Perceived Rewards of Unsafe Driving and Perceived Costs of safe driving as Predictors of Driving Status in Yazd

Road traffic injuries are a major but neglected public health challenge that requires coordinated efforts for effective and sustainable prevention. Perceived rewards and costs are constructs of protection motivation theory whose characteristics have not been explored exactly. However, since there are some evidences regarding their effects on driving status, this study aimed to survey the status of these constructs. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, a total number of 379 individuals aged equal to or more than 19 who had a driving license were evaluated. Clustered random sampling was used to select subjects from the population covered by urban health care centers of Yazd. A valid and reliable questionnaire was used for data collection. It was a self report questionnaire including demographic variables and constructs of perceived rewards, perceived costs and unsafe driving behaviors. The data were analyzed by t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), correlation coefficient and linear regression analysis in SPSS18. Subject scored 44.8%, 46.5%, and 17.4% percents of the total possible scores in perceived rewards, perceived costs and unsafe driving behaviors, respectively. The most important perceived reward of unsafe driving was reported as "excitement of speeding" (56.4%) while the most significant perceived cost was reported as "longer times to get to destinations because of avoiding driving due to fatigue" (51.2%). Perceived rewards and costs differed significantly based on sex, marital status and age (P < 0.05). Moreover, perceived rewards and perceived costs were significantly correlated not only with each other, but also with unsafe driving (P < 0.01). The two constructs explained 28% of the variance of unsafe driving. However, perceived rewards (β = 0.382) was a better predictor than perceived costs (β = 0.194). Perceived rewards and costs have an important role in driving status. Since decreasing perceived rewards and costs can lead to increased safe driving, it needs to be a key principle in road safety education and policy-making. In addition, these two constructs are different from each other and could be considered as independent predictors of driving status.