crazy totally unnecessarily and smashed up onto a hill. I had already completed my turn, which is why I think she was playing with the radio, because I have no other idea why she would have swerved her car like that unless she was just startled to see that I had turned. I, like the idiot good samaritan, stopped because no one else was around, and I wanted to make sure the driver (at that point I didn't know it was a little girl) didn't need help.

    I even called the cops for her because she was sobbing about how her parents were going to kill her. When then cops get there they take her info, and then they come to take MY INFO... (to my complete !?!) and I get a call later saying that my rates are going to go out because I've been found to be at fault due to witnesses (who I found out were a couple of teenage boys - that weren't even there when it happened). I even have pictures of the tires marks from the road that show that she didn't even START to depress her breaks until way past the intersection... she was so out of it (or high?) that after swerving like a maniac, she barely even tried to STOP - She's lucky that she's not dead... and REALLY lucky that the angle of the hill not only stopped her car by scraping the bottom of it, but that it was gentle enough that she didn't smash the hell out of the front of the car.

    All the 'incidents' i've ever been involved in have involved young women... I got rear-ended while I was stopped at a light once (luckily no damage), and once I was side swiped by an asian college student, and then the above story.

    It's hard not to sound like you are following along with the common prejudices when the only stories you have to tell coincide with them perfectly.
  • inactive, on 06/18/2008, -2/+7"I was driving yesterday..."
    "p.s. His nasty fat ass wife was wearing a big fur so I guess Jesus would also kill animals for fashion."

    It's summertime,who wears fur in summer? I gotta call ***** on your story.
  • SinisterBunni, on 06/18/2008, -2/+7i think a number of you have overlooked those stupid ***** yellow ribbons saying "Support Our Troops" that is usually accompanied by the Bush/Cheney 04 sticker. those are bumper sticker wielding ***** that should be run off of the road.
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