Wait a sec....sometime during the evolution of human beings, we developed uniquely human minds that choose goals and means to same, thereby overriding animal instinct.   Just because some people never figured out how to operate their minds, indeed are completely unaware that their choices, not instincts, are controlling their actions,  doesn’t mean, as you have implied in this article, that people are helplessly driven by instinct, as are the rest of earth’s animals.   In fact, if people were really "instinctively territorial" about their cars, they'd pee on their tires, not paste on bumper stickers.  Jeesh.

That's what we ought to do to get out of Iraq. Look at our watch, snap our fingers like we forgot something back home and just leave. Then, maybe they won't follow us home. Works on the sidewalk.

If you are taking a walk and you see someone coming with writing on the forehead, look at your watch as if you just realized that you are late and then walk across the street. Don't let them know that you saw the writing or they will follow you home. Just remain cool, casual and sort of anonymous. Be casual, be safe. Works every time.

There's got to be some sidewalk rage, too. Let's give 'em 2%. Sounds scientific.

I wonder if people who rent their foreheads to advertisers experience a percentage of sidewalk rage. Or is there even a sidewalk rage?

I get a kick out of this article it is so asinine it's funny. Of course equally asinine are the posts attempting to draw a correlation between low intellect and bumper stickers, come down off the pedestals oh the few but enlightened. Bumper stickers are a form of self expression whether political, environmental or someone just plain exhibiting a sense of humor. They are hardly indicative of person's intelligence quotient or inclination to road rage. Actually bumper stickers, and vanity plates for that matter, can be entertaining while sitting in rush hour traffic. A few of my favorites are "I love animals, they taste good" and a vanity plate on a renovated school bus that read "I8PASTE".

Road rage is generally the result of over inflated self importance, misdirected anger or poor anger management. Road rage can also be the result of absolute terror as driver of the monster SUV jabbering on a cell phone has just tried to kill you and your children swerving into your lane forcing you off the road to avoid a potentially deadly accident. The sheer rush of anger resulting from almost having your children murdered by an egotistical, selfish, narcissistic moron can be almost overwhelming bumper stickers or no bumper stickers.

This article is atypical of the garbage spoon fed to the public everyday in the form of news. I guess displaying a bumper sticker on your car is as good an excuse as any for road rage and we here in America love our excuses. It wasn't my fault it was the bumper sticker!

This study was done by a professor/scientist and a student at Colorado State. It was sponsored by  a company named Blackwell Synergy, and  published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology (http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2008.00364.x). So why do so many of you assume that the study was paid for by YOUR taxpayers' dollars? I have only one sticker on my rear window, which my son put there ("U. of MD Mom") and do not participate in road rage at all (although I recognize it when I see it). But this assumption that the sponsors of the study are "us taxpayers" is irritating. (Not irritating enough to cause road rage, but still...). :-)

Now let me see.  Having a lot of bumper stickers on your car increases your chances of having road rage by a whopping SIXTEEN PER CENT!  I don't know about America, but in Australia, road rage is so rare that any bad example of it becomes a headline major item news.  A 16% increase on something that isn't particularly common, isn't exactly going to make it common.

> I agree with your stance

He may need to modify his stance if he gets another  4 hour erection.

Interesting article.  I am careful not to annoy ANY drivers.  More than 50% of drivers in the New Orleans area, where I drive,  carry a GUN in the car.

Dear studmoose, Thank you for your kind endorsement. Time was when intellectual acuity had true weight and was in fact seen as an indicator of the general health of one's society. Perhaps though our present community seemingly tips the scales more toward athletic endorsement, mammary mass, and perceived ability to lead the next generation through avoidance of felony convictions whilst concommitantly amassing incredulous monetary wealth as the true test of one's worth, several of us still believe what our elder generational teachers pressed to instill in us...intellect is God-given, knowledge is acquired through effort and faith in that effort, and wisdom comes from unrelenting application of the former two. I had several gratuitous advantages however; first, both parents were educators who believed in knowledge for its own sake, and second, I received much of my formulative learning in Spain, France, Germany, and East Africa. It should give one pause that our own language often thrives best as the petunia in the onion patch.  I also love my language and find it shameful that so many of us don't seem to care...

