Elsevier

Accident Analysis & Prevention

Volume 36, Issue 6, November 2004, Pages 1067-1071
Accident Analysis & Prevention

Identifying predictors of persistent non-alcohol or drug-related risky driving behaviours among a cohort of young adults

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2004.03.001Get rights and content

Abstract

This study sought to identify adolescent risk factors that predicted persistent risky driving behaviours among young adults. It was part of a longitudinal study of a birth cohort (474 males and 459 females). The potential predictors were self-reported data obtained at ages 15, 18, 21 years (academic qualifications, personality, mental health, anti-social behaviour and driving behaviour). The risky driving behaviour outcomes were obtained at ages 21 and 26 years and included driving fast for thrills, taking deliberate risks for fun, excessive speed, dangerous overtaking, and close following (tailgating). Persistent risky drivers were defined as those who often, or fairly often engaged in a behaviour at both ages. A minority of males and very few females were classified as persistent risky drivers. Among the males, the factors that predicted at least one, or more of the outcomes were the personality trait of low constraint (i.e. low scores for control, harm avoidance, and traditionalism), aggressive behaviour, and cannabis dependence. These are characteristics to be borne in mind when developing programmes for young drivers that aim to deter the development of persistent risky driving behaviour.

Introduction

Compared with older drivers, young drivers up to around 25 years of age have a much higher risk of being involved in a motor vehicle traffic crash (Land Transport Safety Authority, 2002, Williams and Carsten, 1989). There are a number of possible reasons for this, one of which is the propensity for young people to engage in risky driving behaviour (Jonah, 1986). In some cases, the young driver may have chosen to drive in this way, in which case they can be considered to be deliberately taking a risk for the thrill that it evokes (Jessor, 1987). In other cases, they may engage in a behaviour that is generally perceived of as risky, such as driving at excessive speed, but either they are unaware that it is risky, or they believe that because their driving ability is superior to other drivers, this may be risky for other drivers but not for them. In support of the latter explanation is the finding that young drivers, and in particular young males, tend to overestimate their driving capabilities and rate their own driving ability as better than other drivers (Matthews and Moran, 1986, Begg and Langley, 1999).

Crash involvement for young drivers begins to decrease around 24 years of age, by which time most young drivers will have gained considerable on road driving experience which should have resulted in improved hazard recognition and safer driving behaviour. There is also evidence that around this age young people start to “mature out” of the desire to engage in risky driving behaviours (Begg and Langley, 2001). In a follow-up study of young adults, deliberate risky driving behaviour, such as driving fast for the thrill of it or taking deliberate risk when driving to make driving more fun, was less common at 26 years of age than at 21 years. There was, however, a small number who persisted with these behaviours, and they may well be the individuals who go on to become the hard-core offenders, and whose behaviour can be very difficult to change. It may be helpful, therefore, if we could identify the characteristics of those who have the potential to become a persistent risky driver, so that early intervention programmes may be tailored towards these types of individuals and try and divert them from this path.

In a previous study, the present authors examined persistent unsafe driving after drinking alcohol and persistent driving after using cannabis, among young adults at ages 21 and 26 years (Begg and Langley, 2003). This study showed that those who persisted in unsafe drunk-driving were mainly male, and although a wide range of background and behavioural factors were examined, only two factors predicted this outcome: aggressive behaviour at age 18 years and alcohol dependence at age 21 years. Compared with this, the males who persisted in driving after using cannabis displayed a wide range of anti-social and deviant behaviours. This suggests that quite different strategies would be required to target these two different behaviours.

In addition to alcohol and other drugs, there are other driving behaviours associated with increased crash risk. Using a similar approach to the above study, and the same study population, the present study sought to determine the characteristics during adolescence of young adults who persisted in some of these other risky driving behaviours. In particular, we wished to examine two examples of risk taking (taking deliberate risks when driving to make driving more fun, and driving fast just of the thrill of it) and other driving behaviours that the some young drivers may not necessarily consider risky (such as driving faster than 20 kph over the speed limit, overtaking on no-overtaking lines, speeding up if someone is trying to pass them, close following). In addition, drivers who persistently rated their own driving ability as better than other drivers were compared with those who did not.

Section snippets

Method

The study was based on the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study (DMHDS) which is a longitudinal study of the health, development, attitudes and behaviour of a cohort of 1037 young people born at the only obstetric hospital in Dunedin, New Zealand between 1 April 1972 and 31 March 1973. Members of this cohort have been assessed at 2 yearly intervals from ages 3 to 15 years, and again at 18, 21 and 26 years. The DMHDS is characterised by follow-up rates of around 90–95%, and the

Results

Of the 992 study members who participated in the age 21 interviews, and the 980 who participated in the age 26 interviews, 933 (474 males and 459 females, 92% of the cohort) completed both road safety issues questionnaires and were eligible for the present study.

The number of males and females classified as persistent or not persistent for each of the risky driving behaviours are summarised in Table 1. This shows that among the males the outcomes with sufficient numbers for further analysis

Discussion

The results from this study provide further evidence that risky driving behaviour during the young adult years, is predominantly a male activity and it is predominantly males who go on to become the persistent risky drivers. The following comments, therefore, may be applicable to other males but possibly not to females.

Of the outcomes examined, it was encouraging to find that few drivers persisted in often, or fairly often engaging in some risky driving behaviours, such as taking risks when

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand, the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC), and the Road Safety Trust. The Injury Prevention Research Unit is funded by the HRC and the Accident Compensation Corporation of New Zealand. The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study (DMHDS) is funded by the HRC and the US National Institute of Mental Health. The authors wish to thank Maria Hutchinson-Cervantes, Judith Clarke, Judith Sligo, Melanie Parry,

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