Who likes loud cars? Ontario study suggests they skew young, male and score high on psychopathy and sadism

There's a clandestine car scene in Canada that most people often don't see, but they can sure hear it - usu‐ ally at night and often from a bedroom window left open in the summer with the hope of catching a cool overnight breeze.

The noise is often hard to place in terms of distance, but definitely distinct: young gearheads who gather at un‐ sanctioned car rallies in emp‐ ty parking lots, or guerrilla drag races at desolate city in‐ tersections.

These tricked-out rides with the gunshot pop of tailpipes, the surly roar of en‐ gines and the sound of tires screaming rubber against pavement - pierce the night and sometimes even the restless buzz of the day. They're heard through trees and over rooftops, in some cases, jarring people awake and prompting calls to police.

For Julie Aitken Schermer, a professor of psychology and management and orga‐ nizational studies at Western University in London, Ont., they'd rumble by as she walked her dog just south of the campus.

WATCH | Cars making revving and other noises on Windsor, Ont.'s river‐ front:

"Every day we come across these loud cars and pickup trucks and motorcy‐ cles that are backfiring and I get startled," she said. "My dog was startled. I see the animals run away that are in the trees and squirrels on the ground.

"I thought, 'Oh, who really wants to make this kind of noise?' And so a typical acad‐ emic, I went and did an ex‐ tensive search and found nothing."

Because there were no psychological studies on what kind of person prefers loud cars, Schermer con‐ ducted one of her own.

The pilot study, titled "A desire for a loud car with a modified muffler is predicted by being a man and higher scores on psychopathy and sadism," was published last year in the international jour‐ nal Current Issues in Person‐ ality Psychology. Schermer al‐ so wrote about it in Psy‐ chology Today.

We found that it was sadism and psychopathy was predicting who wants to modify their mufflers, who feels more connected to their vehicle, and they think loud cars are really cool. - Julie Aitken Schermer, Western University researcher

As part of the research,

Schermer surveyed 529 un‐ dergrad business students 289 men, 234 women and six who identified as "other." They were asked if they viewed their car as an exten‐ sion of themselves, how much they thought loud cars were "cool" and if they would make their cars louder with muffler modifications.

Schermer also gave them a Short Dark Tetrad (SD4) personality measure - anoth‐ er questionnaire that as‐ sesses a cluster of malicious personality traits, including narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism (linked to being cunning and manipula‐ tive).

When she got the results, she expected to see a strong correlation between some‐ one who prefers a look-at-me exhaust system and narcis‐ sism, but that wasn't the case.

"We found that it was sadism and psychopathy was predicting who wants to modify their mufflers, who feels more connected to their vehicle, and they think loud cars are really cool.

"It seems to be this cal‐ lous disregard for other peo‐ ple's feelings and their reac‐ tions. That's the psychopathy coming out and it's also they probably get a kick out of en‐ joying watching people get startled."

'This is a stereotype,' car enthusiast says

As you can imagine, some car enthusiasts don't react well to this study.

Bailey Trap, for instance, grew up in a family that loves big, loud cars so much that they started a business.

Performance Unlimited is a London custom car shop that specializes in loud vehi‐ cles, such as muscle cars, hot rods, tricked-out pickup trucks and specialty custom vehicles.

"Dad has a '66 Chevelle that he's had since I was a lit‐ tle kid and it is a large motor and it is loud, and I ab‐ solutely love it. I actually have it tattooed on my arm, that's how much I love it," said Trap, 38.

CBC News gave Trap a copy of Schermer's study to review. She doesn't think it's an accurate reflection of the car enthusiast community.

It's a way for somebody to stand out in a society that wants you to conform. Bailey Trap, Performance Un‐ limited custom car shop

"This is a stereotype," she said. "Obviously you're going to have more men liking ve‐ hicles and using that as a way to express themselves.

"A lot of the guys I see with loud cars are older gen‐ tlemen," she said, noting the car community regularly holds events like cruise nights that raise money for charity.

To her, the surly rumble of a gas-guzzling engine or the shotgun-like pop of a tailpipe is a means of expres‐ sion, like a pair of ripped jeans or a bright sparkly dress.

"It's a creative form. It's a way for somebody to stand out in a society that wants you to conform," she said. "It may not be your taste, but it is something that says some‐ thing about them."

When put to Schermer, the psychology professor said "that's a different de‐ mographic and characteristic from what I studied."

Quiet car bylaws aim to curb noise

Schermer said that, unlike guerrilla car enthusiasts who drag race at red lights or meet in a deserted parking

lot of a big-box store, people who go to scheduled, sanc‐ tioned events that raise mon‐ ey for charity are more likely to modify their cars in a legal and safe way and, if you asked them politely, they would probably keep it down.

"The personality profile I found with our loud mufflers are also the same personality profiles of people who illegal‐ ly commit arson," she said. "I'm sure the older, retired gentlemen who are making their classic cars louder and more noticeable are also not going out and setting fires il‐ legally."

Schermer said the issue of noise pollution from illegal car meets needs to be taken more seriously. It's why she plans to expand on the study.

In response to the rising number of illegal car meets, drag races and excessive noise, many Canadian cities have created quiet car by‐ laws to crack down on the clandestine activity.

In London in particular, city police have been doing regular enforcement blitzes since 2020, laying hundreds of charges each year.

In 2020 alone, the city's police laid 110 charges for improper mufflers, 38 charges for "causing noise likely to disturb" and four charges for making illegal modifications to vehicles, in‐ cluding removing emissions controls.