Understanding the Car Bubble: Anonymity and Behavior

Move Forwards

In continue of our traffic series we’ll review the car bubble. The safety of being in the car, and the anonymous value it gives you while moving from place A to B. We’ll cover the power and weakness of this role. Then connect it with why you struggle to move forwards in your life goals. To begin, what do we mean by the ‘car bubble’.

The Car Bubble

This is a term coined together for this article. The car bubble refers to the safety of sitting inside a car with tinted windows and the inability of others to recognize you. Yes, each of us has a unique and obvious code known as the number plate. And some may prefer to have license plates tailored to individual flare. But once a driver enters a car and is protected by their darkened windows a sense of anonymity overrules.

What Happens When People Feel Anonymous?

Philip Zimbardo, a famous psychologist for prison research and the power of human behavior in social dynamics. He found a direct link between people who feel anonymous and abusive behavior. Read more about the study and its research here.

From this base study, more research has found that anonymity has a significant impact on online scenarios. Whereby “trolls” of the internet thrive on power and abusive conduct. Which can lead some to feel very powerful.

The Power of Feeling Anonymous

Connecting to our car bubble term, research undertaken by Shell, in Australia, explains how drivers feel unseen by others and can behave however they want. Whether that means politely following the rules or allowing emotions to override through road rage. Shell and Monash University’s Accident Research Centre found strong evidence showing how people who feel safe and hidden in their car, will enable their feelings toward other road users. It is the people are most likely to feel:

• Blamed
• Angry or Aggressive
• Or to get even

While some drivers may jump into cars ready on the attack, others may feel reluctant to drive and feel the weakness of anonymity.

The Weakness of Feeling Anonymous

The E-safety Commission as part of the Australian Government has researched the negative effects of anonymity and victims. Due to privacy laws and the safety of identity, the attackers in anonymous places can be hard to track down. This can leave victims feeling unaddressed, fearful, and scared.

While the victims of road rage have not been researched and addressed an assumption from the E-commerce and internet results could prove similar in traffic situations.

Road rage victims often are supported by the safety of Police, who govern road safety. There are often cameras that can be relied upon and the best information is from the victim to report the incident. In this case, thankful to the personal identification plates road users much have, tracking down the aggressed can happen.

We hope anyone who has incurred any level of abuse on the roads speak up about it!

Reporting Road Rage Can Give You New Power

Perhaps this story can help.

On a visit to see my mother, she was very rattled and annoyed by another car user putting her life in danger. It was upsetting to see her in this state and I know she is the type of person to take the attack so personally that it would impact her wanting to use the road again. I encouraged her to speak up about the incident to the local police. She felt very uncertain that it would do any good.
I asked her to give me a moment-by-moment scene of what happened, as I jotted the information down. Thankfully she was able to recall road names the incident happened on and the appearance of the car which drove frantically.
Then on her behalf, I lodge the information to the police. Now generally don’t expect to hear anything back from the Police. You’ve done your part to reporting, it is on them to find these people.

However, I did hear something back via email. Where the information provided about the road incident has assisted the police in finding the perpetrator who was wanted under additional offences.

It was nice to receive this feedback and feel that I not only assisted my mother in making the situation right. But we helped the Police to find a troubled person!

Anonymity Is Working Against Your Goals

In all of this many road users feel powerful on the road because they are unseen.

When we go through life with the mentality of “I can do what I want because I am not seen” it pulls us into a hole for in reality you are seen.
You have responsibilities.
You can make choices that can impact your reputation, career, family, or other factors.
This can cause a stuck mentality.

But you don’t let it win.

Realise your strength, your value and your importance.

There are many traits about you that the world deserves to know and hear about.

Let yourself shine. Be that random glossy pink car because you choose to stand out of the crowd and move forwards!