Forget BMWS, check 4WD drivers: Vikki
VIKKI Woodland says there is no difference between the behaviour of expensive car drivers and those behind the wheel of cheaper vehicles.
“I don’t see any difference on the roads,” she said.
The former BMW driver turned owner of a Mazda 3 said the only difference in her driving experience in owning the two cars was the attitude of other drivers.
“If anything, people stayed away from me when I was driving the BMW,” she said with a laugh.
“Then I had my Mazda for a week and someone smashed into me.”
Ms Woodland’s comments follow a University of California, Berkeley, study which found expensive car drivers failed to give-way to pedestrians at a busy Californian crosswalk, as required by law. The Institute of Personality and Social Research observed the driving behaviour of 152 cars at the crosswalk and a further 274 at a four-way intersection over the period of a week.
Researcher Paul Piff said expensive cars were likely to jump their turn and less likely to stop for pedestrians.
“In our crosswalk study, none of the cars in the [old bomb]-car category drove through the crosswalk. They always stopped for pedestrians,” he said.
However, “fancy cars were less likely to stop”, Mr Piff said.
Ms Woodland said, rather than focusing on the attitudes of high and low-end car drivers, four-wheel drive owners should be examined.