The Relation between Human Traffic Accident and Personality Traits

Background and Objectives: Accidents of motor vehicles are one of the largest causes of traumas, disabilities, and mortalities. Driving accident and crashes with more than 20000 deaths/year are the second cause of morality in the nation after cardiovascular diseases. Personality traits of a person may affect his/her dangerous driving behaviors and perception of health and risk. Materials and Methods: This case–control study was conducted on accident victims referred to Hasheminejad Hospital in Mashhad during 2017–2018 and conducted on two case and control groups. The researchers directly interviewed case group patients using a Temperament and Character Inventory-125 questionnaire. Results: The mean age of the participants was 32 in the case group and 34 in the control group. The most common vehicle was motorcycle in the case group and car in the control group, respectively. In “novelty seeking,” the mean scores were 3.3 ± 9.94 and 8.32 ± 3.57 in the case and control groups, respectively (P = 0.02). In “harm avoidance,” mean scores were 7.72 ± 2.65 and 8.68 ± 3.57 in the case and control groups, respectively (P = 0.02). Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that accident rates reduced as age increased. It was also cleared that personality traits played a major role in the human factor of traffic accidents. Thus, preventive measures could be made and educational packages could be produced at the school level and younger ages aimed at changing some personality traits to some extent.