[Design and validation of a questionnaire exploring risky-driving patterns in young drivers]

Traffic Injuries are a major public health problem, especially among young people. However, we have not found any useful questionnaire designed in our country for the epidemiological research in this field. The objective of this study was to design and validate an easy and quickly-to-fill questionnaire aimed to collect information on how frequently university car drivers report to be involved in driving circumstances theoretically related to traffic crashes.

Between 2007 and 2010, a total of 1597 young undergraduate students at the University of Granada answered a self-administered questionnaire collecting information about exposure, accidents and involvement in 28 different driving circumstances. For designing this questionnaire, an extensive literature review was carried out and the opinions of five experts in a panel were also taken into account. By applying the tetracoric correlation coefficient, we conducted a factor analysis. Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Finally, we evaluated the crude and adjusted association of each identified factor with the odds for having suffered an accident.

After excluding 8 circumstances, the remaining ones were grouped into three factors: the first one included ten high-prevalence circumstances and explained 31.9% of the total variability. Meanwhile, the other two factors included five circumstances each one which respectively explained 15.2% and 12.5% of the variability. Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranged between 0.816 and 0.553. When adjustments according age, sex, years in possession of the driving license and intensity of exposure were made, the first factor obtained the score more strongly associated with the accident rate (OR = 1.51; CI95%: 1.25-1.85).

The final version (20 circumstances) identified three factors related to higher accident rates among the young drivers. The first one integrated, among other circumstances, the excessive speed and driving while sleepy or tired and it was the most closely associated with the accident rate in the adjusted analysis. The second factor included, among others, the commission of driving offences, and the third one included driving under the influence of alcohol, not always wearing the seat belt and distractions.