The impact of traffic violations on road accidents: Structural Equation Modeling

Background: With severe situation in road traffic safety, there is an urgent need to study the risk factors that determine driving violations and the severity of road accidents. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of driving violations and risky driving behaviors on the risk of accidents. Methods: In this descriptive cross- sectional study, 320 professional drivers participated. Data of this study were collected from Occupational Medicine Center of Kashan, Truckers' Cooperative, and Aran and Bidgol Kavir Steel Company using the Persian version of the Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ). Data were analyzed using structural equation modelling by IBM SPSS Statistics 22 and IBM AMOS 19. Results: According to the results, the fit indices of the final model showed a good fit (X2/df=3.07, RMSEA=0.083, CFI=0.977, NFI=0.967, TLI=0.957). All three research hypotheses were confirmed in the final model. There was a positive and significant relationship between violating traffic laws and risky driving behaviors (ss=0.56), and the risk of driving accidents (ss=0.41). Moreover, there was a positive and significant relationship between risky driving behaviors and the risk of driving accidents (ss=0.52, P > 0.01). Conclusion: The results of this study reveal that if the traffic violation rate could be reduced or controlled successfully by strict law enforcement and continuous monitoring, then the rate of serious injuries and fatalities would be reduced accordingly.