Traffic climate and driver behaviors: Explicit and implicit measures

Abstract

Traffic climate is about the road users’ attitudes towards traffic context and it is assumed that perceived traffic climate might influence drivers’ behaviors. In the literature, traffic climate was measured only by using self-report questionnaires. People might give biased responses to self-report measures due to social desirability. The aim of the current study was to develop the first implicit measure for traffic climate. In addition, both implicit and explicit attitudes towards traffic climate and their relationships with self-reported driver behaviors and outcomes of simulated driving were investigated in a young Turkish driver sample. According to the results, implicit measure of functionality was positively related to positive driver behaviors and negatively related to variance in lane positioning. Based on the findings, it can be suggested that drivers might have different implicit and explicit attitudes towards traffic climate. Additionally, it might be suggested that young drivers might need more experience to form stable attitudes towards traffic context. Interventions to change people’s attitudes towards traffic climate to improve road traffic safety might be more effective if stated differences are taken into consideration.