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How often do you see cars with bumper stickers? I see one at least once a day, sometimes more. Some of them are pretty clever. Others are fairly lame. But regardless of what the bumper sticker says, those drivers have one thing in common: They tend to be more aggressive.

A social psychologist at Colorado State University conducted a study involving drivers with bumper stickers and drivers without bumper stickers. The study also included drivers who have vanity plates, decals and other markers on their car.

The researcher found that drivers with any type of marking on their car showed more aggressive driving behaviors than drivers without markers. They exhibited several types of road rage, including tailgating, honking and "flipping the bird." One surprising finding was that it didn’t matter what type of marking the driver had because they all showed these types of behaviors. A person with a "My son was an honor student" bumper sticker showed just as aggressive driving behaviors as a truck driver with a Confederate flag sticker.

The social psychologist concluded that these behaviors are linked to evolutionary reactions. We tend to look at cars as our private space within a public territory. People who have aggressive tendencies are more likely to "mark their territory" with stickers and decals, explaining the reason why these drivers tend to be meaner behind the wheel.

Do you want to be viewed as an aggressive driver or do you want to hide those tendencies from other drivers? Either way, you can do whatever you want when you purchase a new or used car from your local Pontiac dealer . Cover your car in political stickers or keep it sticker-less. The choice is yours. Just keep your anger under control so we can all enjoy the streets and highways together.

Everybody thinks the "big bad oil companies" are benefiting from rising gas prices. The only problem with that theory is that they only make about four cents per gallon right now instead of the 10 cents per gallon they made when gas was cheaper. Most of these companies have cut their profits just to cut down on the price the consumers need to pay at the pumps. The federal and state governments actually make four or five times the amount of the oil companies for each gallon sold.

But did you know your auto insurance company is also benefitting from rising gas prices?

Studies now show that drivers throughout the nation have changed their driving habits. They’re not only driving fewer miles, but they are also driving slower to increase their fuel economy. This means fewer accidents on the roads. And, as a result, the insurance companies have fewer payouts to policyholders.

Auto insurers closely monitor accident claims. In the last few months, they’ve noticed fewer accidents. As a result, they hold on to more of your money. Instead of being mad at the oil companies, how about being a bit miffed at the insurance companies, too? I don’t see any of them giving back any money to policyholders simply because they have fewer payouts.

One way to get the most for your dollar is to get a new or used fuel-efficient vehicle from your local Pontiac dealer . Since you’re paying the same premiums for your insurance anyways, why not get a vehicle where you can still drive as much as you want to without breaking your budget at the gas pumps? Just be sure to drive safe and responsibly. We all want to get home to our families at night.

Everything is going "green" these days. But did you ever think that the air conditioner in your car would ever go green?

For years, people have complained that a car’s air conditioning system is horrible for the environment. At one time, the system used an ozone-depleting product. Later, manufacturers replaced it with something safer. Now, automakers are looking for even better ways to make you cool in your car when you’re driving on the highways.

The latest creation was presented by DuPont and Honeywell. It’s a chemical refrigerant called HFO-1234yf. While it seems more sustainable in the short run, analysts are uncertain about its future because it could be toxic. Analysts are also concerned about how the new chemical is going to decompose in the atmosphere. The biggest concern, however, is that the new refrigerant is flammable. That means a front-end collision could lead to a fire in the vehicle’s cabin if it has HFO-1234yf refrigerant in the A/C system.

Many chemical companies are asking automakers to put this new substance in their new vehicles, though. They say the current substances are too detrimental to the environment. So my question is this: Since when does the detriment to the ozone layer take precedence over an actual human being’s safety? If the new substance causes fires in accidents, how is that better than the current situation?

It could be a couple years before automakers start using this new refrigerant if they even start using it at all. That’s why you should get to your local Pontiac dealer today and get a new or used vehicle with the safer, less flammable refrigerant used in the air conditioning system. After all, if global warming is actually true, you’ll need a way to stay cool when temperatures get unbearable.

Measuring your gas mileage isn’t easy. Who has time for calculating how many miles you’re getting per gallon nowadays? That’s what the new Fuel Mizer is for.

