Accident Analysis and Prevention 75 (2015) 4354

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Accident Analysis and Prevention

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/aap

The road user behaviour of school students in Iran

Amir Reza Nabipour a , Nouzar Nakhaee b , Narges Khanjani a, *, Hossein Zirak Moradlou c ,
Mark J.M. Sullman d
a

Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Faculty of Public Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Haft Bagh Alavi Blvd., Kerman, Iran
Neuroscience Research Center, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
c
Consultation Center, Tehran Education and Training Organization, Tehran, Iran
d
Driving Research Group, Craneld University, UK
b

A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T R A C T

Article history:
Received 29 March 2014
Received in revised form 28 October 2014
Accepted 10 November 2014
Available online 20 November 2014

The present study developed a Persian version of the Adolescent Road User Behaviour Questionnaire
(ARBQ) and investigated the psychometric properties of the scale in a sample of school students in the
province of Tehran (Iran). In total 1111 adolescents completed the Persian version of the ARBQ.
Exploratory factor analysis, using the shortened 21-item version of the scale revealed the presence of
three reliable factors which were also supported using conrmatory factor analysis.
According to this research, engagement in dangerous playing in the road was signicantly higher
among males, residents of large urban areas, students from private schools, students in the south of
Tehran, those who reported relatives or friends had been killed in a road crash and those with a personal
history of road accidents. Moreover, older adolescents, those who reported relatives or friends having
been killed in a road crash and those with a trafc accident history reported higher involvement in unsafe
crossing behaviour. Females, older adolescents, residents of small urban areas, students from schools in
small urban areas and those with an accident history also reported less frequent engagement in planned
protective behaviours.
This study conrms that the ARBQ is a useful framework for investigating adolescents on-road
behaviours in Iran. This research also showed that adolescents put themselves at risk by engaging in
hazardous behaviours. As is the case in most countries, this study revealed the need for interventions,
such as education and enforcement to improve the on-road safety culture amongst Iranian adolescents.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Psychometric assessment
Adolescents behaviour
Pedestrians
ARBQ
Road safety

1. Introduction
Road trafc accidents pose a major public health problem by
causing a large number of injuries, disabilities and fatalities,
especially in the low and medium-income countries (Peden et al.,
2004; Olukoga et al., 2011; Olukoga, 2003). This is also the case for
Iran, which in 2010 recorded a total of 414,161 injuries and
23,249 deaths. The number of fatalities translates into a rate of
12.4/10,000 registered vehicles, which is substantially higher
than in most developed countries, such as New Zealand
(1.2/10,000 registered vehicles), Austria (1.0/10,000 registered
vehicles), the USA (1.3/10,000 registered vehicles) and is more
than twenty times higher than the 0.6/10,000 registered vehicles
reported by the UK (NZTA, 2011; Bahadorimonfared et al., 2013).
Furthermore, the Iranian Forensic Medicine Organization (2012)

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +98 34 3132 5102.

E-mail address: n_khanjani@kmu.ac.ir (N. Khanjani).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2014.11.009
0001-4575/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

reported that from 20062011 a total of 120,070 people died on

Iranian roads and of these 7565 (6.3%) were adolescents aged
between 11 and 17 years old.
A number of studies have reported that adolescents have an
inated risk of being killed or injured on the roads (Elliott and
Baughan, 2004; Sullman and Mann, 2009; Sullman et al., 2011,
2012). One of the reasons for this inated risk is that adolescents
carry out a variety of unsafe and potentially risky on-road
behaviours which increases the risk of being killed or injured on
the road (West et al., 1998; Poudel-Tandukar et al., 2006; Campbell
and Keegan, 2000; Elliott and Baughan, 2004; Sullman and Mann,
2009; Sullman et al., 2011, 2012).
One important step for improving the safety of Iranian
adolescents is to understand the behaviours that put them at
greater risk of being killed or injured on the road. Although there is
currently no widely agreed upon framework for investigating the
on-road behaviours of adolescents, one which has been utilised in
several countries across the world is the Adolescent Road User
Behaviour Questionnaire (ARBQ; Elliott and Baughan, 2004). Using

