Culture, Climate, and Speed: A Cross-Cultural Simulator Study of Driving Behaviour.

Abstract

Speeding is a major contributor to road crashes worldwide, yet its psychological determinants may differ across cultural contexts. Cultural values such as individualism–collectivism shape driver behaviours. However, little is known about how these values combine with perceptions of the driving environment to influence speeding, especially across countries with contrasting cultural profiles such as Türkiye and Belgium. This study is the first to examine this using driving simulators in a cross-cultural design.

The interaction between cultural orientations and perceived traffic climate to predict speeding, and how these interactions differ between Türkiye and Belgium, was examined. Eighty-six drivers (42 Turkish, 44 Belgian) completed the vertical–horizontal individualism-collectivism scale and traffic climate scale to assess perceptions of their country’s traffic climate. This scale includes three subfactors: internal requirements (skills and effort demanded by the driving task), functionality (safe, organised, efficient system), and external affective demands (emotional engagement required from road users). They then performed a driving simulator task and reported perceptions regarding the simulator’s traffic climate. Moderated moderation analyses were conducted in SPSS (PROCESS macro), with country as a moderator.

Country-related results showed that Turkish drivers high in horizontal-individualism drove slower when internal requirements were low, but faster when high. Moreover, drivers high in vertical-collectivism drove slower when they perceived the system as functional. These patterns did not emerge in Belgium. As Belgium is an individualistic country, most drivers might share this orientation, making it less distinctive, whereas in more collectivistic Türkiye, individualistic tendencies stand out more strongly. Simulator-related results showed that horizontal-individualism predicted faster driving under low emotional demands in Türkiye, while Belgian drivers tended to speed under high emotional demands.

These findings suggest that individualistic tendencies shape risky driving only under certain perceived environmental conditions, and these mechanisms are culture-specific. These findings will be discussed in light of existing literature.