The Fuel Mizer is a handy gadget that you can put in your car to help you monitor your driving habits and fuel usage. When you’re doing something like accelerate too fast, it gives you a real-time alert so you know you have just wasted gas. It’s almost like the Pavlov’s dog of the automotive world. When you hear the beep, you adjust your habits accordingly.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that many drivers can improve their gas mileage by 20 percent if they use this gadget. And since it costs less than $70, you’ll be saving money within only a few weeks after buying one! The best part about the device is that there isn’t a complicated installation procedure. Simply put it on your dashboard or somewhere convenient and off you go.

If you want to view a video of this handy device in use, click here . If you want to purchase one, you can do so from this website .

Many new vehicles at your local Pontiac dealer have similar technologies already installed. They have displays that can tell you how many miles per gallon you’re getting at any given time. Visit a dealer today and see what I mean!

Are you thinking about buying a new Pontiac G8? If so, here are some things to expect .

Safety Features
With the new Pontiac G8, you’ll enjoy some of the best standard features in the industry today. Dual front and side airbags protect you and your passenger from nearly every angle in the event of a crash. The side curtain airbags help protect your backseat passengers and they even help keep the shattering glass out of their eyes. The four-wheel ABS makes sure you maintain control of the vehicle even in emergencies and three-point safety belts are included for everybody. A tire pressure monitoring system helps ensure they maintain the proper inflation at all times as well.

Performance
The Pontiac G8 has a 6.0-liter V8 that gives you more than 360 horsepower. That’s almost unheard of in today’s culture of hybrids and smaller engines, so get one while you still can. A six-speed transmission comes in either sport, manual or normal-shift modes. The car also has a multi-link MacPherson strut system for the front and an independent suspension system in the back.

Appearance
Once you see the new G8 on the lot at your local Pontiac dealer , you’ll fall in love. It stands bold with a dual port mesh grill and twin hood scoops. Side fender vets and polished stainless-steel exhausts are perfect accents to the chrome-colored door handles. If you prefer, you can get the door handles to match the color of the car instead.

Interior
When you’re on the inside, the 11 speakers pump out about 230 watts of power with a state-of-the-art Blaupunkt sound system. Even the glove box is unique with a two-tier compartment. Don’t forget about the overhead sunglass holder. You simply can’t drive this type of car without a pair of shades.

Price
You can get the new Pontiac G8 for as low as $29,300. If you prefer, you can add the $1,250 premium package that includes heated leather seats, a leather shifter knob and six-way power seats for the driver and passenger.

A new partnership between Last.fm and Pontiac could be great news for new Vibe owners.

First of all, have you heard of Last.fm? If not, it’s a great website where you can log on, type in the name of a song and listen to it immediately. I haven’t tested it out extensively, but I’ve typed in a few obscure songs and it played each one of them.

With the < href=http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3629909>new partnership with this CBS-owned website, Vibe owners have access to their own "virtual Pontiac dashboard." They visit the website, click on the site’s logo and the music begins. You can even switch between different genres with the click of a button.

While you’re boppin’ your head to the music, you can view other information related to the Pontiac brand. Local Pontiac dealer locations, features and comparison of different Vibe models are just a few of the things you’ll find here. It’s all part of the "Pontiac Vibe Community" created on Last.fm.

According to Christian Ward, the public relations manager for Last.fm, the website decided to team up with Pontiac because the automaker has been "innovators in the digital music space for years."

In addition to viewing all types of information related to Pontiac, you can also register to win some valuable prizes with a unique concept. Instead of filling out a generic form, you can win an iPod by leaving messages in the website’s "shoutbox" about the longest distance you’ve ever gone just to get to a concert. For me, that would be the time I drove from Flint, Michigan to Cleveland, Ohio for a Hootie and the Blowfish concert. Or it could also be the time I took my crush to a Dave Matthews concert in Dayton, Ohio only to find out once we got there that it was about three hours away (with traffic) in Columbus. We got there in time to catch the last three songs.

Remember the days of the muscle car? Those great days may soon go away, but not if Pontiac has anything to say about it.

Despite gas prices, Pontiac recently released the G8 GT . This is a muscle car that doesn’t get the best gas mileage, but you still get quite a bang for your buck. It has plenty of power that you simply can’t find in new cars nowadays with more than 360 horsepower and a six-speed V8. Remember when they used to measure a car’s significance by how fast it can go from zero to 60 mph? The G8 does it in just under six seconds.

Here’s something else you might like about the G8: If you’re uncomfortable with they power and muscle, you can get a "less muscular edition," or a G8 lite. It has a smaller engine (V6 instead of a V8) which gives you slightly better gas mileage. But reviewers say the increased gas mileage isn’t enough to warrant getting the cheaper version. You might as well stick with the full-on muscular version.

