PERCEPTIONS OF PROFESSIONAL AND UNPROFESSIONAL DRIVERS ABOUT THEIR OWN BEHAVIOURS AND SKILLS

Abstract

According to Social Identity Theory people tend to be positive for members of group to which they feel as belonging and to be negative for members of group to which they do not feel as belonging. Such perception bias is thought to be exist among different group of drivers in traffic, as well. In this context, this study aims to investigate professional (like taxi drivers) and unprofessional (private car users) drivers’ driver skills, safety concerns and risk-taking behaviors and together with researching perception of each group of drivers toward the other. 40 unprofessional and 39 professional drivers participated in the study. After each participant assessed himself/herself through Driver Skill Inventory (DSI) and risk-taking behavior scale, s/he also evaluated members of the other group of drivers through these scales. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed significant differences between the two groups. Specifically, it was found that professional drivers state their driver skills and safety concerns higher and their risk-taking behaviors lower than unprofessional drivers in traffic. Moreover, each group’s self-assessment scores with regard to driving skills, safety concerns and risk-taking behaviors are generally in line with the other group’s perception of that group on these variables.