My Hillary sticker almost got me killed in DC!

Hammie - You impress me with your command of the English language.

If you want one sticker, iPrint is only $3.49.

Dear olderwiser...as another person "of a certain age", I try, when faced with what used to be improprieties such as you've enumerated (and I agree with your stance), to remind myself of what my departed father used to say..."I wake every morning to find new and more insulting affronts to my sensibilities, but in the long run I suppose that beats the alternative."

Would you do us an article about people who wear clothing that has writing on it? Some of them boggle the mind and really make you wonder. It all started some years back with the designer putting a name like hilfiger on clothes. I never thought that it was proper to do that and never bought such stuff. Then, one year I went to buy replacements for stuff that had worn out and could hardly find clothes without the designer's name on the outside. From there, it went to stenciled t shirts with some of the most unbelievable vulgarity I have ever seen.("Hard to be good, but good to be hard") The last straw was last summer when I saw a teenage girl walking with what appeared to be her parents and there was, more or less, a sexual invitation written on the bottom of the tight shorts she was wearing. It is foolish to pass laws against such as this. It comes under the heading of manners and propriety. Those things that we all expect of each other, so to speak. Like not spitting on the floor. Things like that.

But, I guess I need to adjust to such a world where we have TV ads for erectile dysfunction and instructions to go to the emergency room if it "functions" more than four hours. Just wait until you get real old and try to adjust to crap like that. Try to explain to your wee descendants what a four hour erection is while they watch TV with you. Good luck. Still, it's good to be here. Everything's just fine.

The VictoryStore sells the cheapest on the net. I've ordered political bumper stickers in the past, full color for as low as $0.40. One color for as low as $0.11 each and two color for as low as $0.13 each.

You design your own on their site or send in your own graphical image that you create at home.

I have a few stickers on my car, just my way of personalizing my silver 2005 Dodge Neon.  Some of the stickers have lettering and some do not, one is an apple sticker that came with my macbook.  I am a proud apple user and I always encourage others to use apples too because I feel they are wonderful machines.  I also have a European ID sticker from the Netherlands on it because I lived in the Netherlands for 8 years.  I also have a sticker from the Human Rights Campaign because I feel that we as a society have a responsibility to ensure that all human beings have rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  I also have a sticker of a cartoon skull with a flower behind the ear, it came alone with the snowboard I bought in 2004.  The last sticker is a cling in the back window from The University of Minnesota as I am a proud student of this institution.  These stickers all say a little something about my personality and distinguishes a car that gets lost in a sea of other automobiles on the city highways here in the Twin Cities.

Do I get road rage?  Occasionally but nothing more than a few verbal curses about the idiot treating the far left lane as his own personal lane to go 15 mph under the speed limit instead of a passing lane as it is intended to be, or at the moron gabbing on his cell phone instead of paying attention to the road and what is going on around him, or the elderly woman with Parkinson's that ran a red light and broadsided my mom.  Most of this comes from 8 years of driving in a country where lack of driving etiquette, driving without regard for others on the road and talking on your cellphone while driving are answered with hefty fines.  

I think people who say that others should keep their opinions to themselves are the real threat to this country. No really, why don't you try to form an opinion instead of just keeping out of it and letting someone else decide what goes on in the world around you. Exercise your rights or the government might think you don't need them. I think people with bumper stickers, especially opinionated ones, are brave and support their democracy. Who knows, their message might actually cause someone else to think for themselves!!

Well, I read this article a day ago at another news website, and I found it be totally absurb. I have seen reckless drivers with no bumper stickers and vice-versa. So how did the people who did this study came up with their data? To categorized a group of people like this is quite bias and stupid.

People who (cut into traffic) are usually making an unsafe lane change, and this is one of the main causes of road rage, It does not matter if they have bumper stickers or not, they will make you stand on your brakes. People need to drive with respect for fellow drivers, which is extremely lacking these days. Stop sign Ha! if I have enough time to pull out withou stopping I'M GONE. Lack of respect, and lack of enforcement adds up to do what you want when you want around here.

