Why Bumper Stickers Can Kill You

I used to think that the most dangerous thing about bumper stickers was that they make curious drivers inch ever closer to the car in front of them in order to read the things ("He Put the Duh in W," perhaps, or "At Least the War on the Environment is Going Well," or "49% ***, 51% Sweetheart; Don't Push It," or "If There Is a Tourist Season, Why Can't We Shoot Them?"--for all of which I am indebted to http://www.bumperart.com). But no, bumper stickers pose another danger: drivers who plaster their vehicles with the things are more prone to road rage than drivers who leave their car or truck unadorned.

As scientists led by Lucy Troup and her student William Szlemko of Colorado State University report in the June issue of the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, it's a simple matter of territoriality. Researchers have long known that drivers who have a strong sense of personal space while in their vehicle are more likely to be road-ragers, and the more someone plasters his vehicle with bumper stickers and decals the more territorial he feels about the space inside.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[sallyrover]

The point about "territoriality" is a good one, but I find that having bumperstickers makes me a BETTER driver, since I am representing the things (mostly cultural) that I celebrate in my stickers, almost all of which I had professionally made. My car is my "turf," but I want to be able to readily find it in a huge parking lot. I want to let other Achievers know that I too have been to Lebowski Fest. I have found other fans of the bands I support and met actors from shows that I made cryptic bumperstickers for. My car, my stickers, are meant as an invitation, not a threat. I love any time I can see creative expressions of vivid personalities zoom by, and I care lots more about imaginative bumperstickers than I do about what Benz or Lexus or Ferrari anyone is driving.

[SaraPulis]

The analysis of "territoriality" is putting the cart before the horse. Bumper stickers don't magically make you have a "strong sense of personal space while in their vehicle" because you post them but you post them because of the aforementioned characteristic. One might say that they are more a marker of those prone to it. Also, if someone "inch[es] ever closer to the car in front of them in order to read the things" then maybe they ought to be wearing glasses to begin with?

[jsump]

The article did not say that bumper stickers were causal. You simply chose to misread it.

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

I don't know about road rage. It seems to me that the greatest danger comes from other people who don't like your bumper sticker. I saw a truck with a Confederate flag and I had dreams (just dreams) of blowing them up with a rocket launcher.

I do know that bumper stickers can cause Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. In 1965, a friend gave me the classic "Make Love Not War," bumper sticker which I put on the back of my beautiful red and black Karmann Ghia. The nest morning I was rear-ended right on the bumper sticker and I have been unable to place a bumper sticker on my cars since then.

[cheshirecat831]

I am skeptical of this study. Would love to see how large their sample was etc. But, as to bumper stickers, I think they are a very good anti-theft device along with a vanity plate. I just put a pogue mo thon sticker (google it) on for the benefit of tailgaters. I wonder what these researchers have to say about them...I would say they generally don't have stickers but they certainly believe they own the road and you should get out of their way.

[wagadog]

No no no! You don't need that!

"most people" see "studies show" and "scientists say" and simply believe everything that follows.

Studies show that most people will believe anything that a newspaper publishes that it claims was said by scientists.

See?

[fcsakes]

I did have a comment, but for the second time in two days, it has been removed by something called "The bad word filter."

I do not know what that is, but I am removing Huffpo from my bookmarks - I've been censored in better joints than this and I don't spend my money there anymore either.

Ta ta!

[mamacat]

Do people in other countries put bumper stickers on their cars, or is it more of an American thing?

Two years ago, my "Impeach Bush" bumper sticker got me mostly the finger and angry fists. Now, I get mostly cheers and thumbs up.

There is a risk involved in voicing an opinion, but at least we still have the freedom to do it.

[Weathermaker]

No, they don't. At least in Europe.

[dyspeptic]

This is entirely contrary to my experience. I suspect that it is junk science. In my experience, road ragers are more often young white guys with big trucks. Bumper stickers go on cars of girls, hippies and older guys. Not the aggro types at all, those.

[SecretSquirrel666]

Who else do you stereotype with anecdotal evidence?

[cheshirecat831]

I agree.

[billsmile]

I think the problem is that too few folks let their thoughts/feelings show on their rear bumpers. More folks should voice their political opinions via bumper stickers.

Voicing your political opinion and hearing or seeing other opinions is what democracy is largely about.

If everybody did it, the road rage crap would decline & folks would feel obliged to investigate politics & form an opinion.

I, to this day, still totally respect the guy who had an IMPEACH BUSH sticker on his bumper in 2002.

[StrayTalk]

Don't forget to put your Obama sticker on your car if you support him. Your Kucinich one is starting to look ratty.

[wadenelson1]

Remember when you pull your "bush 2004" or "support our troops" adorned vehicle into the Jiffe Lube the guy working there for $10/hour may not see things quite the way you do.

[JScott]

I never have a bumper sticker anymore, for one thing I don't subscribe to a bumper sticker as the totality of my belief, another is that after you tear it off it leaves a mark that doesn't wash off.
And if you have a classic car, a bumper sticker just ruins the look.

[RTIII]

This story is off base.

The REAL risk from bumper stickers is that you advertise your opinions to people around you who may have guns - and disagree.
.

[rektruax]

That's what I thought the story would eventually get to, but it never did.


As I try to teach my daughters... Don't wear your politic opinion on your sleeves (or automobile). There's few things more shallow or apathetic then some fool who thinks they're really doing something by buying a bumper sticker. Also, depending on your opinion in social matters, you're just asking for your vehicle to be defaced in a parking lot.


While I've never heard of a rationalist (I refuse the term Atheist) who has damaged a "WWJD?" or "Fish" stickered car, a few of my like-minded friends have returned to their cars with smashed rear-view mirrors with a pleasant xtian "you're going to hell" note, or their Darwin fish sticker removed with a knife and the paint ruined (believers are such children).


"Never tell anybody outside the family what you're thinking." - Vito Corleone

[jalapeno]

Abortion stops a beating heart!!

Yea, and so will this fist!

[axt113]

Some beating hearts need to be stopped