Intra-familial transmission of driving behavior: evidence from in-vehicle data recorders

This study analyzes intra-familial transmission of driving behavior by examining driving patterns of newly licensed young drivers and their family members as recorded over a period of nine months using in-vehicle data recorders. Various maneuvers that the drivers undertook were identified in the measurements and used to compute risk indices for each driver during each month. The correlations between risk indices of drivers within the same family were studied. The results show intra-familial transmission of driving behavior and reveal that this transmission evolves over time, as the behavior of young drivers is initially more closely related to that of their family members, but gradually develops into a more differentiated personal driving style. Higher correlations are also found for specific maneuver types, such as braking and accelerating, and to a lesser extent for other maneuvers such as speeding. The findings of the present study indicate a need to carefully consider the role played by parents in the driving education of young adults, by advising parents to exert control over their offspring’s driving through positive modeling, and not only through well-designed commentary driving.
Keyword: Young drivers, graduated driver licensing, parental influence, driving behavior