In my last column I accused men in large vehicles of harassing female drivers. Then I requested that people send me their input and give me feedback: was I on right on target, or was I headed in the completely wrong direction? I happily did receive quite a few responses both via email and by word of mouth - not necessarily as many as I wanted but enough to get a general gauge on people's opinions.

So what was the verdict? Women agreed with me. On average, the female opinions that I received related similar experiences to the one I recounted involving rude and overly aggressive men in large vehicles. However, the men who spoke with me told a very different story. They said that often it was women who gave them the finger, cut them off, or performed other typical acts of road rage. Ironically, they were very incensed that I had misrepresented their gender.

Some of these men blamed the hostile incidents on the car in question, large and hulking SUV's, rather than its driver. Another went further and blamed the anonymity a city provides. The sprawling neighborhoods and roadways that now constitute a city grant an individual driver the ability to blend into the mob and never have to take responsibility for his or her actions. In specific reference to female drivers, the "oblivious chick" syndrome was also mentioned, incidents where women were either simply not paying attention to the road or were ignorant of the relevant rules of traffic.

Over the past week and a half I put special effort into monitoring my fellow female drivers, watching for things that the men had mentioned in their emails. The most blatant display of oblivious chick syndrome that I witnessed was when I was trying to back out of my parking space at Jefferson Square.

It was crowded and the parking lot traffic was at a near stand still. I watched as the cars moving passed me edged farther and farther forward, trying to get wherever they were going seconds faster. Over the period of several minutes, three cars - all driven by women who never once even glanced in the direction of my parked but running car - gunned it several feet forward whenever traffic allowed. I was turning on my taillights and such to try and get their attention, but it was a futile attempt. Off to the side was a truck with a man in the driver's seat. He was patiently waiting before pulling in to the flow of traffic so that I could back out. It was likely thanks to him that I was able to get anywhere at all. Whoever you are, thank you!

Curious, I began to look up road rage statistics. According to an article published by Drivers.com in 1999, males under 30 years of age are more likely to be both the offender and the victim than any other demographic. And the Australian Academy of Science listed sex stereotypes (men thinking that women are incompetent drivers) as the third leading cause of road rage in 2002. Studies published on AAA's website corroborate that men are more likely to both give and receive aggressive or rude gestures, verbal abuse and be deliberately obstructed while driving.

Roadragers.com's 2004 poles (several specific scenario questions) do support the oblivious chick syndrome. From the data presented it can be surmised that, while men are on average more aggressive and more susceptible to fits of road rage, women often indulge in belligerent and rude spur of the moment actions. The majority of women claim that they try and avoid "antagonizing" actions, however the majority of women also admit to tailgating and obscene gestures (among other things). Now make sense of that!

As a side note, Roadragers.com poles claim that SUV's cause more trouble on the road than any other vehicle by at least 10 percent.

Men in general are more aggressive than women because they have more testosterone. That is pure and simple fact applicable to any situation cars or no. However, that testosterone-born arrogance and anger is not necessarily directed at any one type of person. And, though it is true that extreme forms of road rage are likely to be committed by men, women are just as likely to suffer from infuriating lapses in judgment and to quickly react with the less violent forms of road rage such as rude gestures and name calling.

No one type of person is to blame except those individuals with exceptional tempers. When driving, keep a head on your shoulders. Think before you act and maybe have a foam stress ball clenched between your teeth. Happy driving!

Kyra-lin Hom may be reached at kl_hom@yahoo.com