44

A.R. Nabipour et al. / Accident Analysis and Prevention 75 (2015) 4354

data from adolescent school students in the UK, Elliott and

Baughan investigated the psychometric properties of their 43-item
ARBQ and found three factors best described their data. The rst
factor consisted of items relating to crossing the road in an unsafe
manner (e.g. run across a road without looking because you are in a
hurry), which they called unsafe crossing behaviour. The second
factor, dangerous playing in the road consisted of items involving
playing on the road (e.g. hold on to a moving vehicle when riding a
bike). In contrast the third factor planned protective behaviours
was comprised of safety behaviours that reduce the chance of
being killed or injured on the road (e.g. wear bright or reective
clothing when out on foot in the dark). The items of the ARBQ
measure not only different types of pedestrian behaviours but also
a small number involving: bicycles, skateboards and rollerblades
(e.g. use lights on your bike when it is dark). Elliott and Baughan
also developed a short 21-item version of the scale, which reected
the same three factors and was developed for use in conjunction
with other psychometric scales.
The psychometric properties of the ARBQ have also been
investigated in New Zealand (Sullman and Mann, 2009), Spain
(Sullman et al., 2011), Belgium (Sullman et al., 2012) and France
(Abou et al., 2008). These studies all supported the presence of the
three factors and the three factors were also supported for the 21item version of the scale in Spain and Belgium using conrmatory
factor analysis. However, these ndings contrast with the New
Zealand research which produced a 19-item version of the scale
using exploratory factor analysis (Sullman and Mann, 2009).
Although there were considerable differences between the four
studies which have used the ARBQ, in terms of different: countries,
populations, cultures, ethnic groups, languages, trafc conditions
and rules, road trafc environments and population densities,
there has been a surprising number of consistent ndings. For
instance, in terms of gender, in all four studies male students
reported more frequent engagement in playing on the road than
female adolescents (Elliott and Baughan, 2004; Sullman and Mann,
2009; Sullman et al., 2011, 2012). Although, the New Zealand study
did not show statistically signicant differences between gender
and unsafe crossing behaviour (Sullman and Mann, 2009), the
other three studies all found that males were more likely to be
involved in these types of potentially risky behaviours (Sullman
et al., 2011, 2012). However, none of the previous studies found a
signicant relationship between planned protective behaviour and
gender.
There were also similarities in the relationships the different
ARBQ factors had with age. For example, the English and Spanish
studies found that older adolescents reported more unsafe
crossing behaviour, while also engaging less often in planned
protective behaviour and dangerous playing in the road (Elliott and
Baughan, 2004; Sullman et al., 2011). In Belgium, adolescents who
were 1112 years of age reported a lower frequency of unsafe road
crossing behaviour, than those aged 1314 years and greater than
15 years of age (Sullman et al., 2012). Finally, the Belgian research
also found that younger respondents reported more planned
protective behaviour than older adolescents (Sullman et al., 2012),
as was also the case in the UK and Spanish studies (Sullman et al.,
2011, 2012). However, as the New Zealand research used very
different age categories it was not possible to compare their results
with the other ARBQ studies (Sullman and Mann, 2009).
As well as age and gender, the ARBQ factors have been found to
be related to an adolescents place of residence. Elliott and Baughan
(2004) found that students from large urban areas reported
engaging more often in unsafe road crossing behaviours than those
from rural and small urban areas. Furthermore, adolescents living
in large urban areas reported less frequently engaging in dangerous
playing on the roads than adolescents from rural areas, while rural
residents reported more planned protective behaviours than those

