Personality of young drivers in Oman: relationship to risky driving behaviors and crash involvement among Sultan Qaboos University students

Objective - Drivers’ behaviors such as violations and errors have been demonstrated to predict crash involvement among young Omani drivers. However, there is a dearth of studies linking risky driving behaviors to the personality of young drivers. The aim of the present study was to assess such traits within a sample of young Omani drivers (as measured through the behavioral inhibition system, BIS, and the behavioral activation system, BAS) and determine links with aberrant driving behaviors and self-reported crash involvement. Methods - A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) that targeted all licensed Omani's undergraduate students. A total of 529 randomly selected students completed the self-reported questionnaire that included an assessment of driving behaviours (e.g., Driver Behaviour Questionnaire: DBQ) as well as the BIS/BAS measures. Results - A total of 237 participants (44.8%) reported involvement in at least one crash since being licensed. Young drivers with lower BIS-anxiety scores, higher BAS-Fun seeking tendencies as well as male drivers were more likely to report driving violations. Statistically significant gender differences were observed on all BIS and BAS subscales (except for BAS-Fun) and the DBQ subscales, as males reported higher trait scores. While personality traits were related to aberrant driving behaviors at the bivariate level, the constructs were not predictive of engaging in violations or errors. Furthermore, consistent with previous research, a supplementary multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that only driving experience was predictive of crash involvement. Conclusions - The findings highlight that while personality traits influence self-reported driving styles (and differ between the genders), the relationship with crash involvement is not as clear. This paper further outlines the key findings of the study in regards to understanding core psychological constructs that increase crash risk