Transportation Research Part F 2 (1999) 225±236

www.elsevier.com/locate/trf

Does trac congestion increase driver aggression?

Timo Lajunen a,*, Dianne Parker a, Heikki Summala b
a
Department of Psychology, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
b
Trac Research Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Received 19 October 1999; received in revised form 16 December 1999; accepted 20 December 1999

Abstract
In his recent article about aggressive driving, David Shinar proposed that the classical frustration-ag-
gression hypothesis (Dollard, J., Doob, L., Miller, N., Mowrer, O. & Sears, R. (1939). Frustration and
aggression. New Haven, CN: Yale University Press) provides a useful tool for understanding driver
aggression (Shinar, D. (1998). Aggressive driving: the contribution of the drivers and situation. Transpor-
tation Research Part F, 1, 137±160). According to Shinar's (1998) application of the frustration±aggression
hypothesis, driver aggression is caused by frustration because of trac congestion and delays. In the
present study, the relationships between exposure to congestion (rush-hour driving) and aggressive viola-
tions (DBQ) were investigated in Great Britain, Finland and the Netherlands. Partial correlations showed
that the frequency of rush-hour driving did not correlate statistically signi®cantly with driver aggression.
Correlations between driving during rush-hour and aggression did not di€er in magnitude from those
between driving on country roads and aggressive violations. In addition, correlations between exposure to
congestion and aggressive violations in countries with large number of vehicles per road kilometre (UK,
Netherlands) were not higher than those in a sparsely populated country (Finland). These results from three
countries suggest that congestion does not increase driver aggression as directly as suggested by Shinar
(1998). Ó 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Trac congestion; Aggression; Driver behaviour questionnaire; Cross-cultural

1. Introduction

Recent surveys have shown that aggressive behaviour among road-users is becoming more and
more common (Joint, 1995; Lex Report on Motoring, 1996; Mizell, 1997; Parker, Lajunen &

*
Corresponding author. Correspondence address: Department of Psychology, Middle East Technical University,
Metu, 06531, Ankara, Turkey. Tel.: +90-312-210-3126; fax: +90-312-210-1288.
E-mail address: timo@metu.edu.tr (T. Lajunen).

1369-8478/00/$ - see front matter Ó 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 1 3 6 9 - 8 4 7 8 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 0 3 - 6
226 T. Lajunen et al. / Transportation Research Part F 2 (1999) 225±236

Stradling, 1998; Sample Surveys Ltd, 1996). In addition to estimating the prevalence of driver
aggression in di€erent countries, trac psychologists have been trying to uncover those factors
which precipitate it. In the most recent studies, the factors of interest have been driver attitudes
(Parker et al., 1998), personality factors (Underwood, Chapman, Wright & Crundall, 1999),
drivers' safety-orientation (Lajunen, Parker & Stradling, 1998) and trac conditions, especially
trac congestion (Shinar, 1998). Hence, the focus of the studies have been either on the individual
di€erences between an aggressive and a non-aggressive driver or in situational variables such as
the trac conditions and trac ergonomics.
In his recently published article in Transportation Research Part F, Shinar (1998) shared the
popular view that aggressive driving is mainly caused by increasingly congested roads. The the-
oretical basis for Shinar's (1998) view was the classic frustration±aggression hypothesis put for-
ward by Dollard, Doob, Mowrer, Miller, and Sears (1939). The frustration±aggression hypothesis
contains two claims about the causes of aggression. First, frustration conceptualised as the
blocking or thwarting of some form of ongoing, goal-directed behaviour, always leads to some
form of aggression. Secondly, aggression always stems from frustration (Dollard et al., 1939). 1 In
trac settings, the frustration±aggression hypothesis shifts the focus inevitably from the driver to
factors related to those trac conditions which impede drivers from reaching their goals (mobility
and/or pleasure). In accordance with the frustration±aggression hypothesis, Shinar (1998) pro-
posed that the main cause of the increasing prevalence of aggressive driving is the increasing
congestion on the roads, because it increases the societal level of frustration and, consequently,
aggressive driving. According to Shinar (1998), the frustration caused by increasing congestion
exceeds the `threshold of overt aggressive behaviour' of more and more people, leading to
increased aggressive behaviour on the road.
Shinar's (1998) application of the frustration±aggression hypothesis in trac suggests that
frequent driving in frustrating conditions, like in rush-hour trac, is strongly related to aggressive
behaviour on the roads (see also Sleek, 1996). Hence, drivers frequently exposed to congestion
and dense trac should resort to aggressive trac behaviour more frequently than drivers who
are exposed to congestion less frequently. The ®rst aim of the present study is to investigate
whether the aggressive violations measured by the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (Reason,
Manstead, Stradling, Baxter & Campbell, 1990) are more strongly related to frequent rush-hour
driving than driving in less-congested conditions in the countryside. The second aim is to compare
the strength of the correlation between the frequency of aggressive violations and rush-hour
driving to the strength of correlation between non-aggressive `ordinary' violations (Parker et al.,
1998) and errors and rush-hour driving. A strong relationship between aggressive violations and
frequent exposure to congestion would support the frustration±aggression hypothesis.
There are large di€erences in the density of population between European countries. The most
sparsely populated country in the European Union is Finland with 16 inhabitants per square
kilometre whereas among the most densely populated countries are Great Britain (242 inhabitants
per square kilometre) and the Netherlands (375 inhabitants per square kilometre) (IRTAD, 1997).
These ®gures are re¯ected also in the number of the vehicles per kilometre of road. In 1996, the

