DRIVING PRACTICES OF OLDER MALAYSIAN DRIVERS: THE INFLUENCE OF KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND CONFIDENCE

The study aims to investigate the driving practices determinants of older Malaysian drivers. Data for this cross-sectional study was obtained through interview with 400 older persons aged 50 years and over by quota sampling stratified by gender and age in Peninsula Malaysia. State of Perak and Selangor which have the highest absolute numbers of older persons aged 60 years and over. The study found that majority of older Malaysians has high driving related knowledge (56.6%). About fifty-five percent of the respondents showed confidence in selected driving situations. About 45% of the respondents had good driving attitude and nearly 52 percent of the respondents were practicing safe driving. A significant relationship was found between driving practices with age, driving knowledge, driving attitude, driving confidence, psychomotor ability and also history of accident involvement. Multiple Linear Regression analysis showed the six predictor variables which accounted for 22.8 percent of variance in driving practices (F = 9.508, p <0.05). Determinants that significantly contributed to safe driving practices include previous history of accident involvement, high driving knowledge, high driving confidence and good psychomotor ability. The determining factors are significant to provide insights for future road safety training programs and consideration as part of license renewal procedure.

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