Changes in seatbelt use after licensing: a developmental hypothesis for novice drivers Tsuneo Matsuura a, * , Toshiro Ishida b , Kazuma Ishimatsu b a National Research Institute of Police Science, 6-3-1 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwashi, Chiba 277-0882, Japan b Waseda University, School of Human Sciences, Saitama 359-1164, Japan Received 20 November 2000; received in revised form 16 November 2001; accepted 20 December 2001 Abstract This study tested the hypothesis that seatbelt use reflects a person’s driving style or attitude towards safety, and that novice drivers’ attitudes become inappropriate temporarily after licensing, and go back to being appropriate when more experience has been gained. We examined seatbelt use by university students (N ¼ 387) at a university parking lot for 19 days between April and November. Personal information about the participants was obtained from parking stickers and supplementary questionnaires asking about their driving history and attitudinal variables, such as self-assessed skill and safety. A longitudinal study indi- cated that seatbelt use decreased among novice drivers, but remained the same for more experienced drivers. Cross-sectional studies revealed a U curve change in seatbelt use after licensing. Regression analysis showed that overconfidence about driving skills accounted for the novice drivers’ tendency to avoid using seatbelts. These results supported the hypothesis, especially for male novice drivers. The reason and im- plications of the changing attitude of novice drivers towards safety are discussed in terms of driver de- velopment. Ó 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Seatbelt use; Novice drivers; Driving experience; Attitudes; Overconfidence 1. Introduction We examine the seatbelt use, as an example of driving behaviour reflecting a person’s attitude towards safe driving or driving style. In particular we report here how novice drivers’ belt usage changes after gaining their driver’s license in order to test a developmental hypothesis for novice drivers. The hypothesis, which is similar to one advocated by N€ a€ at€ anen and Summala (1976) and * Corresponding author. Tel.: +81-471-33-8001; fax: +81-471-35-9153. E-mail address: matsuura@nrips.go.jp (T. Matsuura). 1369-8478/02/$ - see front matter Ó 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII:S1369-8478(02)00002-5 Transportation Research Part F 5 (2002) 1–13 www.elsevier.com/locate/trf