How congruent can human attitudes, intentions and behaviour be: the case of risky driving behaviour among Lithuanian novice drivers

ENThe aim of this paper is to evaluate the possibilities to predict risky driving behaviour of novice Lithuanian drivers during the first nine months of their independent driving by risky attitudes and intentions to risk assessed before they were licenced to drive. 188 novice drivers participated in a three-wave longitudinal study. They were approached at driving schools in Lithuania in the beginning of driving training and after it and asked to fill in the questionnaire. To assess the risky driving participants were interviewed one year after the end of driving training. Driving errors correlated with attitudes and intentions only for female drivers. Violations while driving were related to attitudinal variables for both males and females. Violations as well as driving errors could be predicted by attitudes and intentions measured at the same time as behaviour, when variables of other measurements were controlled. Risky driving of drivers could be better explained by their attitudes and intentions, when they have already gained some driving experience. It might be presumed that driving experience shape risky attitudes and intentions, not vice versa as it was expected by theory. Keywords: risky driving; risky attitudes; intentions; novice drivers. [From the publication]