While vehicles have successively become more user friendly and safe through research in the automotive sector, human factors are still remainingthe most common cause of accidents on roads, not only in Germany
. Traffic psychological research shows that maladjusted driving behavior
caused by affective states is a main contributor to traffic accidents.
Our current study takes a closer look at the issue of driving anger
among taxi drivers in German cities.
Former studies mainly focused on private drivers’ anger. To gain more specialized insights in this issue, professional drivers should also be considered. Therefore, our study questions whether German taxi drivers’ experiences as professional drivers affect as well their experience of driving
anger. In a questionnaire study comprising, inter alia, the Driving Anger Scale
and the State - Trait Anger Inventory, 138 taxi drivers were compared to 423
non-professional drivers.
Results showed that taxi drivers experienced less driving anger. Nevertheless, they were disposed to perceive a certain amount of anger, especially when it comes to other drivers’ discourteous behaviour. Within the taxi sample, large inter-individual differences turned out: High trait anger taxi drivers reported more driving anger and violations in traffic. However, a connection between driving anger and accident involvement was not found.