What is Traffic psychology?

The Traffic psychology is a young, intensifying field in psychology. Whereas the traffic psychology is above all related to the study of the behavior of road users and the psychological processes underlying that behavior with the relationship between behavior and accidents, transportation psychology, at times referred to as mobility psychology, focuses on mobility issues, individual and social issues in the movement of people and goods, and the travel demand management (TDM).

There is no single theoretical framework in the traffic psychology; however, in its place, many specific models explaining, for instance, the perceptual, intentional, cognitive, social, motivational and touching determinants of mobility and traffic behavior. One of the most top behavioral models divides the different tasks concerned in traffic involvement into three hierarchical levels, i.e. the strategic, the tactical and the operational level. The model demonstrates the variety of decision and control responsibilities which have to be accomplished when driving a vehicle. On the other hand, until now, most of the psychological models have had somewhat heuristic nature, e.g. risk theories for example the risk compensation hypothesis, the Fuller's task capability model, and thus are not amply precise to allow for concrete behavioral prediction and control. This is partially because of the importance of individual differences, a main topic of psychology which has not yet been amply accounted for in traffic and transportation. Alternatively, social and psychological attitude/behavior models, for example Ajzen's theory of planned behavior, have been useful in identifying determinants of mobility decisions.