A five-year study by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) revealed that women drivers have been found to be angrier than men.
The aim of the survey was to identify the number of agitated drivers who were categorized under three groups – high-anger drivers, medium-anger drivers and low-anger drivers. Karen Goonting, a Miros research fellow and psychologist said despite their inclination to be angrier, fewer women were involved in accidents because they tend to keep their anger bottled up. Women Are Better Drivers Than Men [Scientific Proof Included]
She told sources: ““Men are more prone to act out on their anger and may express it physically, as opposed to women. It may also be due to cultural factors. It is not generally acceptable for Asian women to be outwardly aggressive”.
She added that the downside to this was that women suffered more from depression than men due to keeping their anger bottle up.
Another noteworthy fact about the study was that location can also affect the drivers’ temper. Despite its scenic beaches and peaceful towns, Terengganu topped the list as the Malaysian state with the highest percentage of high-anger driver. [Source]
Malacca came in second, while Kuala Lumpur was third. It is believed that the cause for high-anger drivers in Malacca might be the narrow street and difficulties in finding parking spots. As for Kuala Lumpur, the causes of more high-anger drivers are quite possibly a no-brainer – daily traffic jams and long commutes.
101 Dalmations (1961)
Another interesting discovery was that Kedah emerged as the state with the least number of high-anger drivers, however the reason still remains unclear. Numerous theories include the abundant paddy fields could have a calming effect on drivers there.
The study also noted that 18% of the 13.3 registered drivers in Malaysia would come under the category of high-anger drivers.
“That’s very high. That means there are 2.4 million extremely angry drivers on our roads, which increases the probability of accidents,” said Goonting. She stressed that high-anger drivers were more likely to lose control of the vehicles, suffer loss of concentration and display verbal, physical or vehicular aggression on the road.
“And with this type of drivers, the anger sparked off is likely to stay with them throughout the rest of the journey,” she said.
According to Goonting, Malaysians were also found to be three or four times angrier than drivers in the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Spain and Turkey. She added that discourtesy like cutting queues, refusing to give way, failing to use indicators were the main causes of fury.
“The second strongest trigger is traffic obstructions, such as construction or repair works along roads. Other factors include rude or hostile gestures, driving too slowly, or getting stopped by the police,” Goonting added. [Source]
Do you agree with the study above? We’re convinced by the facts above and we really do agree than discourtesy on the road is one of the many causes of being angrier drivers, if not the cause of accidents.
