Driver personality characteristics related to self-reported accident involvement and mobile phone use while driving

A causal model was developed in this study to clarify the effect of mobile phone use on driving safety. Based on the model, a series of questionnaires were developed, and 194 car drivers were interviewed based on these questionnaires. Results showed that perceived risk and mobile phone usage habits varied with different individual traits. Drivers who were prone to accidents revealed a lower perception of safety risks and a higher self-reported accident rate resulting from mobile phone use than those who were not accident-prone. Aggressive drivers were found to use mobile phones more frequently while driving but had a similar accident rate to non-aggressive drivers. Frequency in mobile phone use while driving significantly increased among aggressive male drivers regardless of accident proneness. Findings from this study imply that the perceived risk of drivers might be an ignored but important factor in the relationship between mobile phone use and driving safety. Because of the difficulty in practically identifying who is accident-prone or not, this study suggests that overall prohibition in mobile phone use while driving is needed to reduce the corresponding number of traffic accidents.