Examining the Relationship between Bus Driver Personalities and Accident Frequency Using Observational Data

Drivers’ personality traits are linked to accident involvement in traffic. However, most of the previous studies employed self-reported accident data, which conducted a number of controversial results. Thus, this study explored the impact of personality traits on accidents in bus drivers using observational accident data obtained from the bus safety management system database of a bus company in Xi’an, China. To gather information on personality traits and background variables, a sample of 212 bus drivers within the organization completed a questionnaire survey. The Big Five Inventory (BFI) was administered to characterize participants based on five personality traits, including Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Openness, and Conscientiousness. The Poisson regression and the Negative binomial model are established. Supporting the results of partial previous literature, our results show that bus drivers with higher Conscientiousness and Openness are involved in fewer accidents. Moreover, higher Conscientiousness is related to fewer at-fault accidents. This article provides further clarification on the association between personality and accidents. Practically, it appears that Conscientiousness and Openness must be taken into consideration when selecting and training bus drivers.