Chinese highways are growing busier and busier, leading many to buy SUVs to protect themselves against road rage accidents
A study released by Sanford C. Bernstein today claims that the reason we’ve seen such a surge in SUV purchases in China is large due to an overwhelming fear of road rage. Bloomberg reports that SUV registrations have shot up a mind-blowing 48% just in the first quarter of 2015; in fact, SUV sales account for more than a quarter of all purchases in that time period.
Of course, lower gas prices and crappy roads outside of the most populated Chinese cities are contributing factors to the rise in SUV ownership, but overwhelmingly, it seems people feel safer when behind the wheel of an SUV when a crazy person decides to jump out of his car and try to beat the crap out of them.
Road rage is becoming a very serious problem in China as the number of drivers continues to grow. In the last decade, Chinese drivers have increased ten-fold, and busy traffic and poor road conditions have led to many with low patience to do some crazy, stupid things. In fact, after a viral video surfaced online, showing a driver dragging a woman from her car and kicking her in the face, Chinese officials issued a statement urging drivers to act civilized.
But, because bad boys don’t make it a habit to listen to what officials have to say, it makes sense that these scared drivers are investing in SUVs. They might not offer much more protection from the craziness of the world, but at least drivers are seated a few inches higher.
News Source: Bloomberg
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