1nterceptor

"Now scientific research supports the unwritten and broadly circulated theory that people in BMWs are lacking in road manners. Paul K. Piff, a researcher at the Institute of Personality and Social Research at the University of California, Berkeley, has conducted a study linking bad driving habits with wealth."

Read the full article:
https://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2013...=fb-share&_r=0

B. Carfree

I loved the comment about Pious drivers. That is the one car that I truly fear on the road.

Chris516

I agree with wealthier drivers being more dangerous. But, It is not ONLY BMW drivers. It would have to include those driving a Ferrari, Porsche, Maserati, Cadillac, Rolls Royce, Corvette, Lamborghini, or any other luxury/sports car that I have missed.

Backroads

Interesting article. I wonder if the results would be the same with a larger sample size from across multiple regions of the country. I would like to see one regarding motorist behavior toward cyclists using the same principles but, again, a larger sample/region.

wphamilton

+1 for the need for "one regarding motorist behavior toward cyclists using the same principles ". My own impression, or bias, is that while the driving seems more aggressive in areas where there are more of the higher value cars, I prefer cycling in those areas because (it seems to me) they are generally more courteous to bikes.

FrenchFit 

Me thinks a little scientific club at Berkeley is searching for some press.

DX-MAN

Uh, yeah...this isn't new, or news.

The arrogance of privilege predates the French Revolution, and I wish right now I could recall the specific French 'noble' who pointedly demanded his carriage driver run over peasants in the streets when they didn't give way fast enough.

Really, all this study does is give validation to the BMW joke, comparing it to a porcupine....

Brandonub

This certainly matches my own experience, but I'm wary of confirmation bias. I've been buzzed by people in all manner of vehicles, it just seems like it's most common from the wealthier crowd. The most terrifying experience I has was certainly a BMW M5 buzzing me at about 65 MPH in a 25 MPH zone.

FBinNY 

I used to have similar disdain for drivers of BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, and other status cars. Less for these who drive more "legitimate" sports cars, but I've changed.

A few years back I crashed (all on my own, without help) leaving a decent amount of skin on the road. Who was the first perssosn to stop? Someone in a brand new top end Lexus. He positioned his car to block the road, and along with a nurse who happened to stop, helped me gather my wits and stayed while the nurse helped with a field assessment. Other than looking bad, I was fine, though maybe a bit shaken up. DSo he offered a lift but said we'd need to leave the bike, which I resolved by dropping both wheels and putting it in his trunk.

Here's what really won me over. He pulled out a skimpy towel and draped it over the pristine white velour front seat, and asked if I could keep my arms in and try to bleed as little as possible on his wife's new car. Then he drove me home.

So, a Lexus driver stops, stays with me, risks my staining his white car, and to to top it off, risks needing to explain to his wife how and why her car is bloodstained. He bought all Lexus drivers lots of grace from me.

009jim

No doubt arrogance and narcissism goes with wealth. That's how they got wealthy - by not giving a damn about ripping people off. Best thing you can do is drive and old pickup with a hefty 4 post bull-bar and just ram those suckers if they fail to pay you respect on the road.

dynodonn 

Forget the old pickup notion......new and fully decked out "Truckzilla" 4x4s tend to be the "BMW" of many of our local wealthy.

FenderTL5

Agree.


This just in https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...age-wheel.html
Beware of blue BMW drivers who really are the most aggressive and more prone to road rage when they get behind the wheel

FBinNY 

It's all well and good to make generalizations about driver attitudes as related to the cars they drive. There may even be truth to these, in a general sense.

However, out on the road, we don't deal with average, or typical drivers, or drivers as a class. We deal with individual drivers, and it's impossible to translate the general to the specific.

There may be differences in the likelihood of running into an obnoxious driver based on the vehicle, but there are good and bad drivers in all sorts of vehicles, and treating drivers as members of some sort of class is no better than drivers treating cyclists based on whether they're wearing lycra or not.

B. Carfree

Stop being so sensible. It's taking all the fun out of bigotry.

genec

Except this is two different studies, one in the UK and one in the US that both come to the same conclusion. The study in the UK was done by a commercial company "discount website VoucherCodesPro."

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...age-wheel.html

contango 

Meh, I've found people who drive Audi or BMW saloon cars are often asshats while people who drive the equally expensive Audi or BMW estates are not.

I've also found people driving old POS cars are sometimes very courteous and sometimes won't give way for anyone, regardless of their mode of transport.

It doesn't seem useful to say that rich people are less considerate than poor people, it's just another one of those useless overgeneralisations that assume people who are comparable in one attribute are comparable in all attributes.

genec

While "it doesn't seem useful..." two studies in two vastly different locations have come to the same conclusion...

Altair 4

All of this reminds me of the old joke: "What the difference between a porcupine and a BMW?" I suspect the answer would be censored, so I won't go there.

Number400

I was test driving a Benz years ago (used, very, very used), and we came to a four way with some other cars. The dealer said in his authentic German accent to "Step on it, Mertz-cedes always goes first!" I thought it was funny but I think that most people feel entitled and drive like **** and are rude, not just people in very nice cars.

nd2010

My dad tends to think that cyclists do not belong on the road in rush hour. He drives a Lexus. He just refuses to get it. I've had to stop him from passing a bike too close on a narrow road.

As for the Prius drivers, they might think they're all green with a status symbol that gets 60 miles a gallon, but bikes get infinite miles per gallon.

genec

I used to say "70 miles on a cheeseburger... "

ShoreCyclist

Why would anyone assume BMW drivers are rich?

San Rensho 

The porcupine has the pricks on the outside. I heard it originally about Porsches, but basically the same thing.

contango 

The one in the UK said that blue BMWs were the worst. A BMW could mean anything from a brand new 760iL to an old beat-up 318 or 316. A study of 2837 motorists isn't exactly huge in scope either.

I think I'll believe what I see on the ground in preference to an article that's fairly vague. What I see on the ground is that BMW saloons are usually worse than BMW estates, Audi saloons are worse than Audi estates, and that it's pointless to assume that people who are similar in one aspect are similar in other aspects.

genec

What the heck is a BMW "estate" or a "saloon?" A saloon is a bar... So I don't understand your meaning.

Frankly what I have seen is that in the more upscale part of town, those driving upscale cars tend to try to get away with more than those with older more beaten looking cars. The upscale car drivers have a tendency to not wait for pedestrians or stop signs, and tend to drive faster than the speed limit, and somehow seem afraid to use turn signals.

Those are my observations of 20 years of swimming in the ocean off of upscale La Jolla and driving through their village in my old beat down ugly '91 Toyota.

On the flip side, I got a very nice compliment (about handling traffic well) while out cycling, by a guy driving a Rolls... so go figure.