Investigation of the role of driving skills in the relationship between stress and driver anger

Human factors play an important role among the factors affecting road traffic accidents. Driver anger is one of the important driver factors associated with many negative outcomes in traffic. Besides, examining the variables associated with driving anger provides important findings for traffic safety. In this context, the current study investigated the relationships between stress, driving skills, and driving anger. A total of 170 participants, 88 females and 82 males, with a valid driving license, participated in the study. Participants completed a battery consisting of Demographic Information Form, Perceived Stress Scale, Driving Skills Inventory, and Driving Anger Scale. According to the regression analysis, in which gender and the year of license were considered as control variables, stress and perceptual-motor skills showed a positive relationship with driving anger, while safety skills showed a negative relationship. In addition, the interaction effects were found to be not significant in the analyses regarding the moderating role of driving skills between stress and driver anger. This also indicates that stress and driving skills are related to driver anger over separate paths. The findings were discussed specifically for the studies in the literature, and recommendations for research and application were made for road safety.