Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 2, 2026
07:30
A Test Bed to Examine Helmet Fit and Retention and Biomechanical Measures of Head and Neck Injury in Simulated Impact
Published on: September 21, 2017
Attitudes and road accident risk
1Institute of Transport Economics, Oslo, Norway.
Accident; Analysis and Prevention
|March 1, 1997
Summary
Driver attitudes towards road safety rules do not significantly impact accident risk when driver age is considered. Road safety research indicates age and mileage are more critical factors than driver attitudes for accident prevention.
Area of Science:
- Road safety research
- Traffic psychology
- Accident risk analysis
Background:
- Road user attitude changes are frequently proposed to enhance road safety.
- The link between driver attitudes and accident risk remains under-researched.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the significance of driver attitudes in road safety.
- To test the hypothesis that drivers with attitudes aligned with traffic codes have lower accident risk.
Main Methods:
- Survey of a representative sample of Norwegian driver's license holders.
- Data collection via mail questionnaires in two phases.
- Analysis of driver attitudes, accident involvement, and driving distance.
Main Results:
- Driver attitudes were initially found to correlate with accident risk when age was not considered.
- This relationship disappeared when driver age was factored into the analysis.
- Age and annual mileage emerged as more significant predictors of accident risk than attitudes.
Conclusions:
- Driver age and annual mileage are more influential on accident risk than driver attitudes.
- Further research is necessary to fully understand the complex relationship between attitudes and road accident risk.
- Current findings suggest focusing on age and mileage may be more effective for accident prevention strategies.
Related Concept Videos
02:05Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping
People can go to great lengths to protect their self-image and present themselves in ways that they want others to see them. Sociologist Erving Goffman presented the idea that a person is like an actor on a stage. Calling his theory dramaturgy, Goffman believed that we use “impression management” to present ourselves to others as we hope to be perceived. Each situation is a new scene, and individuals perform different roles depending on who is present (Goffman, 1959). Think about the way you...
01:14Fundamental Attribution Error
According to some social psychologists, people tend to overemphasize internal factors as explanations—or attributions—for the behavior of other people. They tend to assume that the behavior of another person is a trait of that person, and to underestimate the power of the situation on the behavior of others. They tend to fail to recognize when the behavior of another is due to situational variables, and thus to the person’s state. This erroneous assumption is called the fundamental attribution...
01:54Attitudes
Attitude is our evaluation of a person, an idea, or an object. We have attitudes for many things ranging from products that we might pick up in the supermarket to people around the world to political policies. Typically, attitudes are favorable or unfavorable: positive or negative (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993). And, they have three components: an affective component (feelings), a behavioral component (the effect of the attitude on behavior), and a cognitive component (belief and knowledge;...
01:16Hypothesis Test for Test of Independence
The test of independence is a chi-square-based test used to determine whether two variables or factors are independent or dependent. This hypothesis test is used to examine the independence of the variables. One can construct two qualitative survey questions or experiments based on the variables in a contingency table. The goal is to see if the two variables are unrelated (independent) or related (dependent). The null and alternative hypotheses for this test are:
H0: The two variables (factors)...
H0: The two variables (factors)...
01:08Determination of Expected Frequency
Suppose one wants to test independence between the two variables of a contingency table. The values in the table constitute the observed frequencies of the dataset. But how does one determine the expected frequency of the dataset? One of the important assumptions is that the two variables are independent, which means the variables do not influence each other. For independent variables, the statistical probability of any event involving both variables is calculated by multiplying the individual...
01:19Personal Choice and Fate Attributions
Some individuals interpret life events as a consequence of their personal choices and actions, while others believe that outcomes are dictated by fate or destiny. This divergence in perspective has been examined in psychological and cross-cultural studies, particularly in relation to religious faith and cultural beliefs about causality.Fate and Personal ResponsibilityPeople who emphasize personal responsibility view events as direct consequences of their decisions. For instance, breaking a leg...