Traffic Crimes and risky driving: The role of personality and driving anger

José María Faílde-Garrido,Yolanda Rodríguez-Castro,Antonio González-Fernández,Manuel Antonio García-Rodríguez

doi:10.1007/s12144-021-02634-2

José María Faílde-Garrido, Yolanda Rodríguez-Castro + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02634-2

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Journal: Current Psychology	Publication Date: Dec 22, 2021
Citations: 7	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Universidade de Vigo

Abstract

The current study aims to examine the influence of personality traits (alternative Zuckerman model) and driving anger in the explanation of risky driving style in individuals convicted for road safety offences (N = 245), using as a basis an adaptation of the context-mediated model. This is a transversal, descriptive study designed to be implemented by means of surveys, in which took part 245 men convicted of road safety offences from five prisons in Galicia (a region in northwestern Spain) took part. The average age of the participants was 38.73 years (Sx-9.61), with a range between 18 and 64 years. All participants had three or more years of driving experience. Our data shows that the Impulsive-Sensation Seeking (Imp-SS) personality trait had a direct and positive effect on dangerous driving, while the Activity (Act) trait had a direct but negative effect. The Aggression-Hostility (Agg-Host) trait, in turn, influenced the risky driving style, but not directly, but by raising driving anger levels, so it acted as a powerful mediator between the Aggression-Hostility (Agg-Hos) trait and the risky driving style. In general, our research partially replicates and expands previous findings regarding the model used, the aggression-hostility personality trait (Agg-Host) was placed in the distal context, driving anger in the proximal context, while age and personality traits Activity (Act) and Impulsive-Sensation Seeking (Imp-SS) were direct predictors. The results of this study may have practical implications for the detection and rehabilitation of offenders and penalties for road safety offences.

Highlights

There are multiple variables that influence a traffic accident (Vlahogianni et al, 2012), but can be synthesized into the complex network of interactions between track characteristics, vehicle, environmental circumstances, and driverAda./ Castelao S/N, Ourense, Spain 3 Pereiro de Aguiar Penitentiary Center, Ourense, Spain behavior (Mohan et al, 2006)
The current study aims to examine the influence of personality traits and driving anger in explaning the risky driving style, in individuals convicted for road safety offences, using as a basis an adaptation of the context-mediated model
Except for the sociability personality trait (Sy) who obtained a Cronbach's alpha of 0.399, the others coefficient alpha can be considered satisfactory and consistent with those obtained in previous validations of the scales

Summary

Introduction

There are multiple variables that influence a traffic accident (Vlahogianni et al, 2012), but can be synthesized into the complex network of interactions between track characteristics, vehicle, environmental circumstances, and driver. Ada./ Castelao S/N, Ourense, Spain 3 Pereiro de Aguiar Penitentiary Center, Ourense, Spain behavior (Mohan et al, 2006). Among all these variables, the human factor is the one that explains to a greater extent the causality of traffic accidents (Singh, 2015). Certain driver behaviours such as errors and violations explain most accidents (Reason et al, 1990). Behaviours that are closely related to risky, aggressive, and other maladaptive driving styles (Gulliver & Begg, 2007; Paleti et al, 2010).

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