from small and large urban areas. However, in contrast to the UK

research there were no statistically signicant differences between
living areas and the ARBQ factors in New Zealand, Belgium or Spain
(Sullman and Mann, 2009; Sullman et al., 2011).
As would be expected, given the fact that the ARBQ
investigates behaviours thought to be important for road safety,
previous research has found that adolescents who self-reported
previous involvement in a road crash also reported more
frequently engaging in the two types of potentially risky
behaviours and also, unexpectedly, planned protective
behaviours (Sullman et al., 2012). Also surprising was the fact
that thus far only one study has investigated the relationship the
ARBQ factors have with prior crash involvement. As there is only
one study, this relationship may be an anomaly or conned solely
to Belgium. Therefore, it is important that research be conducted
to test this relationship in a novel sample and preferably in a
novel country and culture. Another important gap in the
literature is that all previous research using the ARBQ has been
conducted in developed countries. This is a particularly important
limitation as the size of the road safety problem, in terms of
injuries and fatalities, is considerably larger in less developed
countries. Therefore, the present study investigated the psychometric properties of the ARBQ in Iran, a developing country with a
non-European culture and background. The replication of these
ndings is a critical step to conrm the suitability of the ARBQ as a
framework to measure road user behaviours in this at-risk age
group. More specically, the present study investigated the factor
structure of the ARBQ in a large sample of Iranian school students
using both exploratory and conrmatory factor analysis for the
long and short versions of the ARBQ. The study also investigated
the relationships the resultant factors had with age, gender, place
of residence, along with the individuals' accident history and
those of their friends and family.
2. Methods
2.1. Materials
The ARBQ (Adolescent Road-User Behaviour Questionnaire) is a
self-report tool for investigating how often participants engage in
43 different road-user behaviours. For example, How often do you
not look because you can't hear any trafc coming? Responses are
made on a ve point Likert Scale (1 = never to 5 = very often).
Previous studies have found that the questionnaire is measuring
three latent variables: unsafe road crossing behaviour, dangerous playing on the road and planned protective behaviour
(Elliott and Baughan, 2004; Sullman and Mann, 2009; Sullman
et al., 2011, 2012). These three factors had internal reliability scores
of .89, .85 and .76, respectively.
The questionnaire also asked about the participants
demographic and descriptive details, including: age, gender,
nationality, living area, mothers education level, fathers
education level, school type (public or private), school grade,
location of the school, along with whether they (or their friends
and/or family) had been involved in a road crash.
2.2. Setting and participants
The present cross sectional study was carried out in secondary
schools in the province of Tehran, Iran. The sample was comprised
of 1200 students from large and small urban areas which were
randomly selected. Tehran city was selected as the large urban area
and Pishva was selected as the small urban area within the same
province. In the 2011 Nationwide Iranian Census Tehran city had a
population of 8,244,535 while Pishva had a population of 75,454
(Iranian Statistics Center, 2011).

A.R. Nabipour et al. / Accident Analysis and Prevention 75 (2015) 4354

From Tehrans 22 municipal districts, two municipal districts

were randomly selected, one from the north (high socioeconomic
area) and the other from the south (low socioeconomic area). Four
public and four private schools (8 schools) were randomly selected
from each district. Half of these schools were for boys and the
other half were girls schools. In the town of Pishva four public
secondary schools (two boys and two girls schools) were
randomly selected. In total, 20 schools were included in the study,
half of which were junior high schools (7th, 8th, 9th grade) and the
other half were high schools (10th, 11th, 12th grade). All random

45

selection took place the same way for all aspects of the study. This
was to allocate each province, school and participant a number and
then to use SPSS to generate the required quantity of random
numbers.
Once the schools had been selected, permission was sought
from the authorities at each school before starting the study. From
each school, 120 students from grade 7 to 12 and between 13 and
18 years old were randomly chosen. All students consented to
participate in the survey. Participants were guaranteed
anonymity and condentiality of their answers. All students

Table 1
The characteristics of the students participating in this study.
Variable

