Driving is a complex behaviour, which is the result of the interaction between individual factors, internal to the driver, and environmental factors, regarding both the road conditions and other drivers’ behaviours. Lately, psychology has largely dealt with the psychological processes that can explain driving behaviour, especially for those “risky” behaviours that increase the likelihood of accidents. Specifically, it is necessary to distinguish 3 types of risky behaviours: 1) Errors, deriving from incorrect planning of driving action; 2) Forgetfulness or “lapses“, due to malfunction of the attentional or memory systems; 3) Violations, that is driving behaviours resulting from deliberate choices that go against the rules of the road. There are different mechanisms underlying these different behaviours, as well as there are different consequences in terms of risk for road accidents.
Overall, this research group has developed interest in 2 major lines of research both interested in dissecting the individual characteristics underlying driving risk.
The first line of research was mainly concerned with analysing the correlation between some driver’s sleep-related personal factors, (such as sleep habits, sleeping hours, hours of continuous wakefulness) with the experience of drowsiness driving, or with the risk of sleep-related accidents in daylight hours. Moreover, the experience of drowsiness while driving is configured as a risk especially in young people, that typically drive at times normally dedicated to sleep, increasing significantly the risk of sleep-related accidents. The interest of the research group was to analyse the strategies used by young people in such situations and to evaluate how the messages that convey information on risks can affect health choices in this area.
The second field focused on the analysis of those driver’s personality traits that best explain attitudes towards road safety and driving risk behaviours. Within this line of research, we confronted with two analytical and methodological approaches to the study of the phenomenon. The first approach, based on “cluster analysis” has allowed to identify different types of drivers, characterized by specific combinations of personality traits, consequently expressed in driving behaviours (i.e. errors, violations and lapses) with different degrees of risk. The second approach, on the other hand, is based on multivariate models of relationships (i.e. structural equations) that test the complex relationships that link some drivers’ personality traits (e.g. sensation seeking, anxiety, anger) to their attitudes towards safety and to different driving risk behaviours (i.e. errors, violations and lapses). These models have been found to be predictive in drivers of different ages while maintaining their predictive power even with professional drivers (i.e. public bus drivers).
Publications
- Lucidi, F., Bosco, A., Mallia, L., & Setti A. (2020). Editorial: Factors Underpinning and Influencing Drivers’ Aberrant Behaviours Across the Life Course. Frontiers in Psychology-Performance Science, 10:3030. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.03030
- Lucidi, F., Girelli, L., Chirico, A., Alivernini, F, Cozzolino, M., Violani, C., and Mallia, L. (2019). Personality Traits and Attitudes Toward Traffic Safety Predict Risky Behavior Across Young, Adult, and Older Drivers. Frontiers in Psychology 10:536. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00536
- Lucidi, F., Mallia, L., Giannini, A.M., Sgalla, R., Lazuras, L., Chirico, A., Alivernini, F., Girelli, L., & Violani, C. (2019). Riding the Adolescence: Personality Subtypes in Young Moped Riders and Their Association with Risky Driving Attitudes and Behaviors. Frontiers in Psychology- Performance Science, 10: 300. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00300
- Spano, G., Caffò, A.O., Lopez, A., Mallia, L., Gormley, M., Innamorati, M., Lucidi, F., Bosco, A. (2019). Validating driver behavior and attitude measure for older Italian drivers and investigating their link to rare collision events. Frontiers in Psychology-Performance Science, 10:368. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00368
- Mallia, L., Lazuras, L., Violani, C., Lucidi, F (2015). Crash risk and aberrant driving behaviors among bus drivers: The role of personality and attitudes towards traffic safety. Accident analysis and Prevention, 79, 145-151. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2015.03.034
- Lucidi, F., Mallia, L., Lazuras, L., Violani, C. (2014). Personality and attitudes as predictors of risky driving among older drivers. Accident analysis and Prevention, 72, 318-324. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2014.07.022
- Lucidi, F., Mallia, L., Violani, C., Giustiniani, G., Persia, L. (2013). The contributions of sleep-related risk factors to diurnal car accidents. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 51, 135-140. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2012.11.015
- Lucidi, F., Giannini, A.M., Sgalla, R., Mallia, L., Devoto, A., Reichmann, S. (2010). Young novice driver subtypes: Relationship to driving violations, errors and lapses. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 42 (6), 1689-1696. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2010.04.008
- Lucidi F., Mallia L., Violani C. (2009). Sleep-Related Car Crashes: Risk Perception and Coping with Sleepiness at the Wheel. In Bédard, H. and Delashmit, G. (Eds), Accidents: causes, analysis and prevention. Nova Sciences Publishers, pages 105-113. ISBN: 978-1-60741-712-5.
- Mallia, L., Lucidi, F., Devoto, A., Violani, C. (2007). Sonnolenza e incidenti stradali: una rassegna della letteratura. Rassegna di Psicologia, 1: 129-153.
- Lucidi, F., Russo, P.M., Mallia, L., Devoto, A., Lauriola, M, Violani, C (2006). Sleep-related car crashes: risk perception and decision-making processes in young drivers. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 38(2): 3002-309. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2005.09.013
- Lucidi F., Russo P.M., Mallia, L., Devoto, A., Lauriola, M., Violani, C. (2002). Sonnolenza e incidenti stradali notturni: uno studio sulle percezioni di rischio in giovani guidatori. Psicologia della Salute, 2: 47-63.
