Road aggressiveness as a predictor of stress and prosocial behavior, and its influence on Mexican drivers’ accident rates

The aim of this paper is to study the relationship between aggressiveness, prosocial behavior, stress and accident rates of drivers in the city of Cuernavaca, Morelos. Two previously validated scales were used to evaluate stress and aggressiveness in drivers and a new scale was composed to evaluate prosocial behavior while driving. A small questionnaire was designed to determine some particularities of traffic accidents in order to determine accident rates. Findings point that aggressiveness is a complex phenomenon from a psychosocial point of view, due to the fact that it predicts a higher level of stress and lower levels of prosocial behavior. It is concluded that traffic accidents reflect a problem that is of a psychosocial nature, due to the nonlinear relationship that these variables share, which may be produced by other factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)