The psychology related to the private number plates: Explained

A car owner treats his or her personal vehicle as a prized possession. No matter which car and how costly it is, the vehicle becomes a family member and the owner who spends precious moments with it.

Personal car is an emotion, and the owner never minds spending a hefty amount of cash on it for its upgradation and maintenance. These include servicing, performance enhancement, repairing, valeting, modifying, coloring, private number plate, and so on.

Personalized number plate is a famous investment:

Getting a customized number plate attached to a car is considered as a favorite form of investment among the car enthusiasts. These plates are undoubtedly costly and unique. People even buy vintage number plates from auctions and pay a very high price for that.

The DVLA and private number plate dealers can be the source to buy a unique combination of numbers and letters. In the present day, the price of the private number plates has come down and the commoners are also going for them. These are attached to both cars and bikes. These plates are no more the patent possession of Ferrari, Fords, Nissans, Limos, Mercedes, etc.

What does the psychological study say?

The psychological studies say that the personalized number plates, rear window stickers, and furry dice are the indications of aggressive drivers who are biased towards road rage. The number of accessories attached to the vehicles displays the level of attachment to them. There is a contradiction as the Colorado State University’s study has been disagreed by the UK based car clubs. According to the later, mothers who usually place the sign mentioning “Baby on Board” prefer to do so for making other drivers aware of being cautious to avoid accidents.

As per another study, the motorists love to customize the vehicles for marking their territory. Also, they want to safeguard their vehicles against the invasions that take place on the road. The rule is the same for the expensive car owners and small family drivers. According to the observation, the more the territorial markings are on display, the more number of vehicle drivers compulsively guard their space. It is also noticed that those people who show various stickers are more or less 16% more likely to give in to the road persuaded anger.

The price of the private number plates:

It has been seen that the drivers like or dislike the private number plates. The minimum price is set at 245 along with an ID plate that is sold for a massive 352, 411. As per a record, the gathering of a total of 1.47 billion is made for the Treasury at the rate of 250,000 approx. per day.

Taking the polls into consideration, the personalized registration plates are the features that are disliked by the motorists about other drivers. Most of them have given their opinion by saying that those who spend money on customized number plates are suffering from self-obsession.

Bumper stickers:

The bumper stickers have become popular with the passing days. The most famous ones are ‘Baby on Board’, and ‘My Other Car is a Porsche’.

Furry dice:

The craze of furry dice started after the US 1950s contemplated the practice of hanging fury dice for the very first time. During World War II, the American pilots used to hang lucky dice in the fighter plane’s cockpits. Though for some time, the craze faced reduction, yet it is coming back with glory.

Personalized cars and road rage: The relation

According to the president of the Automobile Association, Edmund King, the drivers with the stickers are meant to relate very closely to their personal vehicles. That is why they take any distinct violation purely personal that leads to road rage.

Dr. Mark Sullman of Hertfordshire University, an expert on driver anger, said that the drivers who are territorial in nature are more likely to personalize the vehicles. They usually respond in an aggressive manner if faced with any obstruction on the public road.

Again, the Royal Automobile Club Foundation opined that every motorist who loves to decorate their vehicles with stickers or personalized number plates must not be considered as road ragers. Dr. Nick Reed of the Transport Research Laboratory, a senior Human Factor researcher opined that the majority of the drivers feel possessive or territorial about both the vehicle and space around it. The Institute of Advanced Motorists Neil Greig depicted that if an individual is driving very close to another vehicle and can read the latter’s bumper sticker, that individual is already been considered as being aggressive by another vehicle’s driver. The motor insurer named Swiftcover gave opinion by depicting that the drivers must avoid personalized cars for being on the safe side.

This is the psychology behind the car decoration or the use of a private number plate that is opined by the experts.