Nineteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Risky driving behaviors such as drinking and driving, speeding, and not wearing a seat belt are major contributing factors to roadway fatalities. To reach zero deaths, we must affect change using novel approaches. One such approach is to empower the majority of safe road users to engage in prosocial behaviors to impact the smaller group engaging in risky behaviors The goal is to instill a sense of responsibility in everyone for the safety of others. An integrated behavioral model guided the development of a survey to understand values, beliefs, and attitudes regarding engagement in prosocial behaviors that impact the traffic safety of others. Results of the study provide a better understanding of traffic safety citizenship behavior thus informing how to grow these conditions in communities. Using data from a random sample of adults in the United States, this paper will identify values, attitudes, and behaviors predictive of traffic safety behaviors and their relationship to two measures of traffic safety citizenship behaviors: asking someone to wear a seat belt and asking someone to stop reading or typing on a cell phone while driving. Recommendations to increase traffic safety citizenship will be discussed.