I kinda like seeing cars with a slew of bumper; kinda like an extension of my home library that gives me something to read when I'm just sitting there waiting for nature to take it's course. Some of the stuff you read nowadays is really funny and besides, some of the cars I've seen covered in stickers actually need those stickers to maintain structural integrity. I don't have any bumper stickers personally but my license plate fram does read "the closer you get, the slower I drive".

Has anyone noticed that many agressive drivers have those paper license plates that indicate a new car and that a pickup truck with a paper license plate is a road rage incident waiting to happen. Maybe we should spend some more taxpayer money and look into that issue. I know when it get's answered I'll feel a lot safer on the road. :-)

As more and more cars get on the road, more road rage is going to happen.  My vehicles are my property and yes, MY space.  No, I don't like my space invaded by anyone for any reason.  I've lost miles on my tires and months off my brakes by idiots who aren't paying attention and cause near misses (or hits).  While I could speculate on the types of vehicles (Lexus, big trucks, little cars) the bottom line is... it's out there and if you live in a city, it's bad.

I abhor being tail-gated, I will try to get out of their way if I can... but if I can't, a good healthy 'brake check' is in order.  

With NASCAR stickers and a PETA (People Eating Tasty Animals) on one vehicle, one can assume I'm a redneck, well, maybe I am.  It IS after all, MY space.  I don't initiate road rage but I won't back down either!  

That will now get you shot, as I've told family and friends - if they're going to shoot me, they had best kill me because if they miss, I WILL return fire - and redneck that I am, I won't miss!

Bumper stickers and road rage... HA!  Some of the worst cases I've seen are the brand new Lexus', caddy's, BMW's, etc who think because they drive a 'nice' car they have entitlement on the road.  

The writers two examples of nut case bumper stickers involve Christians and 2nd amendment supporters.  This obvious political postiioning reduces the credibility of his story.  Can't a lib do anything without giving it a political slant?

I've always looked down my nose at bumper stickers. I think there's nothing sillier than a person who sums up their entire worldview with paper, glue and the rear end of a vehicle. If you ask me, intelligence is inversely proportional to the number of bumper stickers on your car. I also find it funny that there is a trend to prop up the sticker in the rear window or tape it to the rear window. So, you care about the subject, but not enough to actually semi permanently display your allegiance? Bumper stickers are a form of communication. They say something. They mostly say you are shallow and dumb.

the only response this article deserve is "hmmmm ....interesting" Anything more and you are wasting precious bandwidth.

I'm more interested in a study as to why people in the first place feel the need to put bumper stickers, magnets, winshield decals and front license plates on their cars.  So I will start my own informat study now.  please tell me why you place the following on your car:

-Oval beach or mountain destination stickers or magnets (OBX, MV, VT)

-Baby on Board signs

-A rear-winshield sized decal honoring your departed beloved ("in memory of Maw-Maw, 1929-2008")

-A decal that has a bunch of stick figures that presumably represents your family (including the pet), usually found on your rear windshield

-A silloutte magnet of an athlete (hockey player, baseball player)

-"I love my wife" bumper sticker

Is there a study on blog rage?  First, if you have a computer with an ISP, you are, let's say, 95% more likely to be involved in a blog rage incident.  Now, where's that tax money for my study?  

in reference to zzzz's comment:

