title: How accurately do drivers evaluate their own driving behavior? An on-road observational study.
abstract: Self-assessment of driving skills became a noteworthy research subject in traffic psychology, since by knowing one's strenghts and weaknesses, drivers can take an efficient compensatory action to moderate risk and to ensure safety in hazardous environments. The current study aims to investigate drivers' self-conception of their own driving skills and behavior in relation to expert evaluations of their actual driving, by using naturalistic and systematic observation method during actual on-road driving session and to assess the different aspects of driving via comprehensive scales sensitive to different specific aspects of driving. 19-63 years old male participants (N=158) attended an on-road driving session lasting approximately 80min (45km). During the driving session, drivers' errors and violations were recorded by an expert observer. At the end of the driving session, observers completed the driver evaluation questionnaire, while drivers completed the driving self-evaluation questionnaire and Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ). Low to moderate correlations between driver and observer evaluations of driving skills and behavior, mainly on errors and violations of speed and traffic lights was found. Furthermore, the robust finding that drivers evaluate their driving performance as better than the expert was replicated. Over-positive appraisal was higher among drivers with higher error/violation score and with the ones that were evaluated by the expert as "unsafe". We suggest that the traffic environment might be regulated by increasing feedback indicators of errors and violations, which in turn might increase the insight into driving performance. Improving self-awareness by training and feedback sessions might play a key role for reducing the probability of risk in their driving activity.
authors.affiliation: Ege University, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Letters, Bornova 35100, İzmir, Turkey. Electronic address: sonia.amado@ege.edu.tr.
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Amado
authors.affiliation: Yaşar University, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science and Letters, Bornova 35100, İzmir, Turkey. Electronic address: elvan_arikan@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Elvan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Arıkan
authors.affiliation: Ege University, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Letters, Bornova 35100, İzmir, Turkey. Electronic address: gulin.kaca@ege.edu.tr.
authors.forename: Gülin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kaça
authors.affiliation: Ege University, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Letters, Bornova 35100, İzmir, Turkey. Electronic address: mehmet.koyuncu@ege.edu.tr.
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koyuncu
authors.affiliation: Ege University, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Letters, Bornova 35100, İzmir, Turkey. Electronic address: turkan_nilay@gmail.com.
authors.forename: B Nilay
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Turkan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012647:Self-Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Driving skills; On-road observation; Over-positive appraisal; Self-assessment