Relationship between Violence in Driving and Personality Traits among Drivers in Tehran

Violence and aggressive behaviors are major risk factors for traffic accidents. The driverschr('39') attitudes and behaviors can also be influenced by personality traits. The purpose of this research was to identify the relationship between violent behaviors in driving and personality traits.

In this study, a 20-item researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data related to violence and the revised 60-item Neo Personality Inventory was used to collect data about personality traits including extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness. Psychometric evaluation was performed for data collection tools from September to January 2018. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric statistical analysis including Mann-Whitney and Kruskal were used to analyze the data.

In this study, 87.3% of the participants were male and 12.7% were female. The mean age of the participants was 42 years. The dominant personality trait was conscientiousness among the drivers (30.2%). The results showed a significant correlation between the degree of violence and neuroticism (P= 0.02). Based on regression analysis, 19% of violence could be explained based on the personality trait.

Neuroticism can potentially indicate driving behavior and the degree of violence. Therefore, it is essential to predict the drivers’ behaviors to improve road safety. It can provide useful information regarding road safety interventions for road users to target drivers who are more exposed to undesirable driving behaviors.