Study: Women drivers are angrier than men
Showing her displeasure: It is rare for Malaysian women drivers to externalise their anger when on the road.
(The Star) – Discourtesy on the road, such as cutting queues, refusing to give way, failing to use indicators before turning or changing lanes and triple parking on roadsides were found to be main causes of fury.
Malaysian women drivers have been found to be angrier than men behind the wheel.
However, despite their higher levels of anger, women drivers suffer fewer crashes and road fatalities.
This was revealed by results of a five-year study undertaken by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros).
The survey was to identify the number of agitated drivers, categorised under three groups – high-anger drivers, medium-anger drivers and low-anger drivers.
Miros research fellow and psychologist Karen Goonting said despite their inclination to be angrier, fewer women drivers were involved in accidents because they tend to keep their anger bottled up.
“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 told The Star.
Goonting said the downside to this was that women suffered more from depression than men as a result of turning their anger inwards.
Another surprising finding of the study was the demographics of where angry drivers were likely to be.
In spite of its scenic beaches and peaceful towns, Terengganu topped the list as the Malaysian state with the peak percentage of high-anger drivers.
The survey, however, did not look into the causes making drivers in Terengganu and the other states angrier, or less angry in some cases.
The state that emerged second in the list was Malacca while Kuala Lumpur was third.
It was speculated that the probable causes for angry drivers in Malacca might be the narrow streets and difficulties in finding parking spots.
The survey did not identify whether the drivers who displayed anger were locals or tourists who throng the historical city during weekends and public holidays.
In the case of Kuala Lumpur, the daily traffic jams and long commutes are the likely causes of more high-anger drivers.
Kedah emerged as the state with the least number of high-anger drivers but the reason for this remains unclear.
Perhaps the abundant padi fields have a calming effect on drivers there.
According to the study, 18% of the 13.3 million 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,” Goonting said.
She said high-anger drivers were more likely to lose control of their 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.
Malaysian drivers were also found to be three or four times angrier than drivers in the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Spain and Turkey under the study,” she said.
Discourtesy on the road, such as cutting queues, refusing to give way, failing to use indicators before turning or changing lanes and triple parking on roadsides were found to be 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.
She hoped that the findings of the study would help Malaysian drivers be more aware about the dangers of driving in an angry state and why they should always keep their cool while on the road.
The survey was also meant as an aid to traffic police so that they could conduct more efficient enforcement in the states with large numbers of high-anger drivers.
The study, conducted between 2009 and last year, measured the anger levels of 5,248 drivers (cars, buses and other vehicles, except motorcycles) in more than 103 districts throughout the country.
The drivers were asked to rate how angry they felt on a scale of from one to five (five being very angry, one being not angry) on matters ranging from illegal driving to hostile gestures.
High-anger drivers are defined as those who get angry about 642 times over an average of 300 driving days a year – two to three times higher than low-anger drivers.
Low-anger drivers are those who get angry about 264 times. They are angry less frequently and don’t keep anger as long as others.
