Self-reports of safe driving behaviors in relationship to sex, age, education and income in the US adult driving population

This study analyzed the data of a health and safety survey conducted on a r epresentative sample of the adult driving population. The analysis focused on the relationships between self-reported safe driving behaviors (includin g belt use, observing speed limits, and abstaining from drinking and drivin g), and demographic characteristics (including sex, age, education and inco me). The results showed that the three behaviors are quite independent of e ach other, and, contrary to some stereotypes, there is no single high-risk group that is most likely to violate all three safe driving behaviors. The only consistent effect was that of sex: women reported higher observance ra tes of all three behaviors. Reported use of safety belts increases with age and education for both men and women. However while for women the reported use increases with income, for males the reported use does not change with income. Complete avoidance of drinking and driving was reported by most dr ivers in all groups, and the high rates hardly varied across the different age, education, and income groups. The number of people who reported that t hey observe the speed limit all the time increased with age, but decreased with increasing education and income. The results have implications for ide ntifying violation-specific high-risk groups, and stressing different facto rs for each. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.