1
A theoretical critism of the frustration±aggression hypothesis and its application to trac psychology can be found
in Lajunen and Parker (1999).
 T. Lajunen et al. / Transportation Research Part F 2 (1999) 225±236 227

trac density in Finland was 28.1 vehicles per kilometre of road whereas in Britain the same
number was 62.9 and in the Netherlands 48.9 (IRF, 1998). The growth of the number of vehicles
per kilometre in Great Britain, Finland and the Netherlands from 1978 to 1996 is displayed in
Fig. 1. It shows that the number of vehicles has been increasing faster than the length of the road
network leading to more and more congested trac and ± if the frustration±aggression hypothesis
is correct ± more aggressive drivers. Fig. 1 indicates that Dutch and British trac is almost equally
congested whereas trac in Finland is far less dense. According to Shinar (1998), increasing
congestion results in `increase in the level of societal frustration' and aggressive driving.
According to this argument, we would expect to ®nd similar levels of frustration among British
and Dutch drivers, and lower levels among Finnish drivers. Moreover, since trac jams in Fin-
land are much less common and less severe than in Great Britain and in the Netherlands, the
relationship between exposure to congestion and aggressive driving should be weaker in Finland
than in Britain and the Netherlands. The third aim of the present study is to investigate national
di€erences between Britain, Finland and the Netherlands in the strength of correlations between
frequency of rush-hour driving and aggressive violations.
Several studies of human aggression show that men are more aggressive than women on an
average, and more likely to engage in overt physical aggression (for a review see Berkowitz, 1993).
According to the aggression literature, however, the relationship between gender and aggres-
siveness seems to be very complex. Men have been reported to be more prone to aggression that
produces pain or physical injury than to aggression that causes psychological or social harm
(Eagly & Ste€en, 1986). In addition, women seem to be more concerned about the outcome (harm
to the target, guilt, danger to oneself) than men (Eagly & Ste€en, 1986). In their meta-analytical
study, Bettencourt and Miller (1996) showed that provocation attenuates the di€erence between
sexes: gender di€erences in appraisals of the provocation intensity and the fear of retaliation
partially mediate the attenuating e€ect of provocation. It is also possible that male and female
drivers di€er from each other in their response to frustration caused by congestion and delays. In
the present paper, therefore, analyses were performed separately for men and women.

Fig. 1. The number of vehicles per kilometre of road from 1978 to 1996 in Great Britain, Finland and the Netherlands
(source: World Road Statistics by International Road Federation).
228 T. Lajunen et al. / Transportation Research Part F 2 (1999) 225±236

