Jesus is my co-pilot (and St. Peter works the missile launcher)
How do you know if you’re prone to angry driving? A new study suggests there’s one way for you to know. The next time you’re walking toward your car, just step around back and take a look. If you see bumper stickers – any kind of bumper stickers – then you’re probably a driver who drives angry.
As scientists led by Lucy Troup and her student William Szlemko of Colorado State University report in the June issue of the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, it’s a simple matter of territoriality. Researchers have long known that drivers who have a strong sense of personal space while in their vehicle are more likely to be road-ragers, and the more someone plasters his vehicle with bumper stickers and decals the more territorial he feels about the space inside.
It makes sense. If you put a lot of stickers on your car, then you see your car as a vehicle for personal expression, which means you may be more likely to drive like you feel, and feel like you drive. Dangerous.




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back to top59 Comments to “Jesus is my co-pilot (and St. Peter works the missile launcher)”
Ron Paul: Hope For America
Be Strong And Courageous (written in Hebrew and English)
Two Marine Corps decals
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OK, yes, we have a bumper sticker on our “family” car, which is an SUV that my wife primarily drives.
It says “I -Heart- My Bassett”
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Nope, no bumper stickers here.. they’re tacky.
But if I had a rocket launcher….
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No stickers. I even go so far as to peel the dealer’s badge off the back of any car I buy, and to remove the bracket with the dealer name from around the license plate, because I don’t like doing other people’s advertising for them. (I would even remove the automaker’s identifying marks if it could be done without scratching the paint.)
But I do have a small cross hanging from the rearview mirror, which I’m sure is in plain view those times when I give in to my crucified nature and cut somebody off.
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I don’t have any bumper stickers but I used to drive angry. Now that I have a kid in the care I have to be nice. Every time he says something mean I charge him a nickel. Now he charges me one every time I call some idiot on a cell phone an idiot. Sometimes it’s worth it.
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No stickers on the corolla.
But I love it when science proves what you knew was true intuitively.
It really doesn’t matter what the sticker says. One of the worst expression of road rage I have ever scene was from a guy in a VW bus wtih Coexist and War is not the answer stickers. Oh how we are all captive the irony of our own opinions.
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I like the magnetized peel on and off bumper stickers. What I really hate is (mainly in liberal university towns) vehicles will be adorned aross the entire backside with all manner of cliche bumper stickers.
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Sawgunner…
Evidently someone got tired of the same ole, sam ole cliche bumper stickers and made this one up:
Nuke The Gay Unborn Whales
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As one who drives the same route every day at the same times, I recognize a number of cars belonging to fellow commuters. There’s the shiny red T-bird convertible that’s always going the other way on the Parkway in the mornings, and the vintage Mercedes driven by a young guy who must leave his house about the same time I do; we often wait together at a particular longish red light. There are a bunch of others, including several personalized plates with indecipherable meanings that I’ve long wondered about.
But the one car I never fail to notice is a late-model Camry plastered with bumper stickers. To wit: “A Christian AND a Democrat”; “[Undisclosed Mainline Denomination with initials UMC]: We’re Here for You”; and, “Obama.” I first noticed this lady not for her bumper stickers but for her driving: amazing consistency over several months in tailgating, abrupt lane changes, and speeds well in excess of what’s posted (I’m only able to read the stickers because I catch up every now and then at red lights
).
If I ever get the chance to pull up next to her, I’m thinking about asking if she wouldn’t mind removing the two stickers proclaiming her Christian faith, because she’s giving us all a bad name. Fine by me if she leaves the Obama sticker in place, though!
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I think HSK means “missile”.
I have an Apple sticker on my car. As a sidenote, what a great advertising idea to put two of those little Apple stickers in with the purchase of most Apple products. People can’t help but “use” them!
I also have a Ron Paul sticker and a Auburn University sticker. And, yes, I am a very angry driver.
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Other nice stickers:
Illiterate? Write for Free Help.
Forget World Peace: Visualize Using Your Turn Signal.
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Magnetic “Support our Troops” ribbon.
