Prevention of traffic accidents:The assessment of perceptual-motor alterations before obtaining a driving license.A longitudinal study of the first years of driving

Traffic Crimes and risky driving: The role of personality and driving anger

The current study aims to examine the influence of personality traits (alternative Zuckerman model) and driving anger in the explanation of risky driving style in individuals convicted for road safety offences (N = 245), using as a basis an adaptation of the context-mediated model. This is a transversal, descriptive study designed to be implemented by means of surveys, in which took part 245 men convicted of road safety offences from five prisons in Galicia (a region in northwestern Spain) took part. The average age of the participants was 38.73 years (Sx-9.61), with a range between 18 and 64 years. All participants had three or more years of driving experience. Our data shows that the Impulsive-Sensation Seeking (Imp-SS) personality trait had a direct and positive effect on dangerous driving, while the Activity (Act) trait had a direct but negative effect. The Aggression-Hostility (Agg-Host) trait, in turn, influenced the risky driving style, but not directly, but by raising driving anger levels, so it acted as a powerful mediator between the Aggression-Hostility (Agg-Hos) trait and the risky driving style. In general, our research partially replicates and expands previous findings regarding the model used, the aggression-hostility personality trait (Agg-Host) was placed in the distal context, driving anger in the proximal context, while age and personality traits Activity (Act) and Impulsive-Sensation Seeking (Imp-SS) were direct predictors. The results of this study may have practical implications for the detection and rehabilitation of offenders and penalties for road safety offences.

Desempenho em Inteligência, Atenção Concentrada e Personalidade de Diferentes Grupos de Motoristas

Resumo Este estudo buscou identificar diferenças no desempenho entre grupos de motoristas infratores, não infratores e envolvidos em acidentes nos construtos Inteligência, Atenção Concentrada e Personalidade, avaliando-se ainda a influência do nível de escolaridade dos participantes. Motoristas em processo de renovação de CNH ou adição de categoria, em um total de 319, de ambos os sexos, escolaridade do ensino fundamental, médio e superior, com idades variando entre 18 a 77 anos (M = 40,62, DP =10,8) fizeram parte da amostra. Os resultados demonstraram que a variável Grupo (infrator, não infrator e envolvidos em acidentes) não se mostrou significativa para nenhuma das medidas consideradas, tendo-se encontrado, por outro lado, influência significativa da variável Nível de escolaridade nas medidas de produtividade (Palográfico) e inteligência (R1). Os resultados apontam dificuldades em diferenciar grupos de motoristas de acordo com o desempenho deles nos instrumentos considerados.

Graduated driver licensing and teenage driver research in 2006

This is the third update of research on graduated driver licensing (GDL) and related teenage driver issues. It briefly summarizes research published since or not included in the 2005 update (Hedlund, J., & Compton, R. (2005). Graduated driver licensing research in 2004 and 2005. Journal of Safety Research, 36(2), 109-119.), describes research in progress of which the authors are aware, and announces plans for a symposium on teenage driving and GDL to be held in February 2007.