May I suggest that rather than getting enraged by the article (rage presumed based on phrases such as 'how dare they', etc.) is not only an excercise in futuility, but patently refusing to read thoroughly and think for yourself. The writer clearly states, near the end of the article, that 'people with lots of bumper stickers and decals on their car were 16% more likely to succumb to road rage.". 16% is perhaps statistically relevant, but it's hardly 'all'. Sixteen percent is less than 1 in 6, and I don't know about you but it takes me a couple of months to run into even 6 cars with 'lots' of stickers on them. So the advice of the writer 'stay away from cars with bumper stickers' is simply a very conservative response to the data. Firstly in that the data presented in the article leaves the impression that one sticker isn't enough to merit much in the road-rage department, and there simply are that many cars on the road with 'lots' of stickers. Most of us are not quite that risk-averse and are not going to change our actions on the road based on a 1 in 6 risk unless it's convenient to do so. But your over-reaction, and your response of putting all vehicles with any type of logo in the category of 'lots of bumper stickers' as an overly-dramatic and not terribly effective way of making your point, leads me to guess that you yourself have more than one or two stickers adorning your bumper and are reacting as predicted to being offended. Either that or you simply enjoy getting angry which is your right, just as providing overly conservative advice based on little data is the right of the writer.

Hammie - What a very articulate and well crafted response :-)

For those who advocate "teaching a lesson" to dangerous drivers -- it's is not my job to teach them anything. Those who don't want to learn don't learn much anyway :-)  I am not willing to risk my life to try to "help" the misguided, dangerous driver understand that he doesn't own the road. But that does not mean I don't care about the safety of people or that I don't understand the foundational principles of this country. I avoid crazy drivers, and report them when my phone is handy. I also carry a gun. Legally. I firmly believe in "duty to retreat" -- which means I will get away or out of the way if possible. If you corner me and try to harm me or my family, that will provoke a different response--the goal is which is not to teach a lesson, but will result in no further risk to society from your dangerous driving or otherwise selfish exploitive behavior. Don't assume that all of us who aren't up for chasing down the offensive drivers are passive, tree-hugging liberals. From a conservative, Republican, gun-toting psychologist :-)

I hold strong opinions and I am happy to discuss them with others, even if they disagree.  And, during election campaigns I sometimes post bumper stickers on my car.  But I am an adult and I respect others so I take care to control my emotions when I drive.  It is just too dangerous to drive without cool attention to the road and to other drivers.  I have always driven defensively for safety's sake.  I am a personal injury lawyer, and I have spent my professional career trying to put lives back together for those who have been victims of road disasters.  I know what speed, inattention, and emotional distraction can do to human bodies when tons of metal go out of control.  Those who indulge their emotions while driving are living on borrowed time.

Sort of like an article recently referring to people renting their foreheads for ad space. We are a commercial nation and commerce needs advertising. Rent your bumper, not your forehead. This is an opening for men without hair on their head. Lots of advertising space. Four sides and one for the top. Make enough to pay for some Starbucks maybe. Or a gallon of gas.

People have manners. Cars do not have manners. When people drive cars, the car takes over and functions without manners and the driver merely cooperates. The motor probably has brain cells in there. I wouldn't know. Never cared what is under there. My buddies used to buy an old flivver and work on the motor all the time. The more that they worked on it, the more that they needed to work on it. The solenoid always seemed to go out. I never knew what a solenoid was.

So, if you want a mannerly car, then put a little brain food in the tank once in a while, or on the steering wheel in a pinch. Best of all, put some in the driver. We all need to get home safely.

ANYTHING TO CRY ABOUT!!! Rather than thr real issues.

1.  sending our soldiers to fught in a war that is not our fight.

2.  raising taxes to fund this war.

3.  crooked politicians.

4. etc..........

Makes some sense. People with bumper stickers, especially those with multiple stickers feel the need to tell everyone behind them what they think and how important they are. It's like the Prius effect.  People feel the need to broadcast their greatness and show how much better they are because they Hate G. Bush, hate war, love the environment, kid on the honor roll AGAIN etc... It also coincides with the sense of entitlement many teens and those in their early to mid 20s have.

Really...? How much of a load of crap is this. It's a waste of our tax dollars.

If we are to take this study seriously then I guess all Police cars, Trucks, Taxi's, any vehicle that has a decal or any kind of sticker on them, we should assume the driver behind the wheel is a road rager...

Would any of you NOT say there is a flaw somewhere in this study...?

Geez!!!

How many more studies will it take till we the American Public enough is enough...Spend our tax dollars on something worth while...

