Investigating the relationship between socio-economic status and driving performance in drivers in Tabriz city based on the population covered by the traffic cohort

Abstract

bstract Introduction and purpose: The main factor in traffic accidents, as the leading cause of disability and mortality, is risky driving behavior. Identification of factors affecting it can be effective in reducing these risky behaviors. Investigating the impact of individuals' socioeconomic status on driving performance can be effective in planning more appropriate interventions to reduce the consequences of traffic accidents. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between socio economic status and drivers' performance based on cohort study of traffic. Methods: This study is a cross-sectional study based on data from the Population-Based Traffic Cohort Study (Persian Cohort) which was conducted with the participation of 450 drivers living in Tabriz city from 2019 to 2022. The data collection tools included the socio-economic status questionnaire and the Manchester Driving Behavior Questionnaire (MDBQ). The socio-economic status questionnaire included 6 components: the occupation of the head of household (main source of income), the number of years of education completed by the head of household, the total monthly income of household members, the monetary value of personal housing, the monetary value of personal car, and the share of health care costs in total household expenses. To determine the overall score of this questionnaire, the scores for questions 4, 5, and 6 were multiplied by 0.33 and then the scores for the 6 components were added together. Quintiles were used to classify socioeconomic status and individuals were placed in one of the following categories based on their socioeconomic status score: very poor, poor, average, good, and very good. The maximum score that a participant could obtain from the socioeconomic status questionnaire was 26.61. The Manchester Driving Behavior Questionnaire included 27 questions that examined four types of risky driving behaviors including: slips (8 questions), errors (8 questions), aggressive violations (8 questions), and common violations (3 questions). The minimum and maximum scores for the three components of slips, errors, and ordinary violations are 0 and 40, respectively, and for the component of aggressive violations are 0 and 15, respectively. In this questionnaire, a lower driving score means better driving performance (fewer violations) and a higher score means worse driving performance (more violations). The questionnaires were distributed by the Traffic Research Center interviewers among eligible individuals, then the participants in the study answered the questionnaire questions in a self-declared manner. The completed questionnaires were collected by the Traffic Research Center interviewers and the information was recorded. The data was analyzed using STATA version 17 software. To examine the relationship between socioeconomic status and driving performance, partial Spearman's rank correlation, Spearman's rank correlation, and Kruskal-Wallis rank test were used. Results: According to the findings of the study, most of the participants were male (65.3%), married (72%), in the age range of 41-50 years (24.22%) and had a high school diploma (48.2%). The mean score of the total socioeconomic status of participnats was 14.85 and the median score was 14.3. The maximum socioeconomic status score achievable by participants was 26.61. More than 41% of participnats had a good or higher socio-economic status. The mean total performance score of the participnats was 8.17. Aggressive violations achived highest mean score (12.05) and the lowest score is related to the slips (5.72). The mean driving performance score was higher in men than in women. No statistically significant relationship was found between socio-economic and driving performance among participnats. A marginally significant positive correlation was identified between socioeconomic status and the domains of slippage, prevalent (unintentional) infractions, as well as the aggregate driving performance score among the participants. Conclusion: Considering that there was no statistically significant relationship between socio-economic status and driving performance, a marginally positive significant correlation was observed between socioeconomic status and the domains of slips and common (unintentional) violations and the total driving performance score among the participants. Given that the average driving performance score was higher in men than in women, which indicates a higher incidence of risky driving behavior in men compared to women, and that there are usually more male drivers than female drivers in society, policymakers in this field should focus more on men in planning and implementing relevant interventions. Also, based on the results, people who were in the good and very good socioeconomic status categories had higher driving performance scores, which indicates that these people tend to commit more violations. Therefore, it is recommended that the causes of people's tendency to engage in risky driving and driving should be investigated in the form of an operational research project by the relevant organizations and in collaboration with academics, and the most obvious factor in these people's tendency to commit violations and risky driving should be identified, and effective planning should be made to reduce these people's tendency. In addition, the results of the study showed that aggressive (intentional) violations received the highest score among the participants, which can be caused by anger, discomfort, or insecurity that the person may or may not be aware of. In view of this issue, it is necessary to determine how to respond to people who suffer from passive aggression using the experiences and knowledge of experts in the field of psychology and use it in planning to reduce traffic accidents. Keywords: socio-economic status, driving performance, drivers, driving behavior, raffic cohort, Tabriz