2. Method

2.1. Participants

The data reported in this article were collected as a part of a large questionnaire survey of
aggressive driving. Samples of 2000 subjects were selected from the Finnish register of car owners,
the electoral register in the UK and the register of telephone users in the Netherlands. In Finland
and Britain, an equal number of men and women were selected. Unfortunately, it was not possible
to get this kind of strati®ed sample in the Netherlands, so the Dutch sample was a random sample
of telephone users. Special care was taken to select representative samples of the whole geo-
graphical area of the countries involved. A questionnaire and a cover letter together with a
Freepost return envelope were sent to the participants. The participants were assured of ano-
nymity and con®dentiality. After three weeks, a reminder letter was posted to those participants
who had not returned their questionnaire. The response rate after the reminder was 40.7% in the
UK, 34.3% in the Netherlands and 55.7% in Finland. In the Finnish sample, information obtained
from the register of car owners included driversÕ dates of birth in addition to postal addresses.
Hence, the response rates for di€erent age groups could be calculated. The response rate was
lowest among 26±45 yr old Finnish men (42%) and highest among women under 26 yr old (66%).
Response rate among young Finnish women (66%) was higher than among young Finnish men
(48%).
Lower response rates for Great Britain and the Netherlands were partly due to the fact that the
sampling in these countries was not targeted only at drivers (we did not get access to the British
and Dutch registers of car owners). Consequently, some questionnaires were sent to people not
having a driving licence. In order to estimate the `true' response rates, the response rates gained in
Britain and the Netherlands would have to be scaled in proportion to the percentage of driving
licence holders in the countries concerned. The characteristics of the Finnish, British and Dutch
samples are presented in Table 1.

2.2. Measures

2.2.1. Aggressive violations, ordinary violations and errors

The driver behaviour questionnaire (DBQ) measures three forms of aberrant driver behaviour:
lapses, errors and violations (Reason et al., 1990). In the present study, the extended 28-item DBQ

Table 1
Mean age (SD), gender distribution and the mean of years full driving licence held (SD) of the British, Dutch and
Finnish participants
N Mean age Females (%) Years full driving licence held
Britons 813 39.4 48.4 18.4
(14.5) (12.9)
Dutch 686 45.7 29.0 23.7
(14.8) (13.1)
Finns 1114 37.4 54.1 16.9
(15.1) (12.9)
 T. Lajunen et al. / Transportation Research Part F 2 (1999) 225±236 229

Table 2
Means and standard deviations (in brackets) for the DBQ aggressive violations, ordinary violations and errors as well
as for the frequency of driving during rush hours and on country roads for the British, Dutch and Finnish data
Aggressive Ordinary violations Errors Frequency of rush Frequency of driving
violations (3 items) (8 items) (8 items) hour driving on country roads
Britons 2.11 7.84 3.97 4.78 4.84
(2.11) (5.57) (2.98) (1.59) (1.38)
Dutch .49 7.52 4.94 4.40 4.25
(.55) (4.76) (3.69) (1.90) (1.78)
Finns 1.46 7.46 4.03 4.73 5.39
(1.66) (4.97) (3.01) (1.49) (.95)

(Lawton, Parker, Stradling & Manstead, 1997; Parker et al., 1998) was translated into Dutch and
Finnish. Only the violation and error scales were used in the present study. The extended version
includes two types of violations, i.e., aggressive and ordinary violations. The aggressive violations
(3 items) involve at least some intention to indicate aggression to another road-user (e.g., to sound
your horn to indicate your annoyance; to give chase with the intention of giving another driver a
piece of your mind; to indicate your hostility by whatever means you can). Unlike in some other
studies which used horn honking as an indicator of aggression, the aggressive violations in the
DBQ are unambiguously aggressive behaviours. The rest of the violation items (8 items) were
ordinary violations without aggressive content. These items included behaviours aimed at gaining
advantage and maintaining progress (Lawton et al., 1997). Respondents were asked to indicate
how often, if at all, they themselves do each of the violations and errors when driving. Responses
were recorded on a 6-point scale from Never to Nearly all the time. Alpha reliability coecients
were computed for the aggressive violations, ordinary violations and error (8 items) scales in the
British, Dutch and Finnish data. Cronbach's alpha values were .68, .65 and .73 for aggressive
violations for British, Dutch and Finnish data, respectively; .80, .75 and .79 for ordinary viola-
tions; .73, .64 and .73 for errors. Means and standard deviations for the DBQ scales for the
British, Dutch and Finnish samples are displayed in Table 2.

