Effects of Driving Style and Vehicle Maintenance on Vehicle Roadworthiness

Mikulić, Iva; Bošković, Igor; Zovak, Goran · 2020 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.7307/ptt.v32i5.3443

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Summary

This study investigates the relationship between driving style, vehicle maintenance, and vehicle roadworthiness, addressing the gap in research regarding how driver behavior influences technical defects identified during Periodic Technical Inspections (PTI). While previous studies focused on environmental impacts or accident rates, this paper aims to determine if aggressive driving styles contribute to higher failure rates in vehicles, independent of age and mileage. The research is motivated by the public safety interest in ensuring only technically reliable vehicles participate in traffic, noting that 15% of traffic accidents are directly related to vehicle defects. The methodology combines quantitative analysis of PTI data with qualitative survey data. The authors analyzed PTI records from the Center for Vehicles of Croatia for M1 category passenger vehicles (up to 10 years old) from 2013 to 2017. Vehicles were categorized by ownership type: natural persons, legal entities, and legal entities (leasing). Failure rates were examined across four age intervals and 13 mileage intervals. Additionally, a questionnaire was administered to 732 respondents at ten PTI stations in Zagreb to assess self-reported driving styles (careful, adjustable, aggressive), average driving speed, and maintenance frequency. This mixed-method approach allowed for the correlation of objective failure data with subjective behavioral indicators. The results indicate that vehicles owned by natural persons generally exhibit lower failure rates and higher roadworthiness than those owned by legal entities, particularly as vehicle age increases. Analysis of mileage revealed that vehicles owned by legal entities have significantly higher average annual mileage, contributing to increased wear and tear. However, when controlling for age and mileage, vehicles owned by natural persons still demonstrated better roadworthiness. Questionnaire data showed that while maintenance habits were similar across groups, with legal entities often servicing vehicles more frequently, driving styles differed significantly. Only 3.06% of natural persons reported an aggressive driving style, compared to 8% of legal entities and 6.5% of leasing entities. Furthermore, legal entity owners reported higher average driving speeds. These findings suggest that the higher failure rates in legally owned vehicles are driven by more aggressive driving behaviors and higher utilization, rather than neglect of maintenance. The study concludes that driving style is a significant factor affecting vehicle roadworthiness, independent of maintenance frequency and vehicle age. The authors argue that modifying driving behavior can improve vehicle condition and reduce technical defects. This has implications for road safety policies, suggesting that enforcement measures targeting aggressive driving could indirectly enhance vehicle reliability. The findings highlight the need to consider driver behavior in vehicle safety assessments, moving beyond traditional metrics of age and mileage to include operational factors that accelerate material fatigue and component failure.

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