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"The most stressed commuters backbite, make cutting remarks, purposely don't return phone calls and do all kinds of passive-aggressive things that interfere with work," says Dwight Hennessy of State University of New York College-Buffalo, who based his findings on a survey of 130 people. "We're not saying they're lunatics, but they sure can throw a wrench into things at work."

He'll take part in a panel addressing the problem this weekend at the American Psychological Association meeting in Toronto.

The studies come as Americans are spending more time on the road. The average travel time to work in 2000 was 25.5 minutes, an increase of three minutes from a decade earlier, Census figures show. Gridlock also is cited as an obstacle to cities that want to attract business.

The most aggressive people, both on the road and in the office, may be those who commute in heavy traffic and play no music or listen to relaxation tapes, the type with synthesized sounds or bird songs.

"This music seems to drive some people crazy," says psychologist David Wiesenthal of York University in Toronto.

Deep-breathing exercises help shed tension, as does listening to one's favorite kind of music, his studies show.

It's not distance that drives commuters bonkers; it's mostly congestion, says psychologist David Van Rooy of Florida International University in Miami. He tested drivers' anxiety levels when they had 6-mile or 18-mile commutes in light or heavy traffic. The more congested the road and the longer heavy traffic lasted, the more depressed, anxious and frustrated people got, he says.

Subjective feelings also were key to the frustration, Van Rooy says. Those who felt that the drive was problematic, even if it wasn't, were the most stressed by it.

Anxiety starts at home when drivers know they're about to get on congested roads, he found. "We pay a price for these awful commutes," he says.

Stressed drivers often are hurrying, and that's what leads to aggressive road behavior. But the hard-core aggressive driver "will tell you he's not being aggressive; everyone else is driving too slow," says psychologist Patricia Ellison-Potter of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.