Car and Driver said the Pontiac G8 is quite spacious and agile. It has a muscular appearance that any car enthusiast would appreciate. Reviewers at C&D even said it’s the best thing to happen to Pontiac since KITT was a Pontiac Trans Am in the 1980s TV show Knight Rider.

Sound interesting? Your local Pontiac dealer undoubtedly has some of these sitting on their lot right now. And with people shying away from muscle cars in recent months, you can probably get a great deal on one. Test drive one today and see what I mean.

Did you ever read George Orwell’s 1984? If so, you probably look at headlines like this and immediately think of Big Brother (and I don’t mean the CBS reality show). But in an effort to make the roads safer for everybody, engineers are working on ways to make cars take over some of the responsibilities of driving.

Right now, newer cars will already tell you things like when they need an oil change or some other service. But can you imagine your car telling you when you should pull over and get some sleep? Or how about your car telling you to get something to eat?

At MIT, engineers are working on technology that automakers can use in cars to monitor the driver. They built a prototype – the Agelab’s Aware Car – that monitors the car’s statistics as well as the driver’s. Sensors are mounted in the dashboard to monitor the driver’s breathing rate, heart rate, sugar levels and even blood pressure. When these levels seem askew, the car warns you that you should do something about it before you lose your concentration and risk getting into an accident.

Another interesting thing about this concept is that the Department of Transportation is contributing to the project. With more and more aging drivers on the road, we can use technology like this to protect everybody on the highways and side streets.

If this type of thing scares you, don’t worry. You won’t find it anywhere near your local Pontiac dealer for several more years. Visit one today before the cars of the future arrive and nag you about your driving habits.

I remember the days when we would stand around and talk about how gas will never reach $2 a gallon. Those were the days, weren’t they? After it reached $2 a gallon, we’d stand around and talk about how it would never reach $3 a gallon. Now, nothing surprises me. Even when predictions say we’re going to hit $5 a gallon gas just after Labor Day, I say, “I believe it completely.”

Maybe I’m so ready to believe it because where I live, I already pay about $4.65 a gallon. Maybe I believe it because the price has practically doubled in the last two years. But I believe it could happen and it probably will. Do you believe it?

One prediction I read was from a guy who predicted when gas would reach $4. At first he predicted the $4 mark by figuring out we were paying an average of a penny more every day. On June 9, he predicted the same thing – gas prices would go up by about a penny each day. And the national average on that day was $4.02. As such, that means it’s going to hit $5 by September 15.

Hopefully, he’s wrong though. By the time that day rolls around, Labor Day will be over by nearly two weeks. And since the summer driving season will come to a close by then, demand will drop drastically. That usually brings prices down, but it doesn’t seem like the prices have followed any type of logic lately.

But it’s really out of our hands. With 10 million vehicles being sold in China alone this year, the possibility of hurricanes and the Middle East controlling the prices, all we can do is pay the price. So why not enjoy it? Visit a local Pontiac dealer and get the car of your dreams. We’re all in this mess together. We might as well have some fun while we’re at it.

Gas prices are even starting to affect the shut-ins. How can the price of gas affect people who can’t even drive, you ask? The Meals on Wheels program is a charitable service that delivers meals to senior citizens and disable people who simply can’t get to the store by themselves.

As you probably guessed, the program is adversely affected because of the rising gas prices. Since the “wheels” part of the program uses vehicles to deliver the food, it’s costing this non-profit organization more money to fill the vans up and reach the shut-ins. Instead of delivering warm meals throughout the week (and who doesn’t like a fresh, warm meal?), the service is starting to deliver one warm meal at the beginning of the week and several frozen ones so they don’t have to come back for a few days.

But that’s not the only problem the service is running into. In addition to rising gas prices, food prices are also going up. That puts an extra pinch on the pockets of the Meals on Wheels program. According to a spokesperson at an Albuquerque branch, the service’s costs are increasing each week, making it more difficult to reach the people who need the service the most.

Do you know any elderly people who can’t get out and go shopping like you can? If so, why not do your own Meals on Wheels program? First, get a new or used fuel-efficient vehicle from your local Pontiac dealer . Then, get some groceries and cook a few simple meals. Even if you’re just helping out your grandparents, you’re doing a valuable service. You’ll feel good about yourself and the people you help will appreciate more than you’ll ever know.