Validation of the BYNDS in a New Zealand young driver population

What is it about?

Intervening effectively in young driver road safety requires us to understand exactly the nature, the variety, and the extent to which young drivers are engaging in risky driving behaviour. However, many of these behaviours cannot be detected by objective means such as speed cameras or random breath tests. Therefore, the Behaviour of Young Novice Drivers Scale (BYNDS) was created to inform our understanding of risky young driver behaviour. The BYNDS was created in Australia, however. Therefore, to use the BYNDS to intervene effectively in young driver road safety in other jurisdictions around the world, it must first be validated with the target population(s). We reworded 21 items to reflect the cultural context of New Zealand, which were refined with a group of 14 young New Zealand drivers aged 16 to 24 years (e.g., the term yellow light is in the Australian vernacular and this was changed to orange light to be relevant to the New Zealand cultural context). The BYNDS was applied in a sample of 325 young drivers aged 16 to 24 years so that the factor structure of the BYNDS could be examined.

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Why is it important?

The BYNDS retained its original five factor structure with young drivers reporting considerable risky driving exposure (e.g., driving at night), moderate engagement in transient violations (e.g., speeding in excess of posted speed limits), and mood related driving (e.g., driving faster if in an angry mood), with relatively fewer fixed violations (e.g., driving after drinking alcohol) and driving misjudgements (e.g., turning right into the path of an oncoming vehicle). Risky driving exposure was directly related to self-reported crash involvement.

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