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No bumper stickers. If I didn’t think that someone would key my car, I would have a bumper sticker for my preferred candidate for president.
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Austen, but an honest one as well;)
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When I get the one I put in an order for in a week or so, I’ll have one that says
“Obama ‘08″
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I don’t have any on my car but I enjoyed one I saw recently in Northern VA, with a heavy military populace: “It’s up to God to judge terrorists, Its up to us to arrange the meeting! USMC”
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Small oval silvery AAA
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Only one: “Every Tribe, Tongue, and Nation or Bust”!
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“My Daughter Serves in the US Army”
(and in Baghdad right now)
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RR,
Yes. If everyone properly used turn signals it would abate a lot of road rage…
I’ve often daydreamed about a traffic atomizer. You don’t really want all that wreckage left over from a missile or rocket. You just want the offending car to disappear.
Tailgater?
Hummmm… zap! No more problem…
Someone cuts you off in traffic?
Hummmmm…. zap! No more problem…
Someone gives you the bird?
Hummmmm… zap! No more problem…
Boy the freeway would be clear in no time!
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I liked the comedian Gallagher’s solution. Every one keeps a stopper gun in their car that shoots little flags with the word Idiot on it. When someone does something stupid you shoot the car with the little flag. When a cop sees a car with a lot of the little flags on it, he stops them and gives them a ticket.
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I have a very well decorated SUV. Lots of ski and rock-n-roll stickers.
My best sticker shows a small picture of a skier.
“For God so loved the world, he gaveth these moguls so that anyone who skieth them will have everlasting life” – Jane 4:16
“Jane” is for the Mary Jane ski area. 4:16 for the Easter Sunday date when we gave these out free to all skiers.
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I always thought it would be good to have a message board of some kind, so you could tell the guy driving like an idiot that he’s driving like an idiot. Or a bullhorn mounted outside the car. Although, if too many of us had them, it would be awfully noisy on the streets!
I have no bumper stickers, but often think I should. I do have a window cling with my business and website on it for advertising purposes, though.
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No stickers. Perhaps I might put a political one or two on the car. Most likely not.
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No stickers on my car, and like RR above, my husband will remove the dealer stickers and license plate holder with dealer’s name, however, on the Jeep and F-250 are 2 each; one says “Give War a Chance” and the other reads “Support Terrorism, Vote Democrat”
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I have a sticker from my university; my dad put it on and it’s been there for almost 6 years now. No road rage here at all, ever.
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No bumper stickers on my car, and I sometimes get angry but don’t let it affect my driving. Sometimes though I enjoy being an ass, and I take great pleasure in watching some jerk who just whizzed by me get stuck behind a slow-moving tractor trailer. I casually maintain my speed, maybe let it drop just 1 or 2 mph, and relish the thought that I am boxing in said jerk.
Here’s one I saw recently that strikes me as really quite stupid:
“I’m glad Mary and Joseph were pro-life.”
It’s stupid for two reasons. First, it’s trying to establish a general principle from a special case. One might, with just as much logical force, argue for abortion with the bumper sticker, “I wish the Hitlers had been pro-choice.”
Second, it is an ironically irreligious sentiment. Do you mean to suggest that the omnipotent God of the universe’s redemptive plan for human history, the climax of the whole story, might have been entirely trashed by one girl’s bad decision?
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JJF
Shouldn’t everyone be glad their mother was pro-life? (Unless they are depressed.)
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My favoite was a red Honda Insight with an oval “W ‘04″ sticker.
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On the 1992 Lumina – Aggie to the Core/Aggie to the Corps.
On the 1991 Mustang – APOA and Aggie to the Core/Aggie to the Corps.
On the 2005 Pilot – My son is a high school Aerospace Scholar. “Keepers of the Spirit” – Cadet Corps Association.
On the 2007 Yukon – same as Pilot.
Guess that defines us as Aggies. The AOPA is a leftover from my father who gave the car to my son. I can’t vouch for my son, though he was always a careful driver at home.
