Young Novice Driver Subtypes: Relationship to High-Risk Behavior, Traffic Accident Record, and Simulator Driving Performance

Two studies were undertaken to obtain empirical support for the existence of driver subtypes in the young novice driver population. In Study 1, 198 participants (55% male) aged 16 to 19 completed an extensive self-report questionnaire. Five novice driver subtypes were identified through a cluster analysis of personality and driving-related measures. Two relatively high-risk or deviant subtypes (Clusters 1 and 5) were identified, characterized by high levels of driving-related aggression, competitive speed, driving to reduce tension, sensation seeking, assaultiveness, and hostility. The individuals in Cluster 5 also reported low levels of emotional adjustment and high levels of depression, resentfulness, and irritability. In Study 2, a subset of participants from each of the subtypes drove several scenarios in a driving simulator. The subtypes differed in their responses to an emergency situation and several potential traffic hazards. They also differed in the proficiency with which they could control their attention among concurrent tasks in high-workload situations. Most of the significant differences were related to lower levels of driving skill among the two most deviant subtypes (Clusters 1 and 5). The potential applications of this research include the design of training programs and other countermeasures to address the young novice driver crash problem.