In a society the members conduct their personal lives with the assumption that each individual is part of the agregate whole, and thus affect the makeup and direction of that totality. Individuals in a society often do share their views, and that is a legitimate discourse. The need to dominate another's position in the group is dysfunctional, however, and that is perhaps more exemplified by those who bristle or physically react rather than acknowledging the right of the individual to hold a unique opinion; or to feel personally threatened because someone else's worldview is in opposition to their own.  Bumper sticker rage, like letter-to-the-editor rage (or blog rage), is symptomatic of an inability to recognize that individuality within a societal organism is important to the dynamic development of the whole. In the vernacular "It's all good", within the parameters which promulgate discussion, consideration, acquiescence and growth. We are humans, not ants nor honeybees, but in order to move forward we can, as higher-intellect organisms recognize the positive function of individualism within the framework of the whole.

"not surprising, people who plaster their cars with all that political/enviro propaganda have an axe to grind, so of course they have a short fuse."

Conversely, it could be said that those who don't put stickers on their cars are either too afraid to voice their opinion, don't have any opinions that they hold dear or are just plain apethetic.

Supporting their children and their school as a PTA parent, support the American Cancer Society, Support their local Police PBA qualifies as a road rage candidate? The list goes on and on.

It's quite entertaining to see many of these responses. The fact is that there is no emperical to substantiate these claims other than the wishes of the "researcher". This is where science becomes fantasy. This is where research becomes speculation. This is where a person pushes their beliefs onto others - some buy it while other, more interrogating don't.

Perhaps this article is a test to see who is gullable and who are not?

A more valid study, based on my experience, would be to correlate aggressive driving with those who drive luxury European cars.  Many of the dangerously fast cars I see on the road are BMWs and similar models. Is it a sense of self importance that leads these people to think their time is sooo precious that they should risk endangering everyone around them?  And please don't respond that the speed is because of the vast mechanical superiority of their vehicles; a Ford Focus can go 90 mph.  Obviously this does not apply to everyone driving Eurposean cars, but am I the only one who has noticed this trend?

This is such a huge load of crap... First, is this really a study worthy of my Tax dollars? I think not!!

Second how dare this Scientist and Student accuse everyone who has a bumper sticker on their vehicle of being a road rage fanatic...Geez! next thing you know the police will be pulling everyone over who has a bumper sticker because they are suspected of road rage...

Wasn't it several years ago that Coffee was the enemy to everyone who drank it... As of the last study that came out a week or two ago coffee is considered to be good for you... Who are we supposed to believe anymore? I for one say all these studies are pretty much bunk. They are biased no matter how much a Scientist/Professor/Student spins it why should we believe that their findings are nothing more than how they twisted any given fact...?

So given these "facts" I would have to say that all Bus Drivers, Policemen and Women who drive police cars, Truck Drivers, Taxi Drivers and so on are all full of road rage...simply because they have decals, bumper stickers or something on their vehicles that says this is my vehicle and I will defend it with road rage... I know that's a stretch, but based on this study that is the truth.

I say BS and studies such as this one are nothing more than a way to justify spending our tax dollars.

not surprising, people who plaster their cars with all that political/enviro propaganda have an axe to grind, so of course they have a short fuse.

This all makes sense to me. Think about the purpose of a bumper sticker; it is used by people who feel obligated to display their opinions to other motorists who don't know them and couldn't care less what they think. Yet they want their opinion widely known anyway. It seems to me that such a person may be more inclined to get into a heated argument or altercation with someone (i.e. roadraage) just because of the strength of their opinions, and their belief that anybody else actually cares.

It's all about percentages.  The majority of cars that I see have bumper stickers, so of course if a driver is aggressive, then there's a good chance s/he has a bumper sticker.  It's like saying more American lives were lost in the Civil War than any other war.  Well, of course, it was all Americans fighting.

