Wisut Ariyapinyo.  1996.  Psychological  and Driving Situation Variables Related to Safe Driving Behavior
of  Private Car Driving  in Bangkok. Dissertion, M.S. (Behavioral Science) Behavioral Science Research 
Institute. 


              The purposed of this study were : 1) to investigate the relationships between safe driving behavior and
psychological variables, biosocial variables and driving situation variables, 2)  to find the good predictors of safe
driving behavior, and 3) to compare the safe driveng behavior of the drivers who differed in psychological variables,
biosocial variables and driving situation varables. 
               The sample in this study was  601  Bangkok private car drivers who had been driving regularly in
Bangkok for at least 1 year. 
                Independent variables in this study consisted of 1) psychological variables : internal locus of control
, attitude toward safe driving behavior, and type A personality, 2) biosocial variables : sex, age, education level,
driving experience and knowledge of safe driving, 3)  driving situation : traffic congestion and route condition. A
dependent variable was safe driving behavior which consisted of 2  components : careful driving and good driving
habit. Internal locus of control, attitude toward safe driving behavior, type A  personality,  knowledge of  safe
driving, route condition and safe driving behavior were measured by questionnaires developed by the researcher. 
                Pearson product moment correlation, multiple regression, and three-way analysis of variance were used to
analyze the data. 
                Main findings of the study were as follows : 
                1.  Internal locus of control, attitude toward safe driveng behavior, age, driving experience, knowledge of
safe driving and route condition were positively related to safe driving behavior, however, type A personality and
education level were negatively related to safe driving behavior, Moreover, sex and traffic congestion were not
related to safe driving behavior. 
                2.  Psychological variables, biosocial variables, and driving situation variables could account for 49.1 % of
the variance of safe driving behavior. Good predictors of the safe driving behavior were attitude toward safe driving
behavior, age, type A personality, driving experience, education level, knowledge of safe driving, and route
condition. Attitude toward safe driving behavior was the most important predictor. 
                3.  Drivers who had more positive attitude toward safe driveing showed more careful driving behavior than
those who had less positive attitude, whatever knowledge of safe driving the driver  had, how heavy the traffic was, 
and the condition of the route was. 
                4.  Older drivers reported more safe driving behavior than younger drivers, no matter how high the internal
locus of control they possessed. However, in younger drivers group, those who had higher internal locus of control
showed higher safe drivig behavior. 
                5.  In good route condition, drivers who were educated less than highschool level showed higher safe
driveng behavior than undergraduate or graduate drivers. For the drivers who attained medium level of education
(from high school to diploma), those who drived in good route condition expressed higher safe driving behavior than
those who drived in worse route condition. 
                6.  Driver who had better attitude toward safe driving behavior showed higher careful driving behavior
than those who had worse attitude, no matter how heavy the traffic was, and no matter how the drivers was. 
                7.  For the low internal locus of control drivers, those who had more driving experience expressed higher
careful driving behavior than those who had lower experience. However, for the drivers who had lower experience,
those who had higher internal locus of control showed more careful driving behavior. 
                8.  Driving who scored lower in type A personality scale showed higher safe driving behavior than those
who scored higher. 

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