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Conceptualization of aggressive driving behaviors through a Perception of aggressive driving scale (PAD)

  • Autors: Francisco Alonso, Cristina Esteban, Luis Montoro, Andrea Serge
  • (2019).
  • Tipus de publicació: Article
  • URL Publicacio: Conceptualization of aggressive driving behaviors through a Perception of aggressive driving scale (PAD)
  • Titol publicació (nom del llibre o de la revista): Transportation Research Part F.
  • Num.60:415–426

  • Resum:

    Research on traffic safety has highlighted the importance of studying and intervening in aggressive driving in order to reduce crashes and accidents. The main objective of this work is to describe the perception of what people consider an aggressive behavior, and their per- ception of which are the most aggressive acts performed when driving. The sample was composed of 1079 Spanish drivers aged over 14. They participated in a national telephone survey, completing a questionnaire which gathered socio-demographic data and informa- tion on the drivers’ profiles, containing a ‘‘Perception of aggressive driving Scale (PAD)”. The unifactorial ANOVA test for repeated measures of the General Linear Model (GLM) with a = 0.05 procedure was used for the comparison of mean values. Results show that drivers tend to make higher valuations regarding the aggressive character of the PAD (M = 7.86 SD = 0.05). The situation that most concerned Spanish drivers was ‘‘To produce damage to other people with some type of object or weapon” (M = 9.47 SD = 0.05), which does not necessarily correspond to the driving context. Differences in perception were found depending on socio-demographic variables. Women, drivers over 29years old, low- middle social classes, and drivers who had suffered two accidents, tended to evaluate PAD as more aggressive. These findings suggest that differences in the perception of aggressive behaviors depend on social situations and on the driver’s personal features. Finally, the findings of this research will help road safety researchers understand the con- cept of aggressiveness under different perspectives, and take into account the existing dif- ferences between dangerous and punishable behaviors. Moreover, these outcomes showed the necessity to deepen the research on those behaviors that Spaniards perceive as aggres- sive, and to develop knowledge on why the perception of aggressiveness changes according to the characteristics of the population, and how this perception is reflected in people’s attitudes and behaviors towards road safety.

  • DOI: 10.1016/j.trf.2018.10.032
    ISSN: 1369-8478