My father was always frustrated with the Christian symbols on cars that had radar detectors. His thought was that if you had a radar detector, you were planning on going over the speed limit – it was flaunting the law and that isn’t something that Christians should do.
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Keebler – along those lines, I always love to see old, beat-up cars from 1984 with bumper stickers such as “save mother earth” or some other nonsense. The car they drive is giving off more pollution than anyone else on the road! Ironic.
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No bumper stickers.
Just one window sticker, which we finally removed a couple weeks ago.
But we’ll probably put a new one on, something along the lines of
Thirty bucks well-spent!
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And I always thought is was “I support the right to bear arms.” (And the arms look like a bear’s.)
I have no stickers.
You can decide not to drive crazy. I did, and I no longer worry about being late if something happens.
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No stickers, but a license plate frame that says, “Life is short, pray hard.”
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No stickers -
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I don’t have any stickers because, unfortunately, I don’t always drive the correct speed limit and I don’t want to dishonor God by speeding with a fish on my bumper.
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What Michelle said in #36
No stickers, but we have window clings from my alma mater and my hubbie’s med school alma mater on the VW.
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My dad has a bumper sticker (still to be bumper stuck) that says, “To those that fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.” Love that.
My favorite bumper sticker reads, “No Oil For Pacifists!” *lol*
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opinionated teen (38): “To those that fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.”
Frank: With all due respect to you and your father (from a fellow veteran, 1979-1983), I roll my eyes at such pithy sloganeering, which seems to imply:
- That anyone who fights in any American wars is, ipso facto, “fighting for freedom”;
- that the freedom we enjoy is the direct result of every American who ever fought in any American war; and finally
- that we must genuflect to some supposed difference of value or honor between “the protected” and those who fought whenever and wherever their leaders told them to fight.
(As if Americans were “protected” by those who, out of a duty to follow their orders, killed Vietcong, or Filipino rebels at the turn of the century.)
Before you doubt what I say or laugh me to scorn, I urge you to read two-time Medal of Honor winner USMC Gen. Smedley Buler’s brief treatise War Is a Racket. He tells you in his own words that, when he was fighting in China and Central America, he wasn’t protecting Americans — he was protecting American corporate interests.
Tell your Dad about War Is a Racket, too.
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Frank, that is SO not what that meant. I’ll word it differently then, shall I?
To those who fought for freedom, it means a little something more than those who didn’t.
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No bumper stickers, but I have a “Carolina” and a “Purdue” window decal. My license plate holder is “University of South Carolina”.
During the ‘o4 campaign, I noticed that cars with multiple bumper stickers had a pattern.
Those with “Bush 04″ had stickers that said “God Bless America” or “Support the Troops”.
Those with “Kerry” stickers had stickers that said, “Think Peace”, or “Save the Whales”.
The one “Obama” sticker I saw today also had, “Unitarian Universalist”. I don’t infer anything from that. I haven’t seen any “McCain” stickers.
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opinionated,
Fair enough. Never having technically fought for freedom (”guarded it” would be more accurate), I suspect that what you say is very likely true.
That said, I confess that I may not always draw the line well between what I perceive to be patriotism v. nationalism, or in the (aforementioned) classism of civilian v. VETERAN!!
On the other hand, given what I see as the near veneration of all things American — and esp. all things US Military (an over-reaction to how poorly returning Vietnam vets were treated, perhaps?) — I also hope you can understand where I’m coming from.
Regardless of what you meant, or of my mistaken understanding of it, I hope you’ll give Butler’s pamphlet/tract a read.
Peace …
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opinionated,
Re-reading just now, I hope you can also understand how the “No oil for pacifists” bumper sticker (your “favorite”) may have colored my perception of the meaning of the first one.
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I have two bumper stickers, but I am not angry:
Sola Gratia
Proud Parent of a US Marine
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I have no bumper stickers on my car. I do live in the world capital for cars with bumper stickers. I have asked every visitor to Asheville what they have noticed about Asheville- all have commented on how many cars are plastered with bumper stickers.