2.2.2. Exposure to congested trac

It can be supposed that drivers are subjected to the most congestion during rush-hours. Sim-
ilarly, the least dense trac conditions can be found on country roads. Hence, these two con-
ditions should represent the far ends of the continuum of exposure to frustration caused by trac
congestion. In order to establish respondents' exposure to congested and non-congested trac
conditions, drivers were asked how frequently they usually drive during rush-hours and on
country roads. Response alternatives were `every day' (6), `weekly' (5), `two times/month'
(4), `once a month' (3), `twice a year' (2) and `almost never' (1).
Means and standard deviations for the frequency of driving during rush-hours and on country
roads for the British, Dutch and Finnish data are listed in Table 2. The frequency of driving on
country roads was highest among Finns (mean 5.39) followed by Britons (4.84), being the lowest
among Dutch (4.25). In fact, 57.4% of Finnish drivers reported themselves driving on country
roads daily whereas the same ®gure for Britons was 40.9% and for Dutch 30.9%. The frequency of
230 T. Lajunen et al. / Transportation Research Part F 2 (1999) 225±236

driving on country roads obviously re¯ects the density of population and urbanisation of the
countries concerned.
The frequency of rush-hour driving was highest among Britons (mean 4.78) and lowest among
Dutch (mean 4.40). Over 49% of British, 40.9% of Dutch and 36.6% of Finnish respondents re-
ported that they drive daily during rush-hours. However, the percentage of respondents driving
never during rush-hours followed somewhat di€erent pattern: 6.8% of Finns, 9.2% of Britons and
15.8% of Dutch drivers reported that they never drive during rush-hours. These ®gures may partly
re¯ect the fact that the mean age of the Dutch sample was higher than that of British and Finnish
samples due to a di€erent sampling strategy. Pensioners, for example, can choose not to drive
during rush-hours whereas most commuters cannot avoid rush-hours. In addition to the sample
characteristics, the frequency of rush-hour driving might re¯ect the use of public transport in
di€erent countries.

3. Results

Tables 3 and 4 show partial correlations between the DBQ scales (aggressive and normal
violations, errors) and frequency of driving during the rush-hour or on country roads among
British, Dutch and Finnish men (Table 3) and women (Table 4). In the partial correlations, e€ects
of variables other than those of interest were partialled out. Since ordinary and aggressive vio-
lations might correlate with each other to some extent (Parker et al., 1998), the use of partial
correlations is necessary to study the `clean' relationships between aggressive violations and
exposure to congestion. 2 An alpha level of .05 was used for all statistical tests.

3.1. Correlations between aggressive violations, ordinary violations, and errors and exposure to
congested trac

According to Shinar's (1998) application of the frustration±aggression hypothesis, the rela-

tionship between the exposure to congestion and aggressive violations should be stronger than the
relationship between exposure to non-congested conditions and aggressive violations. Table 3
shows that there were no di€erences in the magnitudes of correlations between frequency of rush-
hour driving and aggression compared to correlations between driving in countryside and ag-
gressive violations among British (one-tailed t…402† ˆ :264, ns), Dutch (t…441† ˆ :985, ns) and
Finnish (t…478† ˆ :390, ns) men. Table 4 shows the same lack of di€erences in the magnitudes of
correlations among British (t…350† ˆ :707, ns), Dutch (t…156† ˆ 1:021, ns) and Finnish
(t…530† ˆ 1:550, ns) women. The largest e€ect size between aggressive driving and rush-hour
driving was as low as .01 (Table 4). It can be concluded, ®rst, that there are no statistically
signi®cant relations between the amount of exposure to congestion or to non-congestion and

2
The APA Publication Manual (American Psychological Association, 1994) encourages researchers to provide e€ect
size information in addition to the probability values of the statistical tests even if the e€ect sizes are readily obtainable
from test statistics and sample sizes, as in the case of correlation coecients. In addition to partial correlations, the
e€ect sizes are shown in brackets in Tables 3 and 4 for British, Dutch and Finnish samples.
 T. Lajunen et al. / Transportation Research Part F 2 (1999) 225±236 231

Table 3
Partial correlations between DBQ scale scores and frequency of driving during rush hour or in country roads among
British, Dutch and Finnish men. E€ect sizes are presented in brackets
Britons Dutch Finns
Rush Country Rush Country Rush Country
Aggressive violations .034 .017 .072 ).072 .023 ).001
(.001) (.000) (.005) (.005) (.000) (.000)
Ordinary violations .197 ).057 .137 ).014 .156 ).053
(.039) (.003) (.019) (.000) (.024) (.003)
Errors ).115 ).043 ).078 .001 ).085 ).001
(.013) (.002) (.006) (.000) (.007) (.000)
*
P < .001.
**
P < .01.
***
P < .05.

