Geloofwaardigheid van snelheidslimieten : de invloed van persoons- en persoonlijkheidskenmerken op de geloofwaardigheid van de snelheidslimiet. Stage-onderzoek Universiteit Leiden, Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen.

If the speed limits in the Netherlands would never be exceeded, this would lead to 10.000 less injuries and 250 less fatalities. The speed limits are however exceeded massively. Most people seem to think of the speed limit as an indication of an acceptable speed. Subsequently one chooses an appropriate speed which is often higher than the speed limit. A possible cause for at least a part of these speeding offences is that the current limits are not considered as credible. The research considered here is aimed to increase the insight in speed choice. The influences of road features, the road environment and especially of a person's characteristics and personality on this choice were examined. It was examined whether the speed limit was just as credible for one person as for another and whether this was dependent on individual differences. Previous research indicated that there are relations of gender and age with driving behaviour. There also was found to be a relation between the score on a Sensation Seeking scale and driving behavior. For the current study, a questionnaire was used which was presented on a personal computer. The questionnaire consisted of 35 photographs of roads, each with the same 3 questions about speed, 11 general questions about personal characteristics (e.g. gender and age), and a short version of a Dutch translation of a Sensation Seeking scale, consisting of 20 multiple choice items. The degree of the credibility of the speed limit was determined by the discepancy between the 3 questions at the pictures. There questions were: With which speed would you like to drive here if there wasn't a speed limit?; Which speed limit do you think would be safe here?; What do you think the legal speed limit is on this road? The speed limit was found to be not credible. However, the degree of this credibility differed individually. The speed limit is found to be more credible by older people than for young people. It is found to be less credible for people with more speeding offences, less credible for sensation seekers than for sensation avoiders, less credible for people that possess their drivers license longer and the speed limits are also less credible for people from the northern part of the Netherlands compared to the rest of the Netherlands. (Author/publisher) See also C 33864 (ITRD E208683).