The effect of dangerous driving behaviors on the risk of traffic accidents using structural equation modeling

Professional drivers are mostly exposed to heavy workload, like night shifts, long working hours and irregular schedules, leading to high prevalence of psychiatric disorder, including fatigue, memory loss, and insomnia leading to road traffic accidents and injury. The present paper evaluates the relationship between unsafe behaviors and accident risk in heavy vehicle drivers.

This cross‑sectional study was carried out among 303 professional drivers in Kashan. Unsafe behavior was measured using the Driving Behavior Questionnaire. In addition, a questionnaire was developed to assess the number of accidents and sociodemographic factors. Structural equation modeling (SEM) approaches were employed in the evaluated research hypothesis.

The results revealed that the average age of participants was 43.15, consisting of passenger vehicle drivers (20.1%) and commercial vehicle drivers (79.9%). The majority were married (94%). Participants drove for an average 11.3 years(standard deviation [SD] = 9.2) with the average speed 85.9 km/h (SD = 13.2). The DB questionnaire had validity and reliability (the factor loading, alpha Cronbach, composite reliability, and average variance extracted were more than 0.5, 0.7, 0.7, and 0.5, respectively). The SEM’s results showed proper fit indices for the tested model (x2/df = 2.37; confirmatory fit index = 0.83; root mean square error of approximation = 0.06).

The main factors of the driver to get involved in a traffic accident and dangerous driving behavior are followed: (a) driver’s education level, (b) driver’s experience, (c) hours of driving, (d) driver’s drug use habit, and (f) risky and slip. It was noted that the level of road safety awareness is low. It can be decided that additional exertions should be made for arranging and imposing road safety and active traffic law legislation to encourage traffic safety responsiveness of the public.