Association between general driving attitudes, stressful driving and coping strategies of drivers: An effect mechanism analysis using PLS-SEM

General driving attitudes (GDA), stressful driving tendencies and coping strategies of drivers significantly influence traffic safety. Previous studies have separately investigated the influence of GDA, driving stress and coping styles on driving behaviour; however, an in-depth investigation on their effect mechanism analysis is still unexplored. The present study aims to investigate the association between GDA, stressful driving and coping strategies by adopting a structural equation modelling approach. A 35-item-based questionnaire considering three subscales such as, GDA Subscale, Stressful Driving Subscale and Coping Behaviour Subscale was developed, and responses from 428 legal driving license holders were collected. The findings from the structural equation model, developed using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling, revealed that (a) drivers with poor driving attitudes show more stressful driving tendencies, (b) stressful driving behaviour positively relates to emotion-oriented coping behaviour while negatively influencing problem-focus coping style, (c) stressful driving has a mediation effect on the correlation between GDA and emotional coping behaviour, (d) married, non-professional, occasional and drivers with no accident history tend to avoid stressful driving and emotional coping behaviour in different driving scenarios. These findings can inform the design of safe and effective driver training programs, including policies for limiting driving hours. Such measures can help improve driving attitudes, reduce stressful driving tendencies, and enhance drivers’ self-regulation skills to cope in critical situations, all of which contribute to increased traffic safety.