Citation

Legree PJ, Heffner TS, Psotka J, Martin DE, Medsker GJ. J. Appl. Psychol. 2003; 88(1): 15-26.

Affiliation

U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, Alexandria, Virginia 22333, USA. legree@ari.army.mil

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, American Psychological Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12675391

Abstract

Researchers have rarely examined stressful environments and psychological characteristics as predictors of driving behavior in the same study. The authors hypothesized that (a) safer drivers more accurately assess physical and emotional traffic hazards and (b) stress and emotional states elevate crash risk. The hypotheses were evaluated with procedural and declarative tacit driving knowledge tests requiring assessment of emotional and contextual hazards and with accident reports describing crash antecedents, including stressful events and environmental conditions. Analyses identified separate driving knowledge factors corresponding to emotional and contextual hazards that were significantly related to the crash criteria. Accident report analyses show that stress significantly elevates at-fault crash risk. The results demonstrate the importance of experiential knowledge acquired without instruction (procedural or tacit knowledge) and provide safety recommendations.

Language: en