Be careful! - Personal Number Plates May Cause Road Rage

Researchers at the Colorado State University claim that drivers who adorn their vehicles with stickers, soft toys and other paraphernalia are likely to be far more susceptible to incidents of 'road rage'.

A spokesman said, "Both the number of territory markers and attachments to the vehicle were significant predictors of aggressive driving".

Dr Mark Sullman, a 'driver anger expert' at the University of Hertfordshire goes further: "Drivers who are more territorial in nature are more likely to indicate this by personalising their vehicles." And so, by implication, those sporting personalised number plates are all potential maniacs.

We have long become accustomed to the pontifications and findings of 'research' from the self-appointed but, regrettably, publicly-funded, intellectuals in the whispering spires, but this one takes the biscuit.

Bringing the voice of reason into the debate is the RAC's Phil Gomm: "I am sure the tens of thousands of respectable motorists displaying e.g. National Trust stickers, will take great exception at any suggestion they have road-rage tendencies."

The assumption that personalising your car brands you as an insane reactionary is about as logical as the notion that putting 'Chez Nous' outside your house will turn you into a vigilante.

Fortunately, the great British public will have none of this, and will continue to take pride in their vehicles without accepting any accusations of bullishness. And what is the ultimate statement you can make? A personal number plate, of course.

Rather further down the line come the often somewhat tacky notices and stickers. Although harmless in themselves some do lack a degree of wit. A survey in the USA placed the frankly tedious "Out of my mind. Back in five minutes" as the most popular, followed by such gems as "Rehab is for quitters" and "I get enough exercise pushing my luck",

However, quite the best appendage, for Darwinians wishing to make a subtle response to the fish logos sported by those of a particular religious persuasion, is the same image simply modified by a pair of legs. Better than a set of furry dice, anyway.

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