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Christmas Causes Chaos For Women Motorists

16:37 Mon 24th May 2010 |

We all know Christmas is a stressful time of the year, with a frenzy of people filling the streets, shopping centres and even roads to ensure they get all their Christmas gifts. Due to the sheer volume of anxious shoppers, shops and roads can become congested very easily.


Road Rage:


Women are especially frantic around Christmas for the main reason that they are left to do most of the shopping. As such women are rushing around trying to get everything done in time, driving from shopping centre to department store, and having to do the one thing women dread - parking their car.


Chaotic pre-Christmas traffic jams seen around major shopping centres such as the Trafford Centre are taking their toll on female drivers - with over 76% of women admitting to suffering eruptions of queue rag at Christmas, including angry outbursts against other motorists such as shouting abuse, hitting horns and even shedding tears.

Women Christmas shoppers are more likely to explode with road rage than any other driver according to recent surveys. More than 37% of motorists admit they will be affected by road rage this holiday season with busy car parks, cold weather, crowded roads and long drives to the shops being the main culprits.

Despite being the seasons of good will and being jolly, research has concluded around 45% of female motorists are more likely to lose their cool in their cars at Christmas than any other time of the year, with queue rage likely to kick in after just 10 minutes of being stuck in a traffic jam.

Christmas can seem like one big queue, from parking to paying at tills, its no wonder over a fifth of women said that motoring hassles were more likely to dampen their festive spirit than receiving ‘bad’ gifts.

Women see red even when at a green light:

But as bad as it is and no matter how much heartache it can cause, road rage continues to happen on a daily basis throughout the UK. Thousands upon thousands of examples of it occur every hour and the result is often a road traffic accident.

Seen as queuing is inevitable around Christmas, and eats into valuable shopping time it’s no surprise that 60% of women will be doing their shopping online instead. Furthermore 55% admitted that Christmas queuing and the anger it provokes is the worst thing about the festive season and an estimated half a million female motorists even said they thought Christmas should be cancelled because of the extra traffic it brings to the already hectic roads.

Car crime also rises around Christmas, as if Christmas time isn’t stressful enough with road rage of the increase. Car criminals look forward to this festive time so they can target car drivers who are stressed out and tired in the run up to the festivities. With new cars full to the brim with security features, car criminals turn their thoughts to older cars - small saloon cars and cars over 12 years old are the most commonly targeted.

Christmas is a time when we all have too much to do and not enough time to do it. Queues are notoriously bad especially around shopping centres, which are unavoidable as that is where all the Christmas goodies are.

Being stuck in a traffic jam is never pleasant and at a time when festive spirits are high, this can be less than enjoyable, however venting out anger and causing road rage won’t get you anywhere, so sit back, try to relax and accept that Christmas queues are inevitable.

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