Impulsivity Subtypes and Maladaptive Road Performance among Drivers in Germany and Switzerland

Abstract

Excessive speed and speeding substantially compromise road safety in Germany and Switzerland. Approximately one third of all fatal accidents are caused by maladjusted speed. Recent studies attribute a special importance to the impulsivity construct in the context of maladaptive road behavior. Thus, the effects of impulsivity on risky driving behaviors (speeding violations) were examined in a Swiss-German sample of N = 361 car drivers (both on speed affine drivers and putative ordinary drivers). The participants filled in a questionnaire battery consisting of an impulsiveness scale as well as traffic-related attitudes and cognitive appraisal tendencies on the one hand and indicators for maladaptive behaviors at and beyond traffic domain on the other hand. The directions of the observed correlations between the scales were as expected, with impulsivity correlating negatively with age (young drivers scored higher) but not at all with gender or driving experience. To find out more about the functionality of impulsivity, specific personality profiles were carried out via cluster analysis. Three different control types were empirically found (impulsivity subtype, reduced compliance subtype, vulnerability subtype), while high impulsive drivers scored high in impulsivity, low on compliance, high on affective responsiveness and described themselves as affordance-prone. The impulsive type additionally shows more speeding offences stored in the driving license file, overrides speed limits for more than 15 km/h more frequently and even shows deviancy beyond traffic domain. The results are discussed in the light of the impulse control system and conclusions are drawn regarding assessment of driving aptitude and interventions. The theoretical framework including a hierarchical structured model of deviance was confirmed empirically.