Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences in the traffic environments and driving behaviors in 5 regions of Korea. Data were collected through the survey research from 1387 passenger car drivers in 14 locations in Korea. The main findings of this research are as followings: First of all, There were significant differences in traffic environment factors(road topography, construction, road & safety facilities, pedestrian behaviors, surrounding drivers) among 5 regional areas. When we examined drivers factors, there were significant differences among 5 metropolitan areas on wearing seat belt, most of constructions related to drink driving, speed-limit violation. There were many differences in driving habits, intentions, behaviors including wearing seat belt, driving after drinking according to metropolitan area, and also in case of speed-limit violation and careless driving behavior. These results suggested that there are many differences in traffic environments and driver's behaviors among regional areas. These result suggests that traffic safety policy and practice should be prepared based upon the peculiarities of regional area. We discussed these resulte in terms of the regional traffic policy and the suggestions for future studies were added.