I haven’t noticed an increase in road rage just an increase in stickers. Some cars are covered front to back. The most common sticker I have seen here is “Dog is Love” or “Dog is my Co-Pilot”. There seem to be more doggie daycare centers here than child care centers. Not that this has anything to do with the topic. Just musing a bit.
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I won’t allow any bumper stickers on my cars and I usually take the dealership decals off. (my front plate on my trailblazer has, for the front plate, a cool replica of the Arizona flag with CHAPMAN through it. I like the flag replica so much I haven’t removed it.)
I do read bumper stickers though. Some of my favorites are:
STAMP OUT FARMERS – STOP EATING!
VISUALIZE WHIRLED PEAS
One question:
Wouldn’t “1 Cross + 3 Nails = 4 Given” and “I Support the Right to Bear Arms” often be on the same car?
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I have 2 bumper stickers, both almost as old as my car. One says “life is fragile, handle with prayer.” The other’s been there so long I can’t think of the exact wording, but it suggests praying for America. I also have a rear window cling for Grandson’s university.
I don’t agree with the premise of the article, I never get angry about other drivers, I just let them go on by and continue with my life.
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I don’t have a car.
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The Camry, which I drive more often, has a silver crest of my family name which I replace each year at the Scottish games, and a sticker of the Scottish flag. The Dakota, which TJ drives more often, has UGA, Georgia Southern, and NASCAR decals.
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My one car, which the college student may need to borrow on occasion has a parking decal in back window. My Mustang – no decals, stickers etc although I’ve been tempted to have the spoiler decorated (custom detailing) with things about my grandchildren – resisted so far.
I just had my son remove a license plate frame from a dealer not long ago – I’m not fond of advertising for them myself.
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Frank: Ohhh……..sorry about the wrong impression I gave you. I just thought “No Oil For Pacifists” was funny.
Yes, I’ll read that pamphlet.
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Frank #42
I had a “God Bless America” bumper sticker after 9/11 and my boss tore into me for being so jingoistic. To me it was patriotism. To him it was fascist nationalism.
It was nice to see Democrats and Republicans singing God Bless America together after 9/11. That lasted about three days. Then the sniping and hate Bush rhetoric came back.
To me, ‘God Bless America’ represents that fleeting unity we had for a few moments until the ‘God D&m# America’ crowd drowned it out once again. Why all the anger I wonder?
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Fuzzyface #42, I prefer …
“I Support the Right to Arm Bears”
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Xion,
It does sound funny that way. But it is not so funny when it happens. That’s about what they are doing in New Jersey. They have stopped the hunting of bears, and the bears are getting real aggressive I hear. I’ve heard that a similar thing is happening in the everglades with alligators.
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Until I was rear-ended, the bumper had the Soujourners one:
In the window are two school stickers (if you can see through the smoked glass):
(We have them as proud parents. Our academics are much more modest).
And on my wife’s car is the Red Arrow, for her father’s division in WWII.
One political sticker did have me laughing:
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On an old Jeep Grand Wagoneer with a four inch lift and fat knobby tires…
WWJD-What Would Jesus Drive
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My Wife’s Explorer:
http://www.hangglide.com
Sacred Harp
My F150:
BEEF It’s What’s For Dinner
NRA (National Rifle Association – just in case anyone’s been asleep for the last 150 years)
We hope to have a McCain sticker soon.
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Let’s See, I’ll make up some I would like to see:
It’s OK, I’m Canadian
I support the right to bare arms (especially in summer)
My Passenger is Mr T.
(Cool Aid Guy Picture) OH YEAH!
In Case of Rapture, This Car is an Autobot and Will Continue Driving in a Safe Manner.
Oh Canada, We Stand on Guard for Thee -Love America.
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Xion (52): I had a “God Bless America” bumper sticker after 9/11 and my boss tore into me for being so jingoistic. To me it was patriotism. To him it was fascist nationalism.
Frank: I’d take your side in that argument.
Jingoism was “These colors don’t run!” bumper stickers, and Toby Keith (?) singing “We’ll put a boot up your a$$/It’s the American way.”
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