Cultural and skill-based influences on driver behaviors: a cross-national comparison between Belgium and Türkiye

Abstract

Driver behavior is an important contributing factor in road crashes. It is influenced by various factors. Cultural orientations, such as individualism and collectivism, shape attitudes toward traffic rules and drivers’ risk-taking behaviors. However, their interaction with perceived driving skills and national context has received limited attention. The present study examined how individualism-collectivism relates to driver behavior and whether these relationships are moderated by driving skills across two national contexts. Participants completed the questionnaires assessing cultural orientations, driving skills, and driver behaviors. A total of 527 drivers from Türkiye (Mage = 33.36, SD = 9.61; 44.2% female) and 326 drivers from Belgium (Mage = 29.35, SD = 12.29; 47.5% female) participated in the study. Moderated moderation analyses were conducted to examine the interactions between cultural orientations, driving skills, and country on driver behaviors. The findings showed that individualism was positively associated with driving violations in both countries. However, this relationship varied depending on perceptual-motor skills and country. In Türkiye, individualism was positively associated with violations across all levels of perceptual-motor skills. In Belgium, individualism predicted violations only among drivers who perceived their perceptual-motor skills as higher. In addition, collectivism was associated with fewer violations only among Belgian drivers with high perceptual-motor skills. There were no significant interaction effects for errors or positive driver behaviors. Overall, the findings show the importance of considering cultural orientations and driving skills together when examining driving behavior across different traffic contexts.