This is totally ridiculous. One should ask, why does this person have road rage? Not because they place bumper stickers on their car. It's because some jerk who thinks he's the only one on the road and is driving 80 miles an hour swerving in and out of traffic or riding your a** at that speed is pising you off. And you have every right to be pissed when someone scares the crap out of you causing a surge of adrenaline at 6:30 in the morning. I'd like to see some study on who the hell these people think they are. Grow up, no one likes traffic. I live in Vegas where everything is under construction and the freeways are always undersized for the traffic flow. I call a non-emergency number (311 in our area) to report aggressive drivers. I have done it 3 times in the last 2 weeks. Even if they don't get caught in that instance, at least it will be noted that they have had complaints agaist them in the event they get pulled over in the future. I always want to ask the a-hole driver, does your family know you drive like that?

Based only on my driving experience, I think there is some validity to the claims in this article.

My favorite is the soccer mom maneuvering her minivan or SUV in heavy traffic like a bat out of hell with a "Baby On Board" sign in the rear window.

RELAX people- This study does not mean that every single person with one single bumper sticker is a road rage maniac.  It just means that as a group, the ones with "lots" of stickers skew toward rage more often to some degree than the group without stickers.

I think writing in a huff about how offended one is because they have one bumper sticker and don't chase people down might show a bit of aggressiveness and/or territorialness along with bad comprehension skills, no?

Give Blood, Ride Bulls...Who Would Jesus Bomb?...My God Can Beat Up Your God...Freedom Without Harrassment...How would Jesus Drive?   These combine to a sociopolitical statement of sorts, but I don't chase, honk, flip-off or shoot people.  They mean, "yes, this truck is MY space, and please don't get either or both of us killed by driving (or living) as if the whole world is YOUR space."

I agree 100% studmoose .... I work in the psychological field, and we were taught during my schooling to be weary of studies such as this one.  There are too many confounding variables here to make for valid research findings

Dear Newsweek,

Please do an article on road rage in the blogs.  I would like to know what kind of people these are that always get into the blogs and ruin them.  

The psychological field is constantly being questioned because of articles like this. This school’s study, and I use school loosely because it does not seem to be teaching valid thought, appears to do nothing more than introduce additional doubts and concerns over the use of psychological services.

If people see articles and studies formulated in this fashion, it has no other effect than to introduce skepticism to its readers about the psychology field.

I submit that this article is a detriment to psychological services nationwide.

I have one sticker on my car "Vermont" and it makes me happy just to see it. It takes me home to Vermont while i struggle thru endless hard horrible days in chappaqua ny (chappaqua is rought in its own way believe me -- don't ask) and i really do hate people who tailgate and weave and speed and all those dangerous things and i am absolutely totally not one of them. i'm adding a second magnet to the car supporting my town's public access tv staion which my entire family is heavily involved in. i do not expect my lack of road rage or my defensive (as opposed to offensive) driving to change. the people i notice driving aggressively and dangerously are always either in big expensive cars or otherwise very entitled people who do not appreciate that their behavior is an assault. and of course the cops are never anywhere to be found when someone is tailgating my car with two kids in it at 70  miles an hour and i cannot find a break in traffic to pull over

The study is complete crap.Co-relation does not mean causation. I would have serious doubts about those who actually believed the findings to be fact - coincidental, yes.

Its not very often we see someone in a "Rage" to plow over the car with the bumper sticker (regardless of what it reads); however, the main goal of the driver is to "make that dumbass who cut me off pay for his action" .. Many times the Rager may be oblivious to the fact that the other car HAS a bumper sticker

Regardless, it makes for good entertainment to those who read these comments and are able to see how gullible others are.  Something my parents always taught me:  Don't believe what you read! (or at least take it witha grain of salt)

!

I don't have any stickers on my vehicle, but I also think lightly of those I see on the vehicles of others.  I do, however, have a sticker on the back of my wheelchair - "DOES THIS WHEELCHAIR MAKE MY ASS LOOK BIG?"  And if someone is looking for some "sidewalk rage", he or she better watch their ankles!

Newsweek - Posting an article like this just casts a questionable light on your publication.

Even a village idiot can see how poor this article was. It literally leaps off of the screen.

