Do symptoms of psychopathology predict a professional driver's involvement in traffic accidents?

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate how symptoms of psychopathology and demographic variables are related to traffic accident involvement among professional drivers. Methods: Two-hundred and seventy-three male professional drivers living in Ankara volunteered to fill in a form including Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), questions about their accident history and background information. BSI scales scores showed high internal consistency. Data were analyzed by using logistic regression analysis. Results: Two models were composed. The first model included age, annual mileage, education, type of vehicle driven at work. None of these variables was related to accidents. In the second model, BSI scales (anxiety, depression, hostility, paranoid ideation and psychoticism) were entered to the model. Anxiety was found to have a positive and paranoid ideation a negative relationship to accident involvement. Conclusion: It was suggested that drivers applying a professional driver's license should be subjected to a screening test to screen out psychologically unfit candidates.