Does Traffic Safety Climate Perception of Drivers Differ Depending on Their Traffic System Resilience and Driving Skills Evaluation?

Road traffic accidents are one of the most important public health problems in Turkey and all over the world. Traffic system involves many agents from a micro level, such as drivers, to a macro level, such as traffic climate. Traffic system resilience and driving skills are crucial factors that determine the road traffic accidents and their outcomes; in addition to being related to the development of sustainable and safer road traffic system. In this study, it is aimed to investigate group differences derived from traffic system resilience and driving skills with respect to traffic safety climate. For this purpose, 323 drivers (177 female, 146 male), between the ages of 19 and 57 (M = 28.56, SD = 8.96), participated in the study. Participants filled out a questionnaire including demographic information form, Driving Skills Inventory, Traffic Climate Scale, and Traffic System Resilience Scale adapted to traffic settings by the researchers. The data were analyzed by using t-test to be able to compare groups. According to the results, traffic systems that are perceived to be high in terms of resilience were also perceived to be less externally demanding and more functional. In this study, traffic system resilience was evaluated by the perception of drivers and the relationships between traffic system resilience, driving skills, and traffic safety climate were evidenced for the first time in the literature. The implication of the results is discussed by focusing on the ways the findings could be used to improve traffic safety.