The impact of drivers' personality traits on their risky driving behaviors

This study investigates the impact of personality traits (i.e., anxiety driving, sensation-seeking, normlessness driving, altruism driving and aggressive driving) on risky driving behaviors (sleepy driving, sensation-seeking, altruism driving, aggressive driving and normlessness driving) using simple random sample consisted of 778 student drivers from Qassim University in Saudi Arabia. Data were collected by a questionnaire designed on the basis of relevant literature. Results showed that all personality traits investigated in this study had significant effects on drivers' risky behaviors. The most significant factor affecting drivers' behaviors was sensation-seeking, followed by altruism driving, aggressive driving, anxiety driving and normlessness driving. The study showed that risky driving behavior is a multi-dimensional construct and should be examined with consideration for all these personality traits. Further studies are required to explore other traits of drivers that contribute to risky driving.