DON'T BE MAD BECAUSE I HONKED

What is the worst thing you have done in retaliation when you have been angered by another driver? If you're a woman, chances are pretty good you have flipped the bird or sworn -- even in front of your kids. And it's not as if men are the pillars of polite driving behavior. Men are twice as likely as women to key someone's car or flash drivers with their high-beams just to be mean. That's the word from Insurance.com, which surveyed U.S. adults asking them about their rude driving behavior. Here's what drivers admitted to, with results also broken down by gender: 
  • Honked at someone driving too slowly: 41 percent (Women: 39 percent. Men: 43 percent.) 
  • Swore in front of the kids while driving: 37 percent (Women: 44 percent. Men: 30 percent.) 
  • Flipped off someone while driving: 29 percent (Women: 31 percent. Men: 27 percent.) 
  • Brake-checked a car following too closely: 28 percent (Women: 30 percent. Men: 27 percent.) 
  • Sped up significantly to prevent someone from passing you: 26 percent (Women: 25 percent. Men: 28 percent.) 
  • Gone when it wasn't your turn at a four-way stop: 19 percent (Women: 18 percent. Men: 20 percent.) 
  • Tailgated someone on purpose because he or she was going too slowly: 18 percent (Women: 21 percent. Men: 16 percent.) 
  • Driven to the front of a merge line, then swerved and cut in: 12 percent (Women: 11 percent. Men: 13 percent.) 
  • Stolen a parking spot someone else was waiting for: 11 percent (Women: 9 percent. Men: 13 percent.) 
  • Driven in the breakdown lane around traffic: 10 percent (Women: 8 percent. Men: 13 percent.) 
  • Sped up to block another car with its signal on: 9 percent (Women: 8 percent. Men: 10 percent.) 
  • Chased after a car that cut you off so you could glare at/flip off the other driver: 9 percent (Women: 7 percent. Men: 11 percent.) 
  • Swore in front of elderly in-laws while driving: 9 percent (Women: 9 percent. Men: 10 percent.) 
  • Dinged someone's car in a parking lot and driven away: 8 percent (Women: 8 percent. Men: 8 percent.) 
  • Turned on your brights at an oncoming car just to be mean: 7 percent (Women: 4 percent. Men: 11 percent.) 
  • Keyed someone's car: 5 percent (Women: 3 percent. Men: 7 percent.) 

We are far more rude in the car than we are almost anywhere else. After all, do you swear at home in front of your children or flip off someone in the grocery store line? Probably not! People feel less inhibited when driving because they feel more anonymous, according to Leon James, a psychology professor at the University of Hawaii, who has conducted research on driving behaviors.

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