Assessing Risky Driving Behaviours of Chinese Drivers Aged 55–65 Years: Adaptation of the Road Traffic Behaviours Questionnaire and Its Associations with Personality Traits and Social Desirability

Although many instruments assess driving behaviour, the validity of the Chinese versions of these tools in assessing the driving behaviours of drivers aged over 60 years remains largely unexamined. Additionally, the number of Chinese drivers over 55 obtaining licenses continues to rise, yet links between risky driving and crashes in this group are underexplored. To address these gaps, the Road Traffic Behaviours Questionnaire (RTBQ) was adapted to 320 drivers aged 55-65 years. Participants completed questionnaires assessing personality traits, social desirability, and driving behaviour. The finalized Chinese version of the RTBQ contains 13 questions and demonstrates excellent reliability. Significant associations among the RTBQ score, personality traits, social desirability and aggressive and prosocial driving behaviours suggest that its convergent and discriminant validity are acceptable. Finally, drivers with previous traffic accidents scored significantly higher on the RTBQ than those without traffic accidents, indicating its known-group validity is satisfactory. The RTBQ score can also predict traffic accidents in the following 6 months. The reliable and validated RTBQ has the potential to be used for subsequent research on Chinese drivers aged 55-65 years and provides empirical evidence for traffic safety policy-making in China.