AN ABSTRACT OF THE PREDICTION OF DRIVING BEHAVIOR FOLLOWING A GROUP DRIVER IMPROVEMENT SESSION

A STUDY WAS CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE THE DEGREE TO WHICH DRIVING PERFORMANCE CAN BE PREDICTED FROM PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION. A GROUP OF CALIFORNIAN NEGLIGENT DRIVERS WERE REQUESTED TO ATTEND A DRIVER IMPROVEMENT MEETING, AND WERE ADMINISTERED THE GORDON PERSONAL PROFILE, AND A SHORT QUESTIONNAIRE. THE SUBJECTS IN THE STUDY HAD ACCUMULATED AT LEAST THREE NEGLIGENT OPERATOR POINTS IN ONE YEAR PRIOR TO THE MEETING OR AT LEAST SEVEN NEGLIGENT OPERATOR POINTS IN TWO YEARS PRIOR TO THE MEETING. THE CRITERION FOR SUCCESS-FAILURE IN THE STUDY WAS THE NUMBER OF NEGLIGENT OPERATOR POINTS ACCUMULATED BY THE DRIVERS TWO YEARS SUBSEQUENT TO ATTENDING THE DRIVER IMPROVEMENT MEETING. THERE WERE THREE CLASSES OF PREDICTOR VARIABLES EMPLOYED IN THE STUDY. THE FIRST CLASS WAS CONCERNED WITH BIOGRAPHICAL DATA OBTAINED FROM THE QUESTIONNAIRE, SUCH AS AGE, SEX, MARITAL STATUS, OCCUPATION, NUMBER OF DEPENDENTS, YEARS OF EDUCATION, AND MILEAGE. THE SECOND CLASS OF VARIABLES WAS CONCERNED WITH THE DRIVER'S REACTION TO BEING REQUESTED TO ATTEND THE DRIVER IMPROVEMENT MEETING. THE THIRD CLASS OF VARIABLES WAS CONCERNED WITH MEASURES OF PERSONALITY FROM THE GORDON PERSONAL PROFILE MEASURES. A STEP-WISE MULTIPLE REGRESSION PROGRAM WAS USED TO ANALYZE THE DATA. ATTENDEES AND NONATTENDEES WERE COMPARED ON AGE, SEX, MARITAL STATUS, AND PRIOR ACCIDENT-CONVICTION RECORD. NONE OF THE VARIABLES WERRE STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT. IT APPEARS THAT THE RESULTS COULD BE GENERALIZED TO MOST DRIVERS WHOSE RECORDS APPROACH THE NEGLIGENT DRIVER CLASSIFICATION. STUDY RESULTS CONFIRM THE HYPOTHESIS THAT DRIVING BEHAVIOR CAN BE PREDICTED FOLLOWING A DRIVER IMPROVEMENT MEETING WITH A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF ACCURACY. THE PREDICTION OF INCIDENT FREE DRIVERS (GOOD RISKS) RESULTED IN 50 PERCENT ACCURACY. THE PREDICTION OF MARGINAL FAILURES WAS 58 PERCENT ACCURATE AND THAT OF THE HARD-CORE NEGLIGENT OPERATORS WAS 83 PERCENT. OVERALL, THE ACCURACY OF CORRECT CLASSIFICATION WAS 64 PERCENT. THREE DRIVER RECORD VARIABLES (AGE, SEX AND PRIOR ACCIDENTS) WERE SIGNIFICANT PREDICTORS OF SUBSEQUENT NEGLIGENT OPERATOR POINTS. EMOTIONAL STABILITY ON THE GORDON PERSONAL PROFILE WAS BEST PREDICTOR OF SUBSEQUENT NEGLIGENT OPERATOR POINTS.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Res Rpt 33, 8 PP, 2 TAB
• Corporate Authors:

  California Department of Motor Vehicles

  Research and Statistics Section
  Sacramento, CA  United States 
• Authors:
  • McBride, R S
• Publication Date: 1970-7

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Behavior; Biographies; Driver improvement programs; Drivers; Emotions; Problem drivers; Questionnaires; Reaction time; Regression analysis
• Uncontrolled Terms: Driver reaction
• Old TRIS Terms: Driver improvement effort; Driver psychology
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00221089
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Oct 26 1970 12:00AM