Mini-Pimp is Mad

By Carolyn Sayre, Rita Healy

If you spot a car sporting the license plate LOLITA or MINI-PIMP, change lanes. Psychologists at Colorado State University have found that people who give their car a name or gender are more likely to express road rage, a growing problem that causes some 370 deaths and more than 20,000 injuries each year. "Anything you do to make your car feel like your territory will make you more upset when someone steals your parking space," says Jacob Benfield, a co-author of the study. In fact, a vehicle's aggressive persona was a better predictor of road rage than the driver's personality. So if you come across the SWEAT-BOX OF DEATH--a name actually given by one of the study's participants to his Ford Bronco--steer clear. He's awfully territorial.