Table 4
Partial correlations between DBQ scale scores and frequency of driving during rush hour or in country roads among
British, Dutch and Finnish women. E€ect sizes are in presented brackets
Britons Dutch Finns
Rush Country Rush Country Rush Country
Aggressive violations .016 ).036 .104 ).005 .064 ).018
(.000) (.001) (.011) (.000) (.004) (.000)
Ordinary violations .159 .034 .230 ).043 .139 ).025
(.025) (.000) (.053) (.001) (.019) (.000)
Errors ).065 ).047 ).042 .128 ).006 .059
(.004) (.002) (.002) (.016) (.000) (.003)
*
P < .05.
**
P < .001.
***
P < .01.

aggressive behaviour in trac. Moreover, frequent exposure to congestion does not increase the
frequency of aggressive driver behaviour signi®cantly more than frequent driving in the coun-
tryside in less-congested conditions.
Tables 3 and 4 also show that the correlations between ordinary violations and frequency of
rush-hour driving were stronger than those between aggressive violations and driving during the
rush-hour. The correlations between ordinary violations and amount of driving in the countryside
were small and statistically non-signi®cant. The highest correlation was found between rush-hour
driving and ordinary violations (r ˆ :23) among Dutch women. In this case the frequency of
exposure to rush-hour driving accounted for 5% of the variance in ordinary violations (Table 4).
Ordinary violations correlated more strongly with the frequency of rush-hour driving than with
frequency of driving in the country roads. This was found among British men (t…402† ˆ 4:031;
P < :001) and women (t…350† ˆ 1:717; P < :05), Dutch men (t…441† ˆ 2:477; P < :01) and
women (t…156† ˆ 2:618; P < :01) and Finnish men (t…478† ˆ 3:444; P < :001) and women
(t…530† ˆ 3:130; P < :01).
232 T. Lajunen et al. / Transportation Research Part F 2 (1999) 225±236

Correlations (negative) between errors and frequency of rush-hour driving were statistically
signi®cant (at the 5% signi®cance level) among British and Finnish men. The magnitudes of
correlations between rush-hour driving and errors did not di€er from those between errors and
driving on country roads in the British (t…403† ˆ ÿ1:123, ns for men; t…344† ˆ ÿ:245, ns for
women), Dutch (t…441† ˆ ÿ1:287, ns for men; t…156† ˆ ÿ1:600, ns for women) and Finnish
(t…478† ˆ :983, ns for men; t…530† ˆ ÿ1:229, ns for women) data.

3.2. Di€erences between nationalities in the strength of correlation between exposure to rush-hour
driving and aggressive violations

If the suggestion that a larger number of vehicles on the roads increases driver aggression holds
true, then the relationship between exposure to congestion and driver aggression should be
stronger in countries with relatively congested roads than in countries with fewer vehicles per road
kilometre. Since the Finnish roads are far less congested than the roads in densely populated
Britain and the Netherlands and consequently the time spent in trac jams presumably shorter,
the relationship between exposure to trac congestion and aggressive trac violations should be
stronger in the British and Dutch data than in the Finnish data. However, no statistically sig-
ni®cant di€erence in the magnitudes of those correlations were found between British and Dutch
(z ˆ ÿ:545), British and Finnish (z ˆ :161) or Dutch and Finnish (z ˆ :734) males. Similarly, there
were no statistically signi®cant di€erences in correlations between rush-hour driving and ag-
gressive violations between British and Dutch (z ˆ ÿ:891), British and Finnish (z ˆ ÿ:690) or
Dutch and Finnish (z ˆ :429) females. It can be concluded that the relationship between exposure
to congestion and aggressive driver behaviour is as weak in relatively congested countries such as
Great Britain and the Netherlands as in countries with a lover levels of congestion like Finland.
The correlations between ordinary violations and congestion were also compared, as were the
correlations between self-reported errors and exposure to congestion. However, no statistically
signi®cant di€erences were found between the correlations found in di€erent countries (the
z-values ranged from ).877 to .883 and were all statistically non-signi®cant).