I'll phone down to Washington DC for clarification. There are a bunch of idiots there. This will be a more accurate "scientific survey" than the one in this article.

I too take issue with this.  I'm a widow in my 60s and for the first time in my life I put a bumper sticker on my car (my Rottweiler is Smarter Than Our President).  I haven't had a ticket or accident in decades.  I do not speed; I leave plenty of room between me and the car in front of me; I use turn signals, etc., etc., etc.  I highly resent being labeled a hothead likely to run over someone who annoys me with their lousy and dangerous driving habits.

This "study" was probably financed by an insurance company and will be used as yet another excuse to raise our rates.  Insurance companies are ALWAYS backing some bogus "study" to reinforce them upping rates.

I find this to be completely ridiculous!  I am by far the CALMEST person I know of, if I lose my temper it takes a lot, much more than someone cutting me off, flipping me off or the like.  I was hit from behind, my vehicle was totalled, both of my kids were hurt and even then, no anger, just concern for all of us involved, including the idiot who hit me.  BUT... I have Jimmy Buffett stickers plastered all over my car, I have at least 3 on each of my vehicles and I own three!  

Wonder where they pulled their inaccurate data from?

I think Your reporter Sharon Begley , Should report on thing like why the US Govment dose not seam to think the CONSTITUTION i something they have to live bye instead of writting about bumper sticker that poeple put on there car because they like then .I'm have a CDL and i have bumper stick on my personal truck and most of the tell the stuped driver that the should drive by thelaws that are out there to keep poeple safe and poeple that drive talk on the phone . Are the poeple that have the most ROAD RAGE because you interrubed their phone calls I see everday of the year all over the country so maybe you should have her check in to that .

This study does not sound valid at all.  There could be any number of confounding variables that have provided for a false positive conclusion in their study.

This study is not even close to being genuine science.  The "data" show a correlation.  A correclation does not demonstrate causation.  And I use "data" in quotes because I do not believe that the data were collected according to rigorous standards.  

I hate these kinds of articles.  They might make for some good jokes on late night tv, or good conversation at a barbecue, but as science or informing the public, it is a lot of hooey.

This article seems to be quackery at its finest. Anyone who gives this article credibility just validates this type of “Springer-type” reporting. Perhaps this is why I have not seen a major psychological paper post it? I would like to see it referenced in one of these publications, in a positive light, before I could even begin to give credence to it.

I kind of feel sorry for this professor’s minions who either participated in this project to get a good grade, had to pretend to believe in it to bolster their grade - or worse – those who actually believed in this report and the professor.

What was the psychological damage caused to the students?

Did the generation of this report and the professor’s actions cause some students to express road rage incidents?

Why do these type of reports always seem to come out of Colorado?

There is breaking news on this study. The researches have amended the study to conclude that those with the most road rage are not actually thsoe with bumper stickers but rather those without bumper stickers who post on the internet and argue with complete strangers about the merits of this stupid study.

I would like to make some additional comments regarding this, other then it should be ground for a Penn & Teller BS episode:

1) I live in New Jersey, and travel through NY, NJ, CT & PA, averaging 45K miles per year. In this region of the country, bumper stickers are a rarity. The aggressive drivers that I witness on both the highways and rural roads rarely have bumper stickers on them. If this region of the country were truly part of this “scientific equation”, then those numbers would show to be inverse.

2) In our region, when a kid goes to school, the parents are given paw print magnets for the school the children attend. Most every parent will place these magnets on their vehicles. Does this make every family with school-age children prone to being aggressive?

3) I do not recall there being a “bumper sticker” check-off box on police reports or on tickets. This would make me question, in great detail, how and where these statistics were obtained. Perhaps Colorado is different, but I seriously doubt it. If these are not on the police reports, then the data collection is subjective and most probably bogus, skewed towards the author’s desired result.

4) This article was probably submitted to various new agencies and publications. It’s funny; I don’t recall this being in American Psychologist, APA Monitor on Psychology, Journal of Environmental Psychology, Psyche and Psychology Today. Newsweek, no offense, but this article is more in keeping with US News & WP.  

