People's perception of an aggressive driver and the causes attributed to his/her behavior are provided. Participants, 389 undergraduate students, most of them women (53.8%), interpreted aggression scenes in road traffic and revealed their opinion on the aggressive driver (civility and rudeness) and on the driver's motivations (internal and external motivation) to behave with such aggressiveness. Participants filled the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire and demographic questions. Results indicated that the aggressive driver was perceived as demonstrating more rudeness than civility. In the participants' perception, however, the driver's aggressive behavior did not differ from the type of motivation. Participants with high scores in verbal aggression and physical aggression tended to minimize the negative connotation of the driver's aggressive behavior. Finally, the drive's aggressive behavior was judged as more internally determined when male and young. Findings are consistent with the literature.
Traffic; aggression; motivation
