67% of Brits believe they behave differently behind the wheel of a car

A new study by insurance experts InsuretheGap has revealed that two thirds of Brits believe they behave differently behind the wheel of a car than they would in everyday life, with 32% of UK drivers saying driving makes them more aggressive and 35% admitting it makes them less patient.

The most common cause of this is other people’s bad driving (44%), but many drivers admitted that this change in behaviour is down to them feeling safer in their cars (1 in 5), with the benefits of nobody being able to hear them (27%), never having to see other drivers again (18%), and the ease of being able to drive away after a confrontation (18%).

It turns out we’re far more likely to react negatively while driving than in everyday life, as 43% of drivers have got annoyed at someone else driving slowly, 1 in 3 have blasted their horn in frustration, 30% have sworn at someone, 1 in 4 have shouted, and 24% have gestured aggressively. Passive aggression is also prominent, with 19% admitting to deliberately driving slowly in front of someone.
This is in stark contrast to how Brits behave in public, outside the safety blanket of our cars – only 1 in 4 of us have got annoyed at someone walking slowly, 13% have sworn at someone, 12% have shouted at someone, and 9% have gestured aggressively.

The survey of 1,300 people also revealed that young drivers suffer from road rage twice as much as their older counterparts. 55% of 17 to 24-year-olds admitted to experiencing road rage, compared to just 23% of over-55s, with the younger generation almost three times as likely to be more aggressive while driving than in person (49% vs 17%). However, the over-55s were more likely to react to other people’s poor driving (62% vs 36%).
When it comes to UK cities, Belfast was the worst for road rage, with half of respondents admitting to suffering from it, followed by Liverpool (43%), London (43%), and Brighton (42%).

Lee Chambers MSc MBPsS, a leading Environmental Psychologist, commented on the research:

“Driving by nature is stressful and we cannot control what other road users and pedestrians do. Because our space in a vehicle is limited, on roads which are often congested, it has a level of density which can trigger aggressive responses, more so than outside of a vehicle.
“With the aggression that is triggered from being in an enclosed space, where you can control the vehicle but not any other road user, it can feel like a personal attack if another driver puts you in danger or closes your space.
“We trigger the flight or fight response, but have no ability to flee, leaving us fighting and all the irrational behaviours that are triggered, turning even the most relaxed characters into raging road users.”

Ben Wooltorton, Chief Operating Officer of InsuretheGap also commented on the research:

“With this study, we set out to find out how differently people behave when they’re behind the wheel of the car and why this might be the case. The findings certainly suggest that we feel more shielded in our vehicles than we do out in public, with so many people admitting to acting differently and, in particular, more aggressively than they would do in public.
“With the majority of respondents acknowledging that they behave more aggressively behind the wheel, this perhaps highlights that we could all do more to ensure how we behave behind the wheel reflects how we behave in similar circumstances in everyday life.”