Determinism, risk and safe driving behavior in northern Alberta, Canada

Introduction. There is evidence that Alberta’s rural north is overrepresented in the Canadian province’s overall traffic fatality rate, even after weather, travel exposure and highway geometry are controlled for. Objective. The objective of this study was to identify underlying reasons and rationales that northern citizens use to accommodate risk and driving behavior. Methods. A total of 82 individuals participated in 13 focus groups, each with between 5 and 10 participants. Eight focus groups were conducted with general drivers and five with service professionals in five different Alberta locations. Discussions centered on a series of questions that were designed to elicit insight into general characteristics of the participants’ world-view and featured two categories of questions, including dimensions of belief systems and driver characteristics and behavior. Results. Although much of the discussions focused on freedom of choice, over half of the interviewees cited determinism as a key feature of responsibility. Three versions of determinism were emphasized as key in roadway safety: religious determinism, universal’ determinism (fatalism), and humanistic determinism. These observations highlighted peoples’ perception of the likelihood of getting into traffic situations outside one’s control. Conclusion. In order to maximize the effectiveness of traffic safety in the north, professionals need to take an approach which addresses not only safety issues, but also issues regarding responsibility and its links with behavior.