Frequency

percentage

Gender
Males
Females

557
554

50.1
49.9

Age
1314
1518

378
733

34
66

Grade
7
8
9
10
11
12

173
204
188
193
185
168

15.6
18.4
16.9
17.4
16.7
15.1

1043
68

93.9
6.1

Living area
Large urban area
Small urban area
Rural area

840
215
56

75.6
19.4
5

Mothers education level

Illiterate
Elementary school (grade 15)
Guidance school (grade 68)
High school (grade 912)
Diploma
Academic level

51
143
139
63
384
331

4.6
12.9
12.5
5.7
34.6
29.8

Fathers education level

Illiterate
Elementary school
Guidance school
High school
Diploma
Academic level

45
115
138
85
353
375

4.1
10.4
12.4
7.7
31.8
33.8

Relatives or friends killed ina road crash

Yes
No

541
570

48.7
51.3

Trafc accident history

Yes
No

385
726

34.7
65.3

Family motorized vehicle

Yes
No

882
229

79.4
20.6

Kind of school
Public
Private

679
432

61.1
38.9

Location of school (according to socioeconomic status)

The north of Tehran (large urban, high socioeconomic status)
The south of Tehran (large urban, low socioeconomic status)
Small urban

412
458
241

37.1
41.2
21.7

Nationality
Iranian
Afghan

46

A.R. Nabipour et al. / Accident Analysis and Prevention 75 (2015) 4354

2.3. Cross cultural adaptation

took 2530 min to answer the Persian version of ARBQ.

Although all 1200 randomly selected students agreed to
participate in this project, 89 students did not complete the
survey, leaving a total of 1111 participants (response rate of
92.6%).
Of the 1111 students who answered the questionnaire, 557
(50.1%) were male and 554 (49.9%) female, with an average age of
15.45 years old (SD = 1.69, range 1318 years old). The nationality of
these students was mainly Iranian and most lived in Tehran city
(Table 1).
The adolescence period is generally divided into three
periods, including: early (aged 1114), middle (aged 1518) and
late (aged 1821) periods (Lerner and Laurence, 1999). In the
current study, the number of participants in ages 1314 and ages
1518 were 378 (34%) and 733 (66%), respectively.
Participants were also asked whether they had been involved in
an accident as a pedestrian or while riding a bicycle. Over a third
(34.7%, 385) reported that they had been involved in an accident on
the road. The characteristics of the participants can be seen in
Table 1.

2.3.1. Translation
First, forward translations were carried out independently by
two native translators. These translations were compared and
discussed by researchers and the draft Persian version was
prepared. Then, two bilingual native English translators independently translated the Persian version back into English. The
translators were not aware of the content of the initial English
version. Comparisons were then made between the backward
translations and the original version, but no major differences were
identied. The draft Persian-language version of the ARBQ was
developed by consensus between the translators and researchers.
At this point, as drinking alcohol is religiously prohibited for
Muslims there searchers made the decision to exclude the item
cross less than an hour after drinking alcohol.
2.3.2. Cognitive testing
The draft Persian version of the questionnaire was then tested
on 12 students with an age range of 1318 years old. An interview

Table 2
ARBQ items means and standard deviation of Iran, Belgium, New Zealand, UK and Spain.
No. Item (How often do you. .)

Iran
R

39
8
40
15
38
37
13
14
5
17
12
19
16
7
2
20
6
34
1
42
36
41
33
3
11
10
9
18
4
32
35
26
30
23
29
31
27
28
25
24
22
21

