This paper describes and summarises some of the work conducted over the last decade by the Driver Behaviour Research Group at the University of Manchester. The paper begins by identifying the most accident involved driver groups. It then outlines three aspects involved in being socialised into becoming a member of the driving community: (1) the technical mastery phase; (2) the reading the road phase; and (3) the expressive phase. Concentrating on the third phase the group has worked with drivers' lapses, errors and violations. A number of large scale, national surveys have been carried out in England asking drivers how often they experience certain driving manoeuvres. Based on the results it is found that violations, no errors or lapses, goes with crash involvement. "High violators" are not only more likely to run into others, but to put themselves in situations where others run into them. Then these "High violators" are characterised using Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour.
Abstract