Aggressive Driving: Associations between Car's Brand and Driver's Gender among Young Drivers in Latvia

Introduction. In Latvian community, there is a strong social belief that BMW owners are more aggressive than the drivers of other car brands.Aim of the Study. To investigate the effects of private car's brand (BMW vs. non-BMW), driver's gender, and their interaction on self-reported aggressive driving behaviour among young Latvian drivers.Materials and Methods. Forty BMW owners and forty other brand owners (20 males and 20 females in each group) aged between 20 and 30 years, filled out the ‘Aggressive Driving Scale’ (ADS, Valtere, Perepjolkina, 2006).Results. It was established that drivers owning a sedan type BMW cars reported more aggressive driving behaviour than the drivers of other sedan type vehicle brands, irrespective of their gender.Conclusions. This implies that the vehicle itself, its image or other drivers' assumptions about it may possibly influence the behaviour of the driver.