Automobile driving and aggressive behavior have had an extensive association. Themes of dominance and territoriality have long been part of automobile driving, which has also involved flagrant assaultive actions. Recent episodes of roadway violence in metropolitan areas have raised community concern about aggressive behavior in driving, although common beliefs about why such violence occurs can be seen as pseudoexplanations. Various themes in the psychology of aggression are presented as they pertain to automobile driving. Convergent factors in contemporary urban life that influence roadway aggression are discussed, and it is asserted that such behavior is more prevalent than commonly recognized.

Aggression and the automobile have had a long standing association, yet research on aggressive behavior has neglected the roadway context. This chapter reviews existing work which has included archival analysis, field interview studies, personality research, and field experiments. Among the recurrent themes have been the relationship between aggressivity in driving to accident liability and to violence in the larger social context. Validity issues in road aggression research are discussed, and a typology of roadway aggression is presented. The typology maps a range of contemporary forms, most of which have never been investigated scientifically and have received sparse academic attention otherwise, despite having high social and scientific relevance. Disinhibiting influences that heighten the probability of roadway aggression are discussed.

A stressful nature of expose to traffic congestion in automobile commuting has been demonstrated in previous quasi-experimental research that has been measurement-intensive but conducted with relatively small samples. The present study examined commuting stress in automobile travel with a large representative sample (N = 2591) in southern California through telephone survey. Commuting stress was found to be significantly associated with distance and duration of the commute, controlling for age and income. As predicted, the stressful effects of long distance commutes (> 20 miles) were further moderated by gender, as women in such commutes perceive much greater commuting stress spillover to work and home. Some hypothesized stress-mitigating effects of ridesharing were found, as full-time ridesharers were significantly less bothered by traffic congestion and more satisfied with their commutes than solo drivers. In analyses of prospective adoption by solo drivers of alternative commuting modes, it was found that the perception of one's commute as having a negative impact on family life had a very significant effect on the inclination to try carpooling and train/rail, beyond the effect associated with distance itself. Commuting stress is discussed as an external cost of traffic congestion that is internalized by the solo driver. Marketing strategies for alternative modes of commuting might increase their effectiveness by highlighting stress consequences, especially negative impacts on family life.