Cyclists’ anger experiences in traffic: The Cycling Anger Scale

Abstract

Research on emotions in road traffic has focused on car drivers rather than on cyclists. However, cyclists experience cycling anger and its consequences as vulnerable road users, i.e., without having a car-like protection zone around them. To address the issue of cycling anger, we suggest a psychological measure assessing cyclists’ anger experiences in traffic, the Cycling Anger Scale (CAS). This questionnaire assesses cyclists’ anger experiences in interaction with their cycling environment. A principal component analysis and a following confirmatory factor analyses with two different samples proposed a 14 items questionnaire solution with four subscales: police interaction, car interaction, cyclist interaction, and pedestrian interaction. Alpha reliabilities were acceptable to good. The CAS correlated significantly with the Driving Anger Scale (DAS) for car drivers and with the general State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI) suggesting convergent validity. Additionally, we examined the relations between cycling anger, demographics, and self-reported cycling behavior. We conclude that the CAS provides a complementary efficient instrument for measuring cycling anger in road traffic.