Abstract:
It is important to identify the young and inexperienced people’s driving practices and
perceptions at a very early phase of their driving exposure so that areas of improvement for
safer driving can be identified. This study analyses 400 young and inexperienced drivers’
self-reported habitual practices and opinions through a questionnaire survey. This
questionnaire focuses on supervision of early driving, restrictions by parents, accident and
traffic offences involving young drivers, and several other habitual driving practices.
Analyses are performed using reliability statistics, inter-item correlation, likelihood ratio
tests, and parameter estimates. The highest inter-item correlation value obtained is 0.467
which was for overtaking vehicles in restricted areas and speeding short distances to run a
yellow light before it changes to red. Driving after alcohol consumption, mobile phone
usage, taking an illegal U-turn at restricted areas, indicating signals when changing lanes
and overtaking a slow driver from the left were significantly influenced by the choice of
young drivers to not use seat belts. These habitual practices while driving highlight the need
for early intervention to improve road safety. In conclusion, there is always one or more
habitual driving practices that affects other driving habits of young drivers.
Citation:
Amarasingha, N., & Firdhaws, H.M.M. (2020). Self-reported habitual practices and perceptions of young drivers in Sri Lanka [Abstract]. In T.L. Gunaruwan (Ed.), Proceedings of 5th International Conference on Research for Transport and Logistics Industry 2020 (p. 2). Sri Lanka Society of Transport and Logistics. https://slstl.lk/r4tli-2020/