Prohibitory traffic signs violation by well-educated young drivers based on situation scenarios

Traffic violations in Indonesia were mostly committed by young drivers. Surprisingly, university students ranked third as traffic violators despite they are expected to have better understanding of traffic signs instead of others. This study was conducted to investigate the influence factors that might encourage university students as well-educated young drivers to commit traffic violations through several situation scenarios. Five prohibitory traffic signs (no u-turn, no parking, stop sign, maximum speed limit, no stopping) were subjectively evaluated by 212 university students (18-23 years old, having valid car and or motorcycle driving license) whether they will violate these signs in 7 situation scenarios as indicators based on human-related factors (no police officers, in a hurry, imitate mistakes, sleep deprivation and fatigue) and environmental-related factors (quiet roads, night driving, driving in heavy rain). From the results, the influence varied for each sign. Both factors influenced no u-turn, no parking and no stopping signs. Human-related factors influenced maximum speed limit sign while environmental-related factors influenced stop sign. This study has provided a useful initial insight to understand young driver's behavior to violate these prohibitory traffic signs. For further studies, it can be applied to other signs with different respondent profiles. Apart from that, the relationship between indicators can also be investigated.