4. Discussion

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the frequency of being exposed to
trac congestion increases aggressive driver behaviour as suggested by Shinar (1998). Fairly large
data sets were collected in three countries, two (Britain and Netherlands) relatively densely
populated and one (Finland) relatively thinly populated area of the EU. According to Shinar's
(1998) application of the frustration±aggression hypothesis, frequent exposure to trac conges-
tion and thus to frustration should lead to aggressive behaviour on the roads. Similarly, the
majority of the adult population (i.e., holders of a driving licence) in relatively congested countries
like Britain and the Netherlands should be considerably more frustrated and aggressive than the
majority of Finns if we assume that other background factors related to aggression were com-
parable in these three countries. However, the results of the present study did not give much
support to these claims. In general, the relationship between exposure to congestion as measured
by frequency of rush-hour driving, and aggressive violations was weak in all three countries.
 T. Lajunen et al. / Transportation Research Part F 2 (1999) 225±236 233

Media reports and several surveys suggest that aggressive behaviour on the roads has increased
drastically in recent years. According to a survey conducted among 526 members of UK Auto-
mobile Association, 62% of respondents said that the behaviour of motorists has become worse in
recent years (Joint, 1995). It should be noted, however, that in most studies the change in prev-
alence of driver aggression has been studied by asking the respondents if trac behaviour has
become worse or better. Changes in trac culture and attitudes are slow. Therefore, it can be
asked whether drivers can actually make such assessment, or do their opinions rather re¯ect the
views of the media. In Parry's (1968) survey among 382 British drivers in 1968, 9% of the men and
1% of women reported that they had been in a ®ght with another driver, and 7% of the men and
2% of the women reported that they had deliberately driven at another vehicle. In relatively recent
British studies, .3% (Sample Surveys, 1996), .2% (Joint, 1995) and 3.6% (Lajunen, Mesken, Parker
& Summala, 1999) of drivers reported that they have physically attacked another road-user at
least once, and .2% of respondents admitted ramming a vehicle (Sample Surveys, 1996). Although
these studies cannot be directly compared to each other and the data from self-reports are always
open to question, it can be claimed that at least the most severe forms of driver aggression have
not become more common in the last 30 yr, during which time the number of cars on the British
roads have risen dramatically. Since proper follow-up studies of aggressive driving are not
yet available, suggestions of a drastic increase in driver aggression should be greeted with
reservations.
The results of the present study showed that exposure to driving during the rush-hour corre-
lated with ordinary violations among both men and women in all three countries. Frequency of
driving on relatively quiet country roads was not related to ordinary violations. These ®ndings
suggest that rather than driver aggression, deliberate risky driving is positively related to exposure
to congestion. The aim of the ordinary violations is to gain advantage (e.g., speeding) or to
maintain progress (e.g., running red lights) (Lawton et al., 1997). Hence, the objective of ordinary
violations is rather more instrumental than the emotional expression of anger (Lajunen et al.,
1998). The correlation found in the present study between rush-hour driving and ordinary vio-
lations might indicate that violating behaviour actually pays o€ in rush-hour trac. For example,
fast lane changing to less congested lane or use of a bus lane actually give the driver at least a
feeling of advancement. It is also possible that daily exposure to congested trac teaches drivers
to cope with congestion by changing driving style and reserving more time for the journey and,
therefore, does not necessarily cause as much frustration as might be predicted. We might spec-
ulate that, in contrast with expected congestion, an unexpected delay due to other road-users that
is not necessarily related to the general level of congestion of the roads may result in emotional
responses and aggression.
According to Shinar's claims, increasingly congested roads lead to frustration and more
aggressive societies. On the other hand, it is more likely that national culture in general determines
trac culture rather than vice versa. In the US and UK studies of regional di€erences in road
accident and homicide rates, it has been reported that road-death rates are to some extent the
result of expression of aggression in the wider society (Connell & Joint, 1997; Potter®eld, 1960;
Sivak, 1983; Whitlock, 1971). These studies indicate that the general acceptance of aggression as a
means of solving interpersonal problems, lack of social responsibility and a harsh and competitive
atmosphere may lead to more aggressive trac culture. As proposed by Connell and Joint (1997),
driver aggression may act as an index of a society's general propensity to aggression. If this is the
234 T. Lajunen et al. / Transportation Research Part F 2 (1999) 225±236

