Traffic climate scale: Comparing samples from Turkey and Sweden

Abstract

Traffic climate is a recent and one of the essential topics in traffic and transportation research. Various studies have examined the relations of traffic climate with driving outcomes such as accidents by using different versions of the Traffic Climate Scale (TCS). In a recent attempt, 16-items and 38-items versions of the TCS were examined in different countries. With respect to that, the present study aims to investigate the psychometric properties of 16-items and 38-items versions in samples from Turkey and Sweden and to test the traffic climate differences of these two countries. A total of 309 participants from Turkey and 357 participants from Sweden completed a questionnaire including a demographic information form and the TCS. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that the short TCS had better fit indexes with acceptable reliability. Moreover, the traffic system in Turkey was perceived to be more internally and externally demanding and less functional compared to the traffic system in Sweden. The results suggest that the short TCS is a reliable and user-friendly measurement to understand the perception of road users.