The test set PERSROAD Driving-related Personality Factors – Road assesses the most important personality characteristics involved in willingness to adapt to traffic conditions. It is the perfect complement to the information on driving ability obtained using the DRIVESTA and DRIVEPLS test sets.

The practical need for use of the test set arises usually from drivers’ impaired performance and inappropriate attitudes. These may occur in connection with alcohol-related driving offenses or performance impairments as a result of neurological or psychiatric disorders. The test is used mainly in the context of traffic psychological examinations.

The statutory regulations governing the testing of driving-specific abilities or driving-related personality characteristics, the definition of cut-off scores or minimum levels of these abilities and the organizational arrangements for traffic psychological testing vary from country to country. Country-specific statutory conditions and guidelines on drawing up traffic psychological reports can be found in the appendix to the manual.

The dimensions assessed in this test set are based on the GDE (Goals for Driver Education) matrix (Hatakka, Keskinen, Glad, Gregersen & Hernetoski, 2002), which is one of the best-known models for explaining driving behavior. It postulates the following personality factors, which are also covered by the PERSROAD test set: self-control, sensation seeking or readiness to take risks when driving, dealing with social pressure (mental stability) and awareness of social rules and norms. In various multicentric validation studies it has been shown that these driving-related personality traits make a significant contribution to the prediction of safe driving behavior. In other scientific studies it was found that an aggressive tendency is an additional influence on driving behavior; this dimension was therefore included in the test set.