This article seems to be quackery at its finest. Anyone who gives this article credibility just validates this type of “Springer-type” reporting. Perhaps this is why I have not seen a major psychological paper post it? I would like to see it referenced in one of these publications, in a positive light, before I could even begin to give credence to it.

Beware-  Bumper stickers are also beleived to lead to a form of amateur pyschoanalysis

mainly by would- be journalists, who peddle alarmist nonsense to Newsweek.

If people are actually taking this seriously, our country is completely doomed.

Watch out for drivers with "Herbalife" or "Mary Kay" stickers!  

According to this article, if you don't buy their products they'll run you off the road!

A counseling professor once said that people who use bumper stickers (and message Tshirts) have a poor sense of self.  Perhaps territorialism is also a function of a poor sense of self.  Or, maybe the bumper stickers are just a sign of poor sense of self and inclination to rage.

Gee, I was always taught that people with bumper stickers where kinda trashy, now that I'm grown

I feel the same way.  Why do they need to express they're opinions on their cars?  Can't they keep

them to themselves?  What is the necessity to let the world know they are a certain why, can't their

own actions speak for them?  I agree with chuckhoek, Moses left out the 11th & 12th commandments:

11) Thou shalt not offend

12) Thou shalt not be too easily offended

I personally don't like ruining my paint job with a bumper sticker. But if others do then that's their choice. It does make for entertaining reading at stoplights!

What a totally worthless study.  Territorial is not dependent on items stuck to our cars.  Thousands of people are extremely territorial about their cars, and for that reason they DON'T put bumper stickers on their cars, not wanting to cover it up in any way (me being that type of person).  Road rage is an immeasurable entity, since there is no way to know the vast majority of the time who is suffering from it.  Scientists cannot see the person yelling at the car in front of them on the freeway, there's simply no way to count this.  Thus, there's not a shred of evidence to support the theory, and to say that bumper stickers equals road rage is an assumption, not a scientific study, of which there is a hugely significant difference.  Maybe if they could, first, record every time a person felt road rage (impossible), and second, prove that if more who suffered from road rage had bumper stickers than not AND that it was more than just a simple coincidence as many people have stickers on their cars...then they'd have a study.  But since they can't see when people have road rage, and there's no way to prove there's not another factor and bumper stickers are a mere coincidence, there's not even a real study here, just some people collecting a not-deserved paycheck.

*PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT*

Stay away from the soccer mom in the minivan with the bumper sticker "My child is an honor student at JFK Elementry"

She is believed to be armed and extreamly dangerous

Also avoid being rear eneded by the guy in the pink VW Beatle and the rainbow bumper sticker.

LMAO, Give me a break

Moses left out the 11th & 12th commandments:

11) Thou shalt not offend

12) Thou shalt not be too easily offended

We have two American-made vehicles, bearing three yellow ribbons with the name, rank, and branch of service of our two sons and son-in-law. I am conservative, vote Republican, and drive safely. When someone demonstrates unsafe driving in any proximity to me -- I get out of the way. My van weighs in the neighborhood of 5,000 pounds--my truck probably only 3,500 pounds. I do not want to (1) my small children hurt, (2) for me to get hurt, or (3) to hurt someone else. Even if it were their fault, due to their own stupidity and ignorance regarding the basic laws of physics--I don't want to see the face of their mother after she is told her child is dead. There are enough other targets out there--for the folks who feel they have a right to special privileges or special priority on the road. Count me out. The safety of my family means more than trying to "teach that  &*#^&$*& a lesson."

PS: The data reported is (of course) being extrapolated. What they found was a correlation (which says nothing about causation) -- just that two variables occur together with a frequency higher than chance. Just like the sale of ice cream and rape--the sale of ice cream doesn't cause rape, but more ice cream is sold when it is hot--when more victims are outside (especially at night). They are reporting that the number of vehicles involved in road rage incidents that bear stickers is higher than would be expected--given the number of vehicles bearing stickers in the population as a whole.

Well I think all in all the message is people can be