Car Articles

Car Blog & Car News

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Cookie Policy
  • Polls Archive
  • Privacy Policy

Are You Angry Behind The Wheel?

October 25, 2016 by Mr Butterscotch Leave a Comment

New research from Hyundai Motor UK has discovered women drivers are angrier than men.

The recent study of 1,000 UK drivers reveals women are, on average, 12% angrier than men when they’re behind the wheel.

Researchers found driving sparked ancient ‘defence’ instincts from when humans were hunter-gatherers.  These evolutionary traits kicked in during the test when women were either undertaken, shouted or beeped at, had to deal with a back-seat driver (women 14% angrier) or were faced with a road user who failed to indicate (women 13% angrier).  In all test scenarios, women were more likely to respond with anger than male drivers.

The experiment, conducted by Patrick Fagan, behavioural psychologist from Goldsmiths University London, ‘sense tested’ the 1,000 drivers to see how sound, sight, smell, touch and taste provoke emotional responses in different driving scenarios.

The study found there are two dominant emotions: happiness – intrinsically linked to a sense of freedom when driving – and anger when drivers feel out of control.  Other key findings include:

  • The primary reasons for our continued love affair with driving are the freedom it gives us (51%), mobility (19%) and independence (10%)
  • If you want a man to open up, take him for a drive. Just under a third (29%) of men said they find it easier to have a conversation in the car. Fourteen percent added that a chat actually makes them a better driver
  • 54% of Brits said the thing that made them really happy in the car was singing – which explains why Carpool Karaoke has resonated with so many people
  • When the researchers looked at what makes us happy behind the wheel, 84% of people said “empty roads”, 78% said “the countryside” and 69% “the seaside”
  • Music also makes drivers happy. Eight out of 10 people nearly always listen to something while driving with Meatloaf’s Bat out of Hell and Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody top of the driving charts. Pop (70%) and rock (61%) are the most popular genres

Explaining the results, Fagan commented: “Psychologically, women score higher than men on emotional and verbal intelligence, and on the personality trait of neuroticism.  Evolutionary theory suggests our early female ancestors had to develop an acute sense of danger for anything that threatened them and their young if their cave was undefended while men were out hunting. That ‘early warning system’ instinct is still relevant today, and women drivers tend to be more sensitive to negative stimuli, so get angry and frustrated quicker.”

Tony Whitehorn, Hyundai Motor UK’s President and CEO comments:  “We are constantly striving to better understand what impacts people’s behaviour when they are driving and this research has certainly revealed some interesting, and somewhat surprising results.  By examining drivers’ emotions, our aim is to help them get a better drive both today and in the future.”

Filed Under: Editorial Tagged With: Anger when driving, Angry drivers, Angry driving, Car Articles, Defence instincts when driving, Defensive driving, Freedom when driving, Happiness when driving, Hyundai, Road rage, Women drivers are angrier than men

Recent Posts

  • Sir Jackie Stewart’s Golden Milestone At Silverstone Classic July 30, 2019
  • Kia Shows Off One Of A Kind Stinger GT420 Race Car July 29, 2019
  • Could Your Tyres Generate Electricity In Future? July 28, 2019
  • SMMT Posts Letter To Boris Johnson PM July 27, 2019
  • Tesla Model 3 2020 – Is This The Car For You? July 26, 2019

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Follow this blog by email

Sign up to receive email updates when we post new articles.

FacebookTwitter

Categories

Popular Posts

New Vauxhall Corsa Limited Edition

382 Comments

This is the new Vauxhall Corsa Black & White … [Read More...]

Car Windscreen Damage & Repair

14 Comments

The windscreen is an extremely important part of … [Read More...]

Coil Spring Damage

67 Comments

A lot of modern cars are equipped with coil spring … [Read More...]

Buying A Mazda RX-8

284 Comments

Test Drive an RX-8 or request a … [Read More...]

Vauxhall Corsa VXR Arctic White

62 Comments

For many, the Corsa VXR is the darling of the VXR … [Read More...]

Vauxhall’s Handbrake Problems Part 2

104 Comments

Well, don’t say that we don’t care about you all, … [Read More...]

Five Cars That Are Cheap To Insure

19 Comments

I've made no bones about my passion - and that … [Read More...]

The Top F1 drivers of all time.

42 Comments

This top one hundred may raise a few eyebrows; one … [Read More...]

Vauxhall Dealership

Vauxhall Hit by renewed faulty handbrake alarm

376 Comments

Vauxhall has been hit by fresh claims that it is … [Read More...]

Water & Flood Driving Advice

81 Comments

It is likely through the winter months that you … [Read More...]

Polls

Are you going to buy a car in 2017?

  • Yes - a used car (100%, 2 Votes)
  • Yes - a new car (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Maybe (0%, 0 Votes)
  • No (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 2

Loading ... Loading ...

Tags

Aston Martin Audi Autocar Auto Express BMW Car Articles Car events Cars Cars we like Car videos Classic Cars Concept cars Desirable cars Driving advice Driving tips Electric Cars Events fast cars Ferrari. Ford GEM GEM Motoring Assist Hot hatchbacks hot hatches Hypercars IAM Jaguar McLaren motoring events Motorsport New Cars nissan Performance cars porsche Quick cars Rare cars road safety Sports cars supercars SUVs The Law Top Gear vauxhall Videos Volkswagen

Copyright © 2019 · Metro Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

This site uses cookies: Find out more.