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Testing The Driving Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) on Malaysian Drivers

Conference Paper · January 2017

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Nur Shazwani Rosli, Jasmani Mohd Yunus, Suhaila Abdul Hanan (2017).

Testing The Driving Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) on Malaysian Drivers. In The Proceeding
of The 12th Malaysian Universities Transport Research Forum Conference (MUTRFC 2017) In
Conjunction With 4th Agkn On Tour 15, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Selangor.

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 TESTING THE DRIVING BEHAVIOUR QUESTIONNAIRE (DBQ)
ON MALAYSIAN DRIVERS

Nur Shazwani Rosli1, Jasmani Mohd Yunus2 , Suhaila Abdul Hanan3

1
PhD Candidate, School of Technology Mgt. and Logistics, Universiti Utara Malaysia
2
Senior Lecturer, UUM Kuala Lumpur, Universiti Utara Malaysia
3
Senior Lecturer, School of Technology Mgt. and Logistics, Universiti Utara Malaysia

ABSTRACT

This study measured aberrant driving behaviour using the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire
(DBQ), one of the most widely used driving measurement instruments, and tested its
factorial validity and reliability among Malaysia drivers. Principal component analysis
(PCA) revealed a three-factor structure comprising of violations, errors, and lapses. This
three-factor structure accounted for 59.75 per cent of total variance. Descriptive analysis
found that five of the most frequently occurring behaviours (between occasionally ‘2’ and
quite often ‘3’) came from ‘violations’, one from ‘errors’, and another five most frequents
were from ‘lapses’. Both violations and errors are potentially dangerous and have been
reported to predict involvement in active accidents, although violations have been mainly
related to crash involvement.

Keywords: Driver behaviour questionnaire, violations, errors, lapses

1. INTRODUCTION

Road traffic accidents are one of the leading causes of death globally, and an estimated 1.5
million people are killed each year and as many as 50 million more suffered serious
injuries (WHO, 2017). It is currently taking an eight position and is expected to be at the
fifth place by 2030. In Malaysia, more than 500,000 road accidents took place in 2016
alone, taking toll of 7152 deaths. There is a serious economic consequence due to this
disaster, and the total costs associated with these accidents were very high. It was reported
that road traffic accidents caused an equivalent loss of 1.5 per cent to the country’s gross
domestic products (GDP) (The Star, 2016). For example, in 2016 road accidents incurred
an estimated cost of RM9.21 billion, an increase of RM581 million compared with 2015
(The Star, 2017).

Road traffic accident is the collision of vehicles which results in injury, property damage
and death. It happens when a road vehicle such as a motorcar, lorry, bus or motorcycle
collides with other vehicles, pedestrians, animals, road debris or other geographical and
architectural obstacles (Kohli et al., 2015). There are three elements that may be involved
in these accidents; driver (human), road vehicle, and traffic environment. However, human
factor was found to have caused more than 90 per cent of the accidents, and that unsafe
driving behaviour played a key role to those accidents (Reindeau, 2012). Unsafe driving is
a behaviour that puts the driver and other road users at risk such as excessive speeding,
weaving in and out of lanes, and driving through red lights or stop signs. Given the
significance of this type of driving behaviour, it is not surprising that large volumes of
literature had focused on examining the relationship of this behaviour with various human
facets especially in the psychological and social aspects, and that changes in the drivers’
behaviour is one of the keys to road traffic safety measures (Chen, 2010; Rifaat, 2012;
Nordfjaein et al., 2012; Reindeau, 2012). This also prompted Reason et al. (1990) to
develop a survey instrument, Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) in measuring the
driver behaviour and vehicle users.

Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ) is one of the most frequently used tool in
researches on driving behaviour. There are different versions of DBQ, from ones covering
on 10 basic questions (Rowland et al, 2009) to ones consisting of over 100 items
(Kontogiannis et al., 2002). In DBQ, participants are asked to indicate how often certain
traffic situations happen to them. De Winter and Dodov (2010) conducted a meta-analysis
with a data set of 45 thousand drivers and found that behaviours reported by drivers can be
treated as predictors of traffic accidents. The standard version of DBQ developed by
Reason et al., (1990) classified three types of aberrant behaviour; violations, errors, and
lapses. Violations refer to ‘deliberate violations from those practices believed necessary to
main the safe operation of a potentially hazardous system’. It can be aggressive or
ordinary. Aggressive violations involve overtly aggressive acts whereas ordinary violations
are deliberate deviations from safe driving without a specifically aggressive aim. Errors are
defined as ‘the failure of planned actions to achieve their intended consequences’, while
lapses are attention and memory failures which can cause embarrassment but are unlikely
to have an impact of driving safety. However, both violations and errors are potentially
dangerous and might lead to a collision.

