A quasi-experimental study was conducted to assess the effects of routine exposure to traffic congestion on the mood, physiology, and task performance of automobile commuters. Traffic congestion was conceptualized as an environmental stressor that impedes one's movement between two or more points. Sixty-one male and 39 female industrial employees were assigned to low-, medium-, or high-impedance groups on the basis of the distance and duration of their commute and were classified as either type a or type b on a measure of coronary-prone behavior. As expected, subjective reports of traffic congestion and annoyance were greater among high- and medium-impedance commutersthan among low-impedance individuals. Also, commuting distance, commuting time, travel speed, and number of months enroute were significantly correlated.
Abstract