Willingness to use Intelligent Speed Assistance among UK Drivers: The role of personality and driving attitudes

AbstractBackground. Speeding is a well-documented contributor to crash risk. Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA), an in-car system that helps drivers remain within the speed limit, is becoming more common in vehicles. Current systems typically allow drivers to disable or override ISA, which may limit its potential safety impact. This paper examines associations between personality, driving attitudes, and willingness to use ISA among UK drivers.Method. Participants (N = 176; 69.3% female; M age = 38.61, SD = 13.97), all of whom held a full UK driving licence with a mean of 20 years (SD = 13.5 years) of driving experience, completed an online questionnaire assessing their willingness to avoid using ISA and their willingness to override the system. Participants also completed measures of attitudes to driving violations, impulsivity, sensation seeking, and the Big 5 personality traits. Results. Attitudes to violations accounted for most of the variance in both willingness to avoid ISA and willingness to override it, with agreeableness having an indirect effect through attitudes to driving violations. Motor impulsivity was independently related to willingness to override the system. Conclusions. These findings highlight a key challenge to realising the full potential safety impact of ISA. Drivers with positive attitudes toward violations, those who would benefit most from ISA, are also the most likely to avoid using or override the system. Potential technical, financial, and educational methods to address this challenge are discussed.