Citation

Chung YS, Wong JT. Accid. Anal. Prev. 2012; 49: 165-176.

Affiliation

Kainan University, Logistics and Shipping Management, No.1 Kainan Road, Luzhu Shiang, Taoyuan 33857, Taiwan. yishih.chung@gmail.com

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.aap.2011.04.021

PMID

23036393

Abstract

While many studies examine the mean score differences of psychological determinants between heterogeneous driver groups, this study reveals a structural discrepancy in a causal behavioral framework. Using young motorcyclists (ages 18-28) as subjects, this study investigates the various roles of key influential factors in determining risky driving behavior. Multi-group analysis of structural equation modeling shows that age and gender are two factors that can effectively distinguish heterogeneous driver groups exhibiting different decision-making mechanisms in shaping their risky driving behaviors. When encountering undesirable traffic conditions, road rage can immediately increase male motorcyclists' intentions to engage in risky driving behaviors; on the other hand, young female motorcyclists further calculate their perceived risk to determine whether to engage in risky driving behaviors. This result shows that there is a significant link between risk perception and traffic condition awareness for experienced drivers (ages 25-28), but not for younger drivers (ages 18-24). This finding shows that while well-developed theories such as planned behavior and risk homeostasis provide general frameworks to explain risky driving behavior, heterogeneous driver groups may exhibit structural discrepancies that reflect their various decision-making mechanisms. This suggests that, in addition to mean differences, understanding structural discrepancies among heterogeneous groups could help researchers identify effective intervention strategies.

Language: en