Accident Analysis and Prevention 42 (2010) 275–281 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Accident Analysis and Prevention journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/aap Determinants behind young motorcyclists’ risky riding behavior Jinn-Tsai Wong a,1 , Yi-Shih Chung b,∗ , Shih-Hsuan Huang c,2 a Institute of Traffic and Transportation, National Chiao Tung University, 4F, 118 Chung Hsiao W. Rd., Sec. 1, Taipei 10044, Taiwan b Department of Logistics and Shipping Management, Kainan University, No.1 Kainan Road, Luzhu Shiang, Taoyuan 33857, Taiwan c Institute of Traffic and Transportation, National Chiao Tung University, 3F, 118 Chung Hsiao W. Rd., Sec. 1, Taipei 10044, Taiwan article info Article history: Received 14 February 2009 Received in revised form 22 July 2009 Accepted 4 August 2009 Keywords: Motorcyclist Risky behavior Structural equation modeling abstract Young motorcyclists have traditionally been considered a high-risk population. Given the critical influ- ence of riders’ behaviors on traffic safety, identifying what riders think can help clarify the nature of accidents. Although psychological studies have explored the relationships among personality traits, attitudes and risky driving behavior, the primary difference this study makes from past studies is incor- porating both positive and negative effects in a refined causal framework. This study adopts structural equation modeling to analyze data collected from 683 young motorcyclists aged between 18 and 28. The results conclude three primary personality traits of young motorcyclists, namely sensation seeking, amiability and impatience. While amiable riders represent a group of relatively mature and safe riders, the sensation-seeking riders are extremely self-confident, comfortable with unsafe riding and interested in the utility gained from it. Meanwhile, the sensation-seeking ones also are highly aware of traffic con- ditions, which may lower the chances of getting into an accident, but the accident could be extremely severe if it ever occurs. Impatient riders, having low riding confidence and traffic awareness deficiency, also seek utility from certain risky riding behaviors. However, their fear of an accident leads them to fail to observe surrounding traffic conditions. The result indicates various mental compromise mechanisms for young motorcyclists in conducting riding behaviors. Thus, corresponding countermeasures, includ- ing licensure system and ITS roadway development, should consider the heterogeneous characteristics of young riders. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Young drivers are considered a high-risk traffic group. Despite their comparatively low exposure to driving, young people are more likely to experience vehicle accidents (Clarke et al., 2005; Machin and Sankey, 2008; Waylen and McKenna, 2008). Early research suggests that immature skills or insufficient experience may account for the high accident rate among young drivers. How- ever, several investigations indicate that experienced young drivers still are exposed to high accidental risk. Inexperience obviously is not the only explanation for accidents; research needs to clar- ify other factors differentiating young drivers from other drivers (Wong and Chung, 2007, 2008). Among all human factors, researchers have intensively studied and considered psychological traits as significantly affecting risky ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +886 3 341 2500x6083; fax: +886 3 341 2361. E-mail addresses: jtwong@mail.nctu.edu.tw (J.-T. Wong), yishih.chung@gmail.com, zest@mail.knu.edu.tw (Y.-S. Chung), andyhuang.tt96g@nctu.edu.tw (S.-H. Huang). 1 Tel.: +886 2 2349 4959; fax: +886 2 2349 4953. 2 Tel.: +886 2 2349 4995; fax: +886 2 2349 4953. driving behavior (Ulleberg and Rundmo, 2003; Dahlen et al., 2005; Kim and Yamashita, 2007). However, it is still unclear how these two are causally related. According to the Theory of Planned Behav- ior (TPB) proposed by Ajzen (1991), psychological traits including attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavior control affect behaviors via intention. Based on the theory, Ulleberg and Rundmo (2003) incorporated personality traits, attitudes towards safety and risk perception into Structure Equation Modeling (SEM) to dis- cuss the risky driving behavior mechanism among young drivers. The results demonstrate that personality may indirectly influence risky driving behaviors via attitude. Yet, findings did not show risk perception, positively correlated with attitude, to be directly and significantly related to risky driving behaviors. This finding is incon- sistent with past study findings that risk perception significantly affects risky or unsafe driving behaviors (Ryb et al., 2006; Harre and Sibley, 2007; Vanlaar et al., 2008). According to the risk homeostasis theory, risky driving behav- iors induce not only costs such as perceived risk, but also benefits such as excitement or time saving (Hoyes et al., 1996). Ignoring potential driver benefits from such driving will likely result in an incomplete understanding of such risky behaviors. By consid- ering the heterogeneous characteristics of young drivers, further research on risky driving behaviors in different young driving 0001-4575/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.aap.2009.08.004