Lifestyle, traffic and young drivers : an interview study

It is well known that young drivers (18-24) run a considerably higher accident risk than other drivers. Berg (1991) carried out a study at VTI which had the aim of demonstrating relationships between the lifestyles of young drivers and their accident risks in traffic. The object was to identify high risk groups on the basis of the lifestyles of young people. The 1991 study was carried out by means of a questionnaire sent to 3000 twenty-year-olds in the whole of Sweden. The questionnaire contained questions about lifestyle, accidents and certain background data (sex, education, etc.). The results showed, for instance, that six different lifestyles among the twenty year old drivers had a higher or lower risk in traffic. This study is a direct continuation of the above study in which I have interviewed persons in these different lifestyles. The interview dealt with subjects such as driving style, the life they lead, interests, style, morality and ideology, i.e. their lifestyles. A total of 25 twenty year old drivers were interviewed. The results of the interview study show that the different groups differ in their opinions about driving styles, the kind of life they lead, interests, style, morality and ideology. In the high risk groups many were unemployed, while in the low risk groups most were students. In the high risk groups there was also a considerably higher interest in cars and driving than in the low risk groups. People in the high risk groups also say that they drive emotionally, get worked up about others in traffic, have the car as a pleasant hobby or go for a drive just for fun. These attitudes are much less frequent among the low risk groups where, on the contrary, there is a defensive attitude regarding their own ability in traffic. The high risk groups also define style much more in terms such as luxurious and ostentatious than the low risk groups. In the high risk groups people found it quite difficult to define their approximate moral limits. This was not the case in the low risk groups where people on the whole appeared to have quite a high morality. Morality in traffic was also much higher in the low risk groups than in the high risk groups. People in the low risk groups also have much greater consideration for others than those in the high risk groups.