Symmetric relationship between self and others in aggressive driving across gender and countries.

OBJECTIVE

It was hypothesized that the combination of self-reported aggressive behaviors committed by the driver himself/herself ("self" scale) and perceiving himself/herself as an object of other drivers' aggressive acts ("other" scale) increases road accident involvement risk across gender and countries. The aim of this study was, therefore, to investigate this symmetric relationship between aggressive driving of self and other and its relationship on accident involvement among British, Dutch, Finnish, and Turkish drivers.

METHODS

Survey studies of 3673 drivers were carried out in four countries; that is in Finland, Great Britain, The Netherlands, and Turkey. Analyses were conducted separately for men and women.

RESULTS

Overall, the interaction among aggressive warnings, hostile aggression, and revenge factors indicated that aggressive warnings might have a potential to release anger and escalate aggression both "within drivers" and "between drivers." Symmetric interpersonal aggression between aggressive warnings and hostile aggression and revenge factors of self and others created a serious risk for road accident involvement in every country except among British male and Finnish female drivers.

CONCLUSIONS

The other driver's aggressive behavior is significantly associated with increased accidents, except for Turkish male drivers. It seems that another driver's aggressive behavior can be important in predicting crashes-even more important than aggressive behavior on the part of the driver him- or herself.