What Driving Says about You: A Small-Sample Exploratory Study between Personality and Self-Reported Driving Style among Young Male Drivers

Abstract

Understanding how personalities relate to driving styles is crucial for improving Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADASs) and driver-vehicle interactions. Focusing on the "high-risk"population of young male drivers, the objective of this study is to investigate the association between personality traits and driving styles. An online survey study was conducted among 46 males aged 21-30 to gauge their personality traits, self-reported driving style, and driving history. Hierarchical Clustering was proposed to identify driving styles and revealed two subgroups of drivers who either had a "risky"or "compliant"driving style. Compared to the compliant group, the risky cluster sped more frequently, was easily distracted and affected by negative emotion, and often behaved recklessly. The logit model results showed that the risky driving style was associated with lower Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, but higher driving exposure. An interaction effect was also detected between age and Extraversion to form a risky driving style.