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Comment by altacc | Hacker News Reader

There's been some studies over the years that point to the price of a vehicle being an factor in how aggressive & entitled motorists are. I wonder if the causation here might be both ways, with those drivers more likely to buy an expensive & larger cars.

E.g. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/26/world/expensive-car-drive...

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It's not price itself. It's relative income spent. Anecdata: I cannot remember ever being tailgated by a Rolls Royce, Maybach, or even Ferrari. These kind of cars are sufficiently expensive that they are not within reach for people reduducing food consumption and living in a smaller spaces to afford them, but by people with sufficient disposable income.

The most dangerous ones are those that pay an arm and leg to get a big car. Given a typical distribution of income an analysis will of course still find a correlation to price. Especially as not many people being able to buy a RR are taking part in such studies.

The bigger reason you've never been tailgated by a Rolls-Royce, Maybach, or Ferrari is that there are vanishingly few of those cars on the road in the first place.

Not RR nor Maybach, but around where I live (capital city in Eastern Europe) the most obnoxious drivers are not those behind the wheel of expensive vehicles (that would be the German trio + Lexus and some others like that), but those that drive cars which are a little higher than average when it comes to price, I'm thinking mostly about Skoda Octavia and VW Passat sedan.

If I see a Skoda Octavia (especially white or grey-colored) in my rear-view mirror somewhere on a curvy road I know for sure that that person will try to surpass me no matter the incoming traffic and the visibility.

So I see it more like it a curve when it comes to the obnoxiousness of the drivers vs the price of the cars, those that have the cheapest and most expensive cars are relatively ok, those that are approaching the average price are so and so, with those that are just above that average being the most obnoxious.

And, of course, the Rolls-Royce and Maybach is likely driven by an employee of the owner rather than the owner, and will not get aggressive in his boss' car.

I had a colleague years ago who used to say “no matter how pointless your job seems, at least you’re not putting turn signals on BMWs”.

I ride a motorcycle and can confirm that BWM drivers really-really want me to smash into them as they have seemingly forgotten how to use something as basic as turn signals. They also don't know who has the right of way, and will just cut in front of anyone, making me think they have also forgotten how to use mirrors. Suffice it to say, BWM drivers are quite hated here (Estonia) and often joked about as low-IQ wifebeater wearing low-budget Vin Diesel ripoffs.

Such a stupid stereotype. Maybe it is true where you live, but no where I am at all.

I’m glad Swedes are placid drivers. Americans generally are not.

It's Seat Cupras here.

That makes sense, it tends to be the Audis, VW Amaroks and Ford Rangers that drive in a rather aggressive manner in my country.

Oh, and owners of new Mazda 3s, for some reason.

But yeah, Audi is a prestige brand, and the Ford Ranger (lifted, with expensive mags and tints) is the prestige brand for cashed up / ticked up tradies, and the VW Amarok is the prestige brand for that tradie's boss.

Beemer drivers used to have a bad reputation along similar lines, but since a large second-hand market established itself, the BMW isn't as prestigious here as it used to be.

No clue what's going on with those Mazda 3 owners though.

> Beemer drivers used to have a bad reputation along similar lines, but since a large second-hand market established itself, the BMW isn't as prestigious here as it used to be.

Around here, BMW is an ultimate wannabe brand, usually bought (very) used by some young guys, full of testosterone and not very smart. If there's a tragic accident where a car full of people steers off an empty road, hits a tree and kills everyone in it, during the middle of a weekend night, it's usually a BMW too (the scenario is usually such that a group of young people are coming back home from some disco and the owner, young, stupid and possibly drunk, is trying to impress them with his driving).

Same here in Romania when it comes to those accidents, really, really saddening. Especially when you see girls as young as 15 or 16 who had been on the back seats and who have lost their lives (the driver is usually 20 or 21).

Hopefully the SH value of decent enough E46s going all the way up will price those people out of that market, so that they'll turn back to front-wheel rides that are not as easy to throw into a tree.

Mazda wanted to be like BMW, congrats.

Hah, so you can be sure that me and my 250 quid Range Rover are pretty considerate then.

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