Relationships Between Personality Traits And Driving Behaviors

Personal factors accounts for about 80% of the total traffic accidents. Among personal factors, personality traits may make differences in driving behaviors. Knowledge about the effects of personality traits on driving behaviors can aid in guiding safe driving, providing a good theoretical reference for road safety education and providing research support for the psychological aspects of driver training and professional training. Though previous work has done in this regard, there is no consensus on how personality traits affect driving behaviors, especially in the context of roadway traffic in China. This thesis research was designed to address this research gap.In this study, a questionnaire was developed that included three sections: demographic data, a revised version of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, and a revised version of Driving Behavior Questionnaire. Personality traits and driver’s behaviors were assessed by using the revised versions of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and Driving Behavior Questionnaire, respectively. All the data was reported in a simple descriptive analysis. Drivers’ behaviors were researched by utilizing exploratory factor analysis. The statistical methods, including independent two-sample t-tests, analysis of variance and correlation analysis, were used to analyze the drivers’ driving behaviors and influencing factors of driving safety. A structural equation modeling was established to explore the relationships between drivers’ personality traits, driving behaviors and driving performance.Four factors were extracted from the driving behavior questionnaire through factor analysis. These factors were named as general errors and violations, lapses, aggressive violations, and racing, respectively. It was found that there were significant gender-related differences in Lie scale of personality traits and lapses. Age and driving age would impact accidents and illegal punishment. The total score of driving behaviors was associated with the reported number of accidents. Findings from the structural equation modeling analysis results showed that neuroticism and psychoticism affected driving performances by influencing aberrant driving behaviors indirectly; extraversion had no significant relationship with aberrant driving behaviors; there was a significant positive relationship between aberrant driving behaviors and driving performance. The study also revealed that psychoticism was a strong predictor of aberrant driving behaviors.