Validating Driver Behavior and Attitude Measure for Older Italian Drivers and Investigating Their Link to Rare Collision Events.

Giuseppina Spano,Antonella Lopez,Michael Gormley,Luca Mallia,Fabio Lucidi,Alessandro O Caffò,Andrea Bosco,Marco Innamorati

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00368

Abstract

The present study aimed to: (a) validate the factor structures of three scales assessing driving behavior, attitudes toward traffic safety (ATTS) and self-regulation in driving, in a sample of Italian older adults, through confirmatory factor analyses and (b) to determine the effectiveness of these measures in predicting the likelihood and the frequency of collision involvements in the following year. A 28-item driver behavior questionnaire (DBQ), a 16-item ATTS, a 21-item extended driving mobility questionnaire (DMQ-A) were administered to 369 active Italian drivers, aged between 60 and 91 years. Results showed a four-factor structure for the DBQ, a five-factor structure for the ATTS and a two-factor structure for the Extended DMQ-A, as the best fitting models. Hurdle model analysis of count data with extra-zeros showed that all factors of DBQ predicted the likelihood of road collisions. Risky behavior, except for aggressive violations, self-regulation and attitudes toward traffic rules were associated with the frequency of collision involvement. The aforementioned three scales seemed to be a useful and concise suite of instruments assessing risky as well as protective factors of driving behavior in elderly.

Highlights

There were 1.25 million road traffic deaths globally in 2013 (World Health Organization [WHO], 2015)
Using confirmatory factor analysis, complied with the four-factor structure found in previous research, the final Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) model was composed of four latent factors
The fourway distinction of the DBQ has been confirmed with respect to previous findings (e.g., Aberg and Rimmö, 1998; Rimmö, 2002; Bener et al, 2008; Martinussen et al, 2013; Mattsson et al, 2015; Cordazzo et al, 2016)

Summary

Introduction

There were 1.25 million road traffic deaths globally in 2013 (World Health Organization [WHO], 2015). Other self-reported behavioral components of the assessment, such as, the attitudes toward traffic rules (e.g., Ulleberg and Rundmo, 2003), and the driving self-regulation (e.g., Owsley et al, 1999), has shown to have an important role in the prediction of road accidents, and they could integrate and support the assessment through the DBQ scale. The three tests presented in this study represent an attempt to provide valid and reliable tools for the assessment of risky driving behavior, ATTS and selfregulation/inhibitory behaviors in the older Italian population, in order to verify which specific behavioral and attitude aspects can contribute to further improve the reliability of a global and general assessment in predicting the likelihood and the frequency of traffic accidents in the elderly population

Methods

Results

Conclusion