Abstract

Road traffic injuries are one of the most important public health problems both in Turkey and all over the world. Traffic system involves many agents from a micro level, such as drivers, to a macro level, such as traffic climate. Traffic system resilience and driving skills are crucial factors that determine the road traffic accidents and their outcomes like road traffic injuries; in addition to being related to the development of sustainable and safer road traffic system. With respect to those facts, in this study it was aimed to investigate traffic system resilience and driving skills in relation to traffic safety climate. For this purpose, 323 drivers (177 female, 146 male), between the ages of 19 and 57 (M =28.56, SD =8.96), participated into the study. Participants filled out a questionnaire including demographic information form, Driving Skills Inventory, Traffic Climate Scale, and Traffic System Resilience Questionnaire which was adapted to traffic settings by the researchers of the current study. The questionnaire data was analyzed by using hierarchical regression analyses. The results showed that resilient traffic systems were found to be less externally demanding and more functional. Moreover, driving skills, especially safety skills, were found to be an important factor with respect to traffic safety climate. Overall, the results show that traffic system resilience and driving skills are important factors for safer traffic climate. In this study, traffic system resilience was evaluated by the perception of drivers and its relationships between driving skills and traffic safety climate were evidenced for the first time in the literature. Implication of the results will be discussed by focusing on the ways the findings could be used to improve traffic safety.