Look both ways before crossing

Cross at a place that is well lit when it is dark
Check to make sure trafc has stopped before using a pedestrian crossing
See a small gap in trafc and go for it
Keep looking and listening until you get all the way across the road
Walk in single le on roads without pavements
Get part way across the road and then have to run the rest of the way to
avoid trafc
Have to stop quickly or turn back to avoid trafc
Cross from behind a stationary vehicle
Cross between parked cars when there is a safer place to cross nearby
Think it is OK to cross safely, but a car is coming faster than you thought
Not bother walking to a nearby crossing to cross the road
Make trafc slow down or stop to let you cross
Cross without waiting for the green man
Forget to look properly because you are talking to friends who are with you
Not notice a car pulling out (say from a driveway) and walk in front of it
Cross when you cannot see both ways very well (like on a bend or top of
hill)
Wear bright or reective clothing when riding a bike in the dark
Forget to look properly because you are thinking about something else
Walk facing the trafc when on roads without pavements
Use lights on your bike when it is dark
Use a lollipop man/lady where there is one available
Wear reective clothing when out on foot in the dark
Use a mobile phone and forget to look properly
Walking on the road rather than on the pavement
Climb over barriers or railings that separate the road from the pavement
Not look because you cannot hear any trafc around
Run across a road without looking because you are in a hurry
Cross whether trafc is coming or not, thinking the trafc should stop for
you
Wear reective clothing when crossing the road
Wear a cycle helmet when riding a bike
Ride on a skateboard (or roller-skates/roller-blades) on the road
Not notice an approaching car when playing games in the road
Deliberately run across the road without looking, for a dare
Hang around in the road talking to friends
Run around in a road (e.g. when playing foot ballor bull dog)
Ride out into the road on a skateboard without thinking to check for trafc
Run into the road to get a ball, without checking for trafc.
Hold on to a moving vehicle when riding a bike
Hold on to a moving vehicle when riding a skateboard/roller-skates/rollerblades.
Play chicken by deliberately running out in front of trafc
Play chicken by lying down in the road and waiting for cars to come along
Cross less than an hour after drinking alcohol

Belgium

SD

SD

SD

1.13
1 4.17
.95
1 4.17
1.35
5 3.36 1.06
7 3.13
1.34
2 3.87 1.05
2 3.73
1.36 20 2.56 1.13
6 3.14
1.4
3 3.55 1.14
5 3.24
1.41 10 2.86 1.29 20 2.40
1.38 11 2.74 1.04
9 3.01

.95
1.08
1.15
1.08
1.17
1.16
1.04

1
3
2
8
4
11
6

4.08
3.32
3.46
2.69
3.26
2.54
2.82

1.07
1.16
1.30
1.30
1.26
1.38
1.14

1
3
2
13
4
10
8

4.07
3.48
3.76
2.73
3.34
2.81
2.88

1.08
1.18
1.15
1.13
1.24
1.41
1.04

8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17

2.87
2.77
2.68
2.59
2.58
2.57
2.46
2.45
2.43
2.38

1.31 30 2.06
.91
1.27 14 2.64 1.00
1.30 12 2.70
.99
1.17 26 2.16
.94
1.36 13 2.66 1.05
1.36
9 2.85 1.19
1.4
21 2.50 1.23
1.35 19 2.57 1.16
1.11 28 2.13
.90
1.29 16 2.59 1.01

23
12
11
21
8
24
18
13
22
16

2.23
2.83
2.88
2.38
3.10
2.22
2.42
2.80
2.30
2.45

.94 19 2.34
1.05 16 2.35
1.03
9 2.66
.92 18 2.34
1.13
7 2.72
1.05 15 2.43
1.23 17 2.35
1.06 10 2.65
1.03 24 2.20
.94 13 2.49

