Published on
updated on
Reading 2 min.
On the road, peace and quiet is a luxury that few drivers seem to afford. Two out of three motorists admit to having already insulted another user, often because of fear of an accident.
When the fear of crashing makes the insult counter explode. Between stress and tension, the French asphalt becomes a verbal battlefield.
Insults: the new language of the road
It’s a fact, 67% of road users admit to having already broken down and thrown one or two (or ten) insults at their companions in trouble, depending on thestudy carried out by Macif and the Jean-Jaurès Foundation. But who are the champions in this area? Spoiler: these are the bikers and scooter riders 79%followed closely by the motorists at 74%. This outpouring of insults is largely due to fear of accidents (66%), much more than stress (29%) or being late (28%).
Fish tail? Forgotten flashing? Bingo!
The situations that trigger insults are numerous. A good fish tail ? Hop, 42% drivers bring out the verbal artillery. When another vehicle hits your bumper? 34% of you don’t hesitate to throw out a little well-felt insult. And the flashing light? Ah, this blinker forgottencause of 34% insults. It’s crazy how a little hand gesture can save friendships on the road.
Insulting is mostly done while driving
When driving, it’s a frenzy of insults: 51% French people let loose in their cars. In comparison, pedestrians are almost angels with only 16% of them who allow themselves a little insult. On a bike, the tongue loosens even less: only 10% of cyclists insult. As for users of scooters or scooters, it is absolute calm with 5% and 4% respectively.
At the top of the list of targets of annoyance are of course the other motorists (57%)followed by the scooter drivers (51%) and cyclists (47%). Among pedestrians, it’s yet another story: they are especially angry with scooter drivers.
Fortunately, some find more peaceful ways to avoid verbal escalation. 57% of road users relax by listening to music, while 53% prefer to put the situation into perspective. But be careful, 7% admit to never being able to contain their rage, whatever happens. And in a third of cases, these insults can even degenerate into physical violence.
Finally, for the curious, the top favorite insults of the French? We start with the classic “asshole” (48%), followed by “cunt“(43%), and we end with the sweet”jerk” (31%). Charming, right?