Although the DBQ has gained wide acceptance and studies have been conducted in various
countries worldwide (Martinussen, 2013), there is still lack of sufficient publications on
psychometric evaluation of this instrument in Malaysia. Therefore the aim of this paper is
to present the basic assessment of DBQ by reporting the descriptive findings, reliability as
well as developing the factor model of the instrument.

2. METHOD

Driver Behaviour Questionnaire was used to measure aberrant driver behaviours in this
study. This DBQ questionnaire includes 10 items of violations, 7 items of errors, and 8
items of lapses. Participants were asked to indicate how often they commit each of the
behaviour based on five point Likert-type scale, where 1=hardly ever, 2=occasionally,
3=quite often, 4= frequently, and 5= nearly all the time. The questionnaire was distributed
to the motorists using the highways via the intercept survey method. This technique
utilised a roadside hand-out method by stopping or selecting participants in a strategic
survey sites, and in this case the R & R in the Klang Valley areas. The questionnaire
together with a cover letter and a stamped return envelope was given to participants for
them to reply anonymously. A total of 348 completed questionnaires were returned with a
response rate of 18.1 per cent. However, only 311 questionnaires were found useable after
deleting 37 cases which were detected as outliers. Factor analysis using principal
component analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation was performed together with frequency
analysis with the SPSS version 21.0.
3. RESULTS

The PCA analysis performed revealed a three-factor structure while the scree plot also
indicated a three-factor structure. The three-factor structure was found to be most
interpretable and accounted for 59.75 per cent of total variance. The first factor with 10
items was defined as ‘violations’ and accounted for 22.73 percent of variance, the second
factor consisting 7 items and named ‘errors’ explained 19.41 percent of variance, and the
third factor ‘lapses’ explained 17.61 percent of variance with 8 items. Factor loadings of
the three-structure can be seen in Table 1.

Table 1: Three factor solution of the DBQ items

No. Item F1 F2 F3
8 I become angered by another driver and give chase .802
3 I disregard the speed limit on a residential road .771
7 I get involved with ‘races’ with other drivers .760
5 I have an aversion to a particular type of a driver and .706
indicate my hostility by whatever means I can
10 I stay in a highway lane that I know will be closed .705
until the last minute before forcing my way into the
other lane
2 I cross a junction knowing that the traffic lights have .699
already turned red
4 I disregard the speed limits on a highway .699
1 I drive especially close to the car in front as a signal to .695
its driver to go faster or get out of the way
9 I sound my horn to indicate my annoyance to another .612
driver
6 I become impatient with a slow driver in the right lane .493
and overtake on the left lane
12 I miss ‘give way’ sign and narrowly avoid colliding .767
with traffic having right of way
11 I attempt to overtake someone that I had noticed to be .745
signalling a left/right turn
16 I underestimate the speed of an incoming vehicle when .735
overtaking
13 I fail to notice that pedestrians are crossing when .692
turning into a side street from a main road
14 Queuing to turn right/left onto a main road, I pay such .665
a close attention to the mainstream traffic that I nearly
hit the car in front
15 I fail to check my rear view before pulling out or .654
changing lanes
17 I apply sudden brakes on a slippery road or steer .648
wrong way in a skid
24 Intending to drive to destination A, I ‘wake up’ finding .762
myself in destination B because the latter is my more
usual destination
25 I realise that I have no clear recollection of the road .757
along which I have been travelling
23 I switch on one thing such as headlights when I meant .749
to switch on something else such as wipers
20 I forget where I left my car in the car park .726
18 I get into the wrong lane when approaching a .604
roundabout or a junction
19 I misread the traffic signs and exit from the .598
roundabout on the wrong road
21 I hit something when reversing that I had not .556
 previously seen
22 I attempt to drive away from the traffic lights .415
Variance Explained 22.73 19.41 17.61
F1=Violations, F2=Errors, F3=Lapses

The PCA revealed a three-factor structure containing two factors explained by both error
and lapse items and a single factor containing violations. Although this analysis supported
the three-factor structure of the original DBQ (Reason et al., 1990), there were studies
which found a four-factor structure. The main distinction was found in the ‘violations’
category which was classified further into aggressive and ordinary violations (Martinussen,
2013). Cronbach alpha’s reliability coefficients were also calculated for the three
constructs; violations, errors, and lapses, and all were found to be above the threshold level
of 0.70 (Hair et al., 2010) with violations (α = .844), errors (α =.7810, and lapses (α =.764).