1.07
1.17
1.16
1.12
1.22
1.24
1.17
1.15
1.03
1.10

22
11
7
24
9
14
12
5
20
23

2.27
2.79
2.92
2.17
2.85
2.66
2.79
3.05
2.36
2.25

1.01
1.12
1.07
.98
1.14
1.14
1.12
1.12
1.09
.96

18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29

2.35
2.33
2.32
2.28
2.27
2.25
2.24
2.21
2.21
2.14
2.13
2.09

1.44
1.22
1.28
1.61
1.36
1.37
1.21
1.30
1.18
1.31
1.20
1.28

23
18
8
6
4
31
25
22
32
17
35
15

2.22
2.57
2.97
3.11
3.45
2.00
2.17
2.45
1.91
2.58
1.86
2.62

1.38
1.08
1.17
1.53
1.27
1.22
1.22
.96
1.05
1.17
.97
1.13

30
15
10
15
4
32
29
19
31
14
28
27

1.95
2.47
2.89
2.64
3.27
1.69
2.07
2.41
1.94
2.65
2.10
2.15

1.26
.99
1.19
1.53
1.27
1.04
1.15
1.00
1.09
1.16
1.04
1.12

35
14
12
5
26
36
28
23
30
21
25
29

1.79
1.24
2.44
1.08
2.51
1.36
2.84 162
2.06
1.20
1.67
1.07
2.03
1.15
2.22
1.07
1.97
1.21
2.25
1.22
2.20
1.22
1.99
1.21

31
18
17
19
6
35
27
21
28
15
25
16

1.78
2.46
2.51
2.37
2.92
1.58
2.01
2.29
1.95
2.59
2.17
2.55

1.23
1.01
1.23
1.56
1.35
1.00
1.04
.96
1.08
1.23
1.07
1.23

30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40

2.05
1.94
1.71
1.69
1.69
1.66
1.58
1.57
1.56
1.52
1.50

1.27
1.38
1.17
1.11
1.04
1.12
1.09
1.11
1.00
1.04
1.10

33
7
29
34
41
24
27
38
36
39
40

1.90
3.07
2.08
1.88
1.30
2.19
2.14
1.57
1.81
1.48
1.47

1.05
1.59
1.17
.99
.72
1.12
1.16
.90
.87
.87
.85

33
3
36
26
42
17
25
38
35
39
40

1.60
3.70
1.68
2.21
1.34
2.43
2.21
1.36
1.83
1.36
1.35

.91
1.40
1.05
1.24
.81
1.15
1.14
.73
.96
.82
.81

39
27
34
31
37
20
22
38
32
41
40

1.49
2.03
1.85
1.93
1.51
2.27
2.24
1.50
1.87
1.36
1.38

38
26
34
32
42
29
30
39
33
37
41

1.41
2.03
1.72
1.76
1.24
1.90
1.80
1.31
1.76
1.42
1.24

.80
1.41
1.04
.93
.66
1.00
1.04
.71
.95
.92
.68

.88 43 1.23
.89 40 1.27
1.28 36 1.46

.68
.74
.91

1.03 42 1.25
1.04 43 1.23
37 1.73

SD

Spain

4.21
3.50
3.42
3.35
3.32
3.06
2.90

UK

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

41 1.50
42 1.50

New Zealand

.61 43 1.33
.61 41 1.35
1.22 37 1.58

.77 42 1.36
.87 43 1.35
.97 33 1.87

SD

.93
1.40
1.26
1.11
.95
1.23
1.29
.95
1.09
.89
.91

A.R. Nabipour et al. / Accident Analysis and Prevention 75 (2015) 4354

47

was then conducted with all 12 participants regarding: the

meaning of items, title, response options and questions. Respondents were also asked to give suggestions for improving the
understandability of the questionnaire. As some respondents
misunderstood the phrase top of hill, an equivalent expression
was used which technically had the same meaning.

degrees of freedom (df). All analyses were carried out using SPSS
21 and AMOS 21.

