A Systematic Literature Review of Driver’s Sociocultural Factors Predisposing to Road Traffic Crashes
DOI: 10.47176/mjiri.36.21
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Summary
This systematic literature review investigates the sociocultural factors (SCFs) that predispose car drivers to road traffic crashes (RTCs). Motivated by the persistent global public health burden of RTCs, which cause approximately 1.35 million deaths annually, the study addresses the critical role of human factors, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where human error contributes to 70–80% of crashes. The authors highlight a gap in existing literature: while SCFs are recognized as significant determinants of road safety, there is no comprehensive, systematic review identifying the various dimensions of these factors. The research aims to provide policymakers and managers with a structured understanding of SCFs to facilitate evidence-based interventions and improve road safety outcomes. The study employed a rigorous systematic review protocol registered with PROSPERO. Researchers searched ten electronic databases, including Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and Persian-language databases, covering publications from 1990 to August 2021. The search strategy combined keywords related to sociocultural factors and road traffic crashes, supplemented by manual reviews of key journals, reference lists, and gray literature. Eligibility criteria included quantitative and qualitative studies examining the effect of car drivers’ SCFs on RTC incidence or prediction. Studies focusing on other vehicle types, road/vehicle/environmental factors, or only high-risk behaviors without explicit RTC outcomes were excluded. Two independent reviewers screened titles, abstracts, and full texts, resolving disagreements through consultation. Data extraction and thematic content analysis were performed independently to minimize bias. Study quality was assessed using the CASP checklist for cohort, case-control, qualitative, and randomized controlled trials, and a specific checklist for cross-sectional studies, categorizing studies into high, moderate, or low quality based on scoring thresholds. From an initial pool of 17,402 identified studies, 84 eligible studies were included in the final analysis after removing duplicates and screening for relevance. The thematic analysis revealed that SCFs influencing RTCs fall into four distinct categories: (1) sociodemographic characteristics, (2) personality traits, (3) driver behavior (driving style), and (4) driver performance (driving skills). The review found that the majority of existing literature has focused predominantly on sociodemographic characteristics and risky driving behaviors. Conversely, the impact of personality traits and driver performance—identified as crucial factors in crash occurrence—has been significantly under-addressed in current research. The study concludes that while sociodemographic and behavioral factors are well-documented, there is a critical need to investigate the roles of personality traits and driver performance in RTCs. This gap limits the ability of countries to develop comprehensive, evidence-based policies for road safety. The authors emphasize that identifying and controlling these under-researched sociocultural dimensions is essential for reducing the global burden of road traffic injuries and deaths. The findings provide a framework for future research and operational measures aimed at promoting road safety by addressing the full spectrum of driver-related sociocultural influences.
Key finding
Existing research on sociocultural factors predisposing drivers to road traffic crashes has predominantly focused on sociodemographic characteristics and risky driving behaviors, while largely neglecting the impacts of personality traits and driver performance.
Methodology
review
Sample size: 84
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via author_sweep_intake on 2026-05-28.
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | author_sweep | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-28 |
| archive | success | canonical_url | — | — | 17 | 2026-06-06 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 3 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| chunk | success | chunk | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-28 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 15 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
Topics
Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.
- pre crash contributing factors
- cultural cross national
- personality driving
- demographic disparities
- sex gender
Information type
What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).
- Empirical Findings: crash risk outcomes