Aberrant driving behaviours in two Maghreb countries: Tunisia and Algeria

The aim of the present study was to investigate the factorial structure of the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ) in Tunisia and Algeria, and to examine the relationship between the factors of the DBQ and accident involvement. DBQ Questionnaire was used to collect the socio-demographic data, driver behaviour and DBQ items. In this study, 1822 Tunisian citizens (863females and 959 males) and 1585 Algerian drivers visiting Tunisia (284 females and 1301 males) filled a survey Driver Behaviour Questionnaire. The results support the interest of the DBQ to describe characteristic features of drivers in Maghreb countries. The Principal Component Analysis identified four factors solution with two of these factors consisting of a combination of both aggression and violations from the original DBQ. The results showed that Algerian drivers scored higher on almost DBQ items than Tunisian drivers. In general, men are scored higher than women on the DBQ items in Algeria sample. Logistic regression analyses showed that errors, lapses, factors predicted crash involvement in Algeria, but only aggression-speeding and lapses predicted it in Tunisia. The results of this study describe the aberrant driving behaviour in Tunisia and Algeria and permit to clarify how driving behaviour can be taken into account during a driving competency evaluation in order to develop relevant remediation actions.