Abstract

The present study explored the major behavior patterns of drivers and the environmental settings having an effect on traffic accident using the data collected from drivers and traffic police. Drivers and traffic police read questionnaire which contain the passible causes of traffic accident and selected the major causes on the basis of their latest accidents. Unexperienced drivers were forced to answer the questionnaire by referring to their friends and neighborhoods. The results showed that the major causes of traffic accident were connected with the driver's factors. The most important cause of traffic accidents was inattention/incautiousness. The next were lack of competence, skill, and experience. One interesting fact was that drivers and traffic police attributed differently. Drivers pointed out the lack of ability coping with an emergency and the insufficient skill of defensive driving as causes of the traffic accident. On the other hand, traffic polices indicated the intentional violations such as the disregard for traffic rules, trespassing on the central line of the roadway, speed limit violation, and breaking into the vehicle’s line. The implications for appling the this results to driver education institutions were discussed.