In some probably not terribly surprising news, it turns out expensive car owners may not always be the kindest, most empathetic of drivers.
A recent study found that drivers of high-status cars are less likely to stop for pedestrians trying to cross the road, CNN reported. The researchers — from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas — were even able to put a dollar amount on driver shittiness, calculating that a driver’s likelihood of slowing down for pedestrians decreased by three percent for every extra $1,000 that their vehicle is worth.
According to the researchers behind the study, this can perhaps be attributed to “a sense of superiority over other road users” felt by drivers of flashier vehicles, who may also struggle to muster the necessary empathy to slow down for lowly sidewalk-dwellers.
“Disengagement and a lower ability to interpret thoughts and feelings of others along with feelings of entitlement and narcissism may lead to a lack of empathy for pedestrians” among pricey car owners, the researchers wrote in the study.
The new research, as CNN pointed out, supports similar findings reported in a Finnish study published last month that found that men who own expensive, high-status cars are more likely to be “argumentative, stubborn, disagreeable and unempathetic.” According to the study from the University of Helsinki, those traits were especially likely to appear among drivers of “fast German cars,” Helsinki University’s Jan-Erik Lönnqvist said in a press release.
“The answers were unambiguous: self-centered men who are argumentative, stubborn, disagreeable and unempathetic are much more likely to own a high-status car such as an Audi, BMW or Mercedes,” reported the press release.
But don’t worry, you don’t need a BMW to be a jerk. I can personally attest to the fact that you can be just as much of an asshole in a 1998 Honda Civic as you can in a brand new Mercedes, because no matter what kind of car you drive or how fast you drive it, you can never escape yourself. And that’s beautiful.
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