DOES TRAFFIC CONGESTION INCREASE DRIVER AGGRESSION?

In his recent article about aggressive driving, D. Shinar proposed that the classical frustation-aggression hypothesis ("Frustration and aggression," Dollard et al., 1939) provides a useful tool for understanding driver aggression. According to Shinar's (1998) application of the frustration-aggression hypothesis, driver aggression is caused by frustration due to traffic congestion and delays. In the present study, the relationships between exposure to congestion and aggressive violations were investigated in Great Britain, Finland, and the Netherlands. Partial correlations showed that the frequency of rush-hour driving did not correlate statistically significantly with driver aggression. Correlations between driving during rush-hour and aggression did not differ in magnitude from those between driving on country roads and aggressive violations. In addition, correlations between exposure to congestion and aggressive violations in countries with large numbers of vehicles per road km (UK, Netherlands) were not higher than those in a sparsely populated country (Finland). These results from the 3 countries suggest that congestion does not increase driver aggression as directly as suggested by Shinar (1998).

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/13698478
• Corporate Authors:

  Elsevier

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  Kidlington, Oxford  United Kingdom  OX5 1GB
• Authors:
  • Lajunen, T
  • PARKER, D
  • SUMMALA, H
• Publication Date: 1999-12

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 225-236
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour
  • Volume: 2
  • Issue Number: 4
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 1369-8478
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13698478

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aggression; Behavior; Drivers; Highway traffic; Highway transportation; Human factors; Peak hour traffic; Road rage; Traffic congestion; Traffic delays; Traffic safety
• Geographic Terms: England; Finland; Netherlands
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; I73: Traffic Control; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00791427
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, ATRI
• Created Date: Apr 24 2000 12:00AM