PexelsFor a lot of people, their car is more than just an aid to get from A to B, but a part of their identity, too.
However, what most people are arguably completely unaware of, is the fact their choice of car could be revealing more about them than they think.
A new study has found that drivers of flashy, expensive vehicles are less likely to stop and allow pedestrians to cross the road, with the likelihood they’ll slow down decreasing by 3% for every $1,000 their car is worth.
PexelsTo put that into layman’s terms, having an expensive car means you’re more likely to be an asshole.
The study found that people who drive flashy cars ‘felt a sense of superiority over other road users’, according to researchers from the University of Nevada.
In the end, the researchers theorised that ‘disengagement and a lower ability to interpret thoughts and feelings of others along with feelings of entitlement and narcissism may lead to a lack of empathy for pedestrians’ among costly car owners.
PexelsInterestingly, this discovery isn’t new. A Finnish study published in the Journal of Transport and Health found men who own flashy vehicles are more likely to be ‘argumentative, stubborn, disagreeable and unempathetic’.
Now, I’m not saying that everyone who drives an expensive, flashy car is a bit of a knobhead, but the research results speak for themselves. But, hey, if you’re going to be a knob, you may as well be a knob in a nice car.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.