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Bushman’s Road Rage Study Featured On ABC News

June 24, 2021

Bushman’s Road Rage Study Featured On ABC News

Brad Bushman

A study on road rage conducted by Professor Brad Bushman was recently featured on ABC News.

The experiment involved placing 60 drivers behind the wheel in Ohio State's Driving Simulation Lab. Participants were randomly assigned a frustrating driving scenario. Half of the participants were then given an unloaded gun in their passenger seat, while the other half were given a tennis racquet. The results suggested that those in the presence of a gun tend to make driver’s act more aggressively.

“The mere presence of a gun in a motor vehicle increases aggressive driving," said Bushman in the article. "The chance that a situation of conflict, like being cut off in traffic, will end up deadly is increased if a gun is available."