Today there are two kinds of drivers -- sports utility vehicle owners and haters. SUV owners love the vehicle, while SUV haters passionately despise everything associated with SUVs, especially their arrogant and selfish drivers.
Then came the great tire-recall debacle that shook many SUV owners to the roots.
SUVs came to our attention while we were researching the aggressiveness of drivers in general. We wondered why SUV drivers confessed to significantly more aggressive acts on a daily basis than the rest of the population. For instance, in comparison to economy- or family car owners, SUV owners rate themselves higher on aggressiveness, admit to more speeding and driving through red lights, yelling and swearing more, and feeling less compassion for other drivers. This pattern of results reveals the two kinds of drivers on the road today, those who drive "tough" cars like SUVs, light trucks and sports cars, versus the rest who drive "soft" cars like economy and family cars and minivans.
But there are new signs that some of the toughs are in trouble, their self-confidence shaken by the tire betrayal. Already disturbed by the rollover threats, SUV owners are showing a newfound caution springing from prudence and their broken trust in the tires. Suddenly, they feel vulnerable instead of strong, act carefully instead of aggressively and are slowing down. This incident makes it clear that SUV drivers are capable of a less assertive driving style that is safer for everyone.
If they can hold on to this more accommodating driving style long after the tire recall, they may be able to rehabilitate their reputation.
Drivers of other cars regularly complain that they feel threatened by the size and weight of SUVs towering above them in traffic, bearing down on them on freeways, weaving to gain the advantage, pushing into lanes and parking spaces, forcing others to yield, taking up too much space and blocking visibility, crowding parking lots, straddling lanes, blasting headlights into rearview mirrors of smaller vehicles and blinding the driver. SUV drivers are seen as overbearing, inconsiderate, inattentive, pampered and arrogant. SUVs are also assailed for gas guzzling and polluting the environment.
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This is the announced version of the 2002 Oldsmobile Bravada sport utility vehicle.
The Associated Press
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While SUV drivers have become the poster children for aggressive driving, our research shows that the majority of drivers are aggressive, no matter what they drive. One positive outcome of the tire scare is that everyone is reminded of how fragile our highway survival is, and that we all need to tone down, to become more tolerant, and give each other latitude instead of attitude.
Many SUV drivers do not fit the negative stereotype, but they have to live with it and try to compensate for their size by keeping greater distance between vehicles, slowing down, letting others in and using other accommodating gestures. They can't afford to ignore their physical impact on others, otherwise SUV haters might act on their negative fantasies.
One confessed SUV hater wrote: "Commuting on Highway 101, I have a recurring vision of myself, a 30-year-old woman who tries to avoid killing ants and spiders, smashing the windshields of random cars or trucks with a baseball bat. Like TV darling Ally McBeal, who is haunted by a dancing baby, a symbol of her ticking biological clock, I am taunted by this bat -- a symbol of my deep-seated anger toward bad drivers, cell phones and SUVs."
But a vigilante mentality creates a problem for both SUV owners and the vigilantes because it is unhealthy to hate passionately and to routinely vent anger.
The new era for SUV drivers was initiated by the Firestone recall affecting 1 million SUVs and 6.5 million tires. News articles report that many SUV owners are changing the way they drive. They keep both hands on the wheel, watch the speedometer and watch out for rising temperatures that make a tire failure more likely. One driver said, "I think, oh my God, I'm going to fall to the freeway below. I'm holding onto the steering wheel where it's digging into my hands." What the rollover issue couldn't accomplish, the tire scare did.
Who could have imagined that SUV drivers would voluntarily choose to slow down at a turn that mere economy cars zoom around? People are scared enough to cancel trips or leave the SUV in the garage and cram the kids into the subcompact. Another driver still goes 65 to keep up with the flow but turned off cruise control to avoid a rollover when she hits the brakes during a tire failure. With a shortage of replacement tires, people feel trapped because they're driving on "death tires" that are impossible to replace immediately.
Owners are so committed to these vehicles that they are willing to separate the tire debacle from the car. Despite hesitations expressed by some motorists, Ford Explorer sales remain robust. We predict that the passion SUV owners have will increase rather than decrease under the latest attack from the tire recall. A well-known phenomenon in social psychology -- called the "when prophecy fails syndrome" -- predicts that passionate believers strengthen their faith after a damaging revelation comes to light about a weakness or untruth they didn't know about. SUV owners will rally behind the vehicles, change tires and hope against hope that their trust will not be broken again.
The good news is that SUV owners are discovering their softer side and integrating themselves into the rest of the driving community. A kinder, gentler SUV driver is aware and cares about the concerns of all who share the road. The tire crisis provides an opportunity to repair relationships and calm the fears of other drivers.
James and Nahl are professors at the University of Hawaii and are the authors of "Road Rage and Aggressive Driving: Steering Clear of Highway Warfare."
