Validation of the Driver Behavior Questionnaire in a Representative Sample of Iranian Drivers

Abstract

The Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ) is widely used around the world to investigate driving behaviours. However, it has several different versions extracted from the 50-items Manchester driver behaviour questionnaire for variety of societies. This study aims to calibrate the DBQ for the Iranian driver population and explore their aberrant driver behaviour. In total, 524 participants (325 men and 199 women) between the ages of 18 and 79 years from different cities of Iran with more than one million populations were engaged in this study (Tehran, Mashhad, Esfahan, Qom, Tabriz, Karaj, Ahvaz, Shiraz). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation extracts four-factor that describes the aberrant driver behaviours: violations, dangerous errors, lapses, and aggressive behaviours. A short version of DBQ with 20 items is also developed on the same four factors using high factor loading of each of the axis categories. This DBQ can serve as an instrument of driver self-assessment and can use with other self-reporting measures. For reliability assessment, the Cronbach’s alpha test (α) is conducted for both long and short version of the questionnaire. Finally, regression analysis predicts the factor scores using demographic and some general questions.