L’adoption des comportements dangereux pendant l’activité de conduite au Cameroun : le rôle de l’interaction entre mecanismes perceptifs et les variables sociodemographiques

Abstract

This thesis seeks to understand the factors that may influence the behavior of road users in general and Cameroonian drivers in particular. It aims to examine the link between perceptual mechanisms, the socio-demographic characteristics of drivers and the adoption of dangerous behaviors during driving activity. This thesis is based on five quantitative studies. It consists of a pre-study, three main studies and a conclusion study to the previous studies. The pre-study aims to highlight the dangerous behaviors adopted by Cameroonian drivers during their driving activity. It was conducted with 379 participants who answered a French version of the Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) containing five dimensions (simple deviations, aggressive deviations, lapses, and faults) and 42 items. At the end of the exploratory analysis, 20 items were removed, leaving a new factorial structure with three dimensions (deviations, mistakes and lapses). The confirmatory analysis that followed confirmed the results of the exploratory analysis and resulted in a robust model that explains the adoption of dangerous behaviors during the driving activity in the Cameroonian context. In accordance with previous studies on the validation or adaptation of the DBQ, several authors have been able to demonstrate that certain individual variables such as age, sex or driving experience predict the involvement of users in road accidents. In addition to these variables, perceptual mechanisms also predict the occurrence of accidents. Other authors cite the interaction between perceptual mechanisms and socio-demographic characteristics to explain the occurrence of accidents, hence the need to verify the interaction links between certain individual variables and perceptual mechanisms on concerns and measure the interaction effect between perceptual mechanisms and drivers' sociodemographic characteristics. A composite questionnaire was administered to 754 participants in all three studies. The general hypothesis put forward in the second study is that the interaction between perceptual mechanisms and driver age has an effect on the adoption of unsafe behaviors during driving activity, and that younger drivers engage in unsafe behaviors more than older drivers. For the third study, the general hypothesis is that the interaction between perceptual mechanisms and driver gender has an effect on the adoption of unsafe behaviors during driving activity and that males engage in unsafe behaviors more than females. For the fourth study, the general hypothesis is that the interaction between perceptual mechanisms and driving experience has an effect on the adoption of unsafe behaviors during driving activity and that novices engage in unsafe behaviors more than older drivers. v accident rates. The second, third studies and these address fourth ABSTRACTvi Moderation analyses and ANOVAs were conducted in all three studies. The results of the second study show that the interaction between age and perceptual mechanisms affects deviations, mistakes and slips of the tongue, and that older drivers report the most dangerous behavior during driving. For the third study, the results show that the interaction between gender and perceptual mechanisms does not affect the adoption of dangerous behaviors during driving, and that women and men act in the same way with regard to the adoption of dangerous behaviors during driving. In the fourth study, the results indicate that the interaction between perceptual mechanisms and driving experience affects deviations, mistakes and slips of the tongue, and that experienced drivers are the ones who declare the most dangerous behaviors during driving. The fifth and final study of this thesis postulates the existence of a systemic causality of the adoption of dangerous behaviors during driving activity through a model that integrates all the variables mobilised for the thesis. A structural equation modelling analysis was carried out and the results indicate that there are several indications that do not support the model initially proposed. We decided to reject the initial model and are interested in finding an alternative model that fits the empirical data by modifying the theoretical model and evaluating it again. The modified model shows that it fits the data better than the original model. These results are discussed and interpreted in the light of theoretical considerations and previous work. We thus have a tool for measuring driving behavior in a Cameroonian population that allows us to gain a more detailed understanding of the risk behavior of Cameroonians and may prove useful in studying the causality of road accidents. The practical outcomes of this work are mentioned and suggest, among other things, that prevention actions should aim to take into consideration the role of the interaction between the perceptual mechanisms and individual characteristics of drivers concerning the causality of road accidents, and to make them aware that, even if they have personal capacities to deal with risks on the road, they are not immune to risk