Table 2: Mean Scores for Driving Behaviour

No. Statement Mean SD

Violations 2.08 .799

1. I drive especially close to the car in front as a signal to its driver to go faster 2.25 1.178
or get out of the way
2. I cross a junction knowing that the traffic lights have already turned red 1.76 1.005
3. I disregard the speed limits on a residential road 1.89 1.022
4. I disregard the speed limits on a highway 2.24 1.108
5. I have an aversion to a particular type of a driver and indicate my hostility 2.17 1.142
by whatever means I can
6. I become impatient with a slow driver in the right lane and overtake on the 2.82 1.254
left lane
7. I get involved with ‘races’ with other drivers 1.74 1.059
8. I become angered by another driver and give chase 1.84 1.018
9. I sound my car horn to indicate my annoyance to another driver 2.24 1.149
10. I stay in a highway lane that I know will be closed until the last minute 1.86 .988
before forcing my way into the other lane

Errors 1.92 .785

11. I attempt to overtake someone that I had not noticed to be signalling a 1.96 1.032
left/right turn
12. I miss the ‘give way’ sign and narrowly avoid colliding with traffic having 1.89 .972
right of way
13. I fail to notice that pedestrians are crossing when turning into a side street 1.86 .931
from a main road
14. Queuing to turn right/left onto a main road, I pay such a close attention to 2.06 1.030
the mainstream traffic that I nearly hit the car in front
15. I fail to check my rear view mirror before pulling out or changing lanes 1.84 .944
16. I underestimate the speed of an incoming vehicle when overtaking 1.96 .955
17. I apply sudden brakes on a slippery road or steer wrong way in a skid 1.87 .940

Lapses 2.17 .748

18. I get into the wrong lane when approaching a roundabout or a junction 1.96 .961
19. I misread the traffic signs and exit from the roundabout on the wrong road 1.95 .926
20. I forget where I left my car in the park 2.30 1.154
21. I hit something when reversing that I had not previously seen 1.87 .874
22. I attempt to drive away from the traffic lights 2.53 1.043
23. I switch on one thing such as headlights when I meant to switch on 2.22 1.072
something else such as wipers
24. Intending to drive to destination A, I ‘wake up’ finding myself in 2.18 1.025
destination B because the latter is my more usual destination
25. I realize that I have no clear recollection of the road along which I have 2.38 1.106
 been traveling

The descriptive findings revealed that five (5) of the most frequently occurring behaviours
(between occasionally ‘2’ and quite often ‘3’) came from the driving behaviours classified
as violations (Reason et al., 1990) (See Table 2). “I become impatient with the slow driver
in the right lane and overtake on the left lane” scored a mean of 2.82 (SD=1.254) followed
by “I drive especially close to the car in front as a signal to its driver to go faster or get out
of the way” (M=2.25, SD=1.178), “I disregard the speed limits on a highway” (M=2.24,
SD=1.108), “I sound my horn to indicate my annoyance to another driver” (M=2.24,
SD=1.149), and “I have an aversion to a particular type of a driver and indicate my
hostility by whatever means I can” (M=2.17, SD=1.142). Only one with relative high score
for frequently driving behaviour came from the errors category. Error is the failure of
planned actions to achieve their intended consequences (Reason et al, 1990). “Queuing to
turn right/left onto the main road, I pay such a close attention to the mainstream traffic that
I nearly hit the car in front” came with a mean score of 2.06 and standard deviation (SD) of
1.030. Both violations and errors are potentially dangerous and have been reported to
predict involvement in active accidents, though violations have been mainly related to
crash involvement (Parker et al, 2000).

Among the ‘lapse’ category, five (5) most frequently occurring driving behaviours were “I
attempt to drive away from the traffic lights” with mean score of 2.53 and standard
deviation (SD) of 1.043 followed by “I realize that I have no recollection of the road along
which I have been traveling” (M=2.38, SD=1.106), “I forget where I left my car in the
park” (M=2.30, SD=1.154), “I switch on one thing such as headlights when I meant to
switch on something else such as wipers” (M=2.22, SD=1.072), and “Intending to drive to
destination A, I wake up finding myself in destination B because the latter is my more
usual destination” (M=2.18, SD=1.025). Lapses are unintended behaviour because of
attention and memory failures. These can cause embarrassment but are not associated with
active accident involvement (Reason et al., 1990; Parker et al., 2000).

4. CONCLUSIONS

This study tested the Driving Behaviour Questionnaire on Malaysia drivers by means of
factor analysis. It revealed the three-factor of driving behaviour as violations, errors, and
lapses. These findings are in agreement with previous researchers (Sucha et al, 2014;
Reason et al., 1990; Bener et al, 2016) but contradicted with some other studies (Niezgoda
et al., 2013; Martinussen, 2013; Lajunen et al., 2004). This confirms the validity and
reliability of DBQ which supports further use of the instrument. Meanwhile, descriptive
analysis on the driving behaviour revealed high mean scores came from ‘violations’ which
shows Malaysian drivers committed intended acts that are potentially dangerous and that
lead to collisions. Road accidents are predictable and preventable, and therefore authorities
must double the effort to further raise public awareness on the importance of adopting
safety driving behaviour.

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