case, countermeasures should be based mainly on driver training and attitude change by educa-
tional programs.
In the present study, the focus was on aggressive driver behaviour. The results indicated that
exposure to congestion does not signi®cantly increase the likelihood of aggressive behaviour.
Hence, the hypothesised congestion±aggression link was not supported, at least not in a general
form. However, driver stress or feelings related to exposure to congestion were not recorded. In
earlier studies about driver stress, it has been found that rush-hour trac congestion is interpreted
as stressful by many drivers which is also re¯ected in physiological stress measures like in blood
pressure and heart rate (see Hennessy & Wiesenthal, 1997). Although it is fairly clear that trac
jams increase the likelihood of frustration and negative emotions, frustration does not necessarily
always lead to aggressive acts. It is more likely, according to the results of the present paper, that
drivers frequently exposed to trac jams commit ordinary trac violations having instrumental
aims. The primary aim of a driver delayed by a trac jam is to be at his or her destination in time,
not to spend time getting involved in arguments with other road users.
The present study has some methodological limitations. First, the data were based solely on
drivers' self-reports of behaviour and no observations of behaviour were made. It is possible that
some respondents embellished their answers about aggressive driving. However, the respondents
completed the questionnaires anonymously and could not gain anything by giving biased re-
sponses. In earlier studies using a similar methodology, the aggressive violation scores have
correlated with personality (Lajunen et al., 1998) and attitudinal (Parker et al., 1998) measures
rather strongly, so the lack of signi®cant correlations between exposure measures and aggressive
violations cannot be explained simply by methodological short-comings. Despite some method-
ological worries related to self-reports of behaviour, questionnaires or interviews are almost the
only way of getting information about drivers' intentions. Especially in the trac context the
intention of most behaviours (like honking or ¯ashing lights) is often ambiguous (Naatanen &
Summala, 1976; Shinar, 1998) and cannot be unambiguously inferred from the behaviour itself.
Second, the response rates especially in Britain and the Netherlands were rather low. As in every
study based on a sample of volunteers, it is possible that the most aggressive drivers did not
participate in the study. Completing a form and returning it to researchers requires a willingness
to co-operate which antisocial and aggressive drivers may well lack. On the other hand, measuring
a driverÕs exposure to various trac conditions, like trac jams, can be measured practically only
by self-reports (e.g., interview) and, therefore, would face the same problem of sampling error as
questionnaire studies. It can even be claimed that this error caused by hostile drivers refusing to
participate an interview would be even larger than the bias in questionnaire studies. An aggressive
driver singled out from the trac ¯ow would not necessarily be more co-operative and honest in
his/her answers than a driver answering anonymously a questionnaire at home.
Third, frequency of driving during rush-hours was used as a measure for exposure to frus-
tration in trac. It should be noted that the term `rush-hours' refers rather to a time of a day
(`hours') than simply to congestion although the trac is usually the most congested during rush-
hours. In addition, the terms rush-hour and `congestion' have di€erent meanings in di€erent
countries. In densely populated countries where roads are very congested, driversÕ criteria of
calling trac `congested' or a `trac jam' is probably higher than in sparsely populated countries.
In addition to these national di€erences, there might also be large regional (countryside vs. cities)
and individual di€erences in driversÕ criteria for calling trac congested. In the present study,
 T. Lajunen et al. / Transportation Research Part F 2 (1999) 225±236 235

however, we were looking at driversÕ behavioural responses to subjective perceptions of being in a

congested situation. Hence, the relative ± not absolute ± amount of congestion was measured. The
subjective perception of congestion might be even more important predictor of behaviour than
absolute amount of congestion. It is a driverÕs perception of the situation which ®nally accounts.
Recently published studies about the causes of driver aggression have focused mainly either on
trac conditions (Shinar, 1998) or on individual di€erences in personality (Underwood et al.,
1999), attitudes (Parker et al., 1998) and a driver's self-view as a driver (Lajunen et al., 1998).
Researchers supporting the former approach see that the problem of aggressive driving can be
solved by removing the causes of frustration like trac jams from trac by the means of trac
engineering and planning. Removing all causes of delays is, however, practically impossible in
densely populated countries if the number of vehicles cannot be reduced drastically, for example,
by means of trac policy and taxation. Forcing drivers to give up driving would probably cause
more frustration than delays caused by congestion do. Therefore, it seems that it would be more
useful to focus on altering the driverÕs subjective perceptions of the situation they ®nd themselves
in, and their role in it. A good starting point might be to concentrate on persuading drivers to see
trac more as team-work in which everyone bene®ts from collaboration.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Jolieke Mesken for her help in data collection and translation of the
questionnaires. This research was supported by the grants of the European Commission (contract
No. ERBFMBICT972398), and the Finnish Organisation for Trac Safety (Liikenneturva).
Ajoneuvohallintokeskus is thanked for providing the names and addresses of car owners in
Finland.

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