2.4. Data analysis

Table 2 shows the means, standard deviations and rankings (by

mean) for all ARBQ items, except the item cross less than an hour
after drinking alcohol, which was not included in the questionnaire. The table also shows the corresponding means, SDs and rank
for Belgium, New Zealand, the UK and Spain (Sullman et al., 2011,
2012; Sullman and Mann, 2009; Elliott and Baughan, 2004).
In Iran, Belgium, New Zealand, England and Spain the highest
mean was for the item look both ways before crossing. The
second largest mean, in the Iranian sample was cross at a place
that is well lit when it is dark. The second largest mean for
Belgium, England, New Zealand and Spain was check to make sure
trafc has stopped before using a pedestrian crossing, which had
the third largest mean in the Iranian sample.
Similar to UK and Belgium research (Sullman et al., 2012), in
Iran the behaviour play chicken by lying down in the road and
waiting for cars to come along had the lowest mean. Furthermore,
the three behaviours Iranian adolescents reported least often were
fairly similar to those from other countries (Elliott and Baughan,

Prior to beginning the analyses all scores for the planned

protective behaviour items were reversed so that a score of
1 = good behaviour and 5 indicated very bad behaviours. This
was so the items from this subscale were in the same direction as
those from the other two subscales (unsafe crossing behaviour and
dangerous playing on the roads). Missing data was estimated using
the multiple imputation method.
To explore the factor structure of the Persian version of this
questionnaire, principal axis factoring (PAF) with Varimax
rotations was used. Furthermore, the short version of the ARBQ
was analysed using PAF and the resultant three factor model was
also conrmed using CFA (conrmatory factor analysis) and a
number of indices were calculated, including: the root mean
square error of approximation (RMSEA), the comparative t index
(CFI), relative t index (RFI), incremental t index (IFI), normed t
index (NFI), TuckerLewis index (TLI) and chi square divided by the

3. Results
3.1. Mean comparisons between Iran and other countries

Table 3
Factor structure of the 42-item ARBQ.
No.

Item (How often do you . . . )

10
25
22
21
28
23
24
30
27
29
31
26
18
4
3
9
42
12
13
5
14
15
1
17
16
32
33
34
35
36
8
40
41
11
6
2
20
19
37
38
39
7

Climb over barriers or railings that separate the road from the pavement
Hold on to a moving vehicle when riding a bike
Play chicken by deliberately running out in front of trafc
Play chicken by lying down in the road and waiting for cars to come along
Run into the road to get a ball, without checking for trafc
Deliberately run across the road without looking, for a dare
Hold on to a moving vehicle when riding a skateboard/roller-skates/roller-blades
Not notice an approaching car when playing games in the road
Ride out into the road on a skateboard without thinking to check for trafc
Hang around in the road talking to friends
Run around in a road (e.g. when playing football or bull dog)
Ride a skateboard (or roller-skates/roller-blades) on the road
Run across a road without looking because you are in a hurry
Cross whether trafc is coming or not, thinking the trafc should stop for you
Use a mobile phone and forget to look properly
Not look because you cannot hear any trafc around
Walk facing the trafc when on roads without pavements
Think it is OK to cross safely, but a car is coming faster than you thought
Get part way across the road and then have to run the rest of the way to avoid trafc
Cross from behind a stationary vehicle
Have to stop quickly or turn back to avoid trafc
See a small gap in trafc and go for it
Forget to look properly because you are thinking about something else
Cross between parked cars when there is a safer place to cross nearby
Make trafc slow down or stop to let you cross
Wear reective clothing when crossing the road
Wear reective clothing when out on foot in the dark
Wear bright or reective clothing when riding a bike in the dark
Wear a cycle helmet when riding a bike
Use lights on your bike when it is dark
Cross at a place that is well lit when it is dark
Check to make sure trafc has stopped before using a pedestrian crossing
Use a lollipop man/lady where there is one available
Walking on the road rather than on the pavement
Cross when you cannot see both ways very well (like on a bend or top of hill)
Forget to look properly because you are talking to friends who are with you
Not notice a car pulling out (say from a driveway) and walk in front of it
Not bother walking to a nearby crossing to cross the road
Walk in single le on roads without pavements
Keep looking and listening until you get all the way across the road
Look both ways before crossing
Cross without waiting for the green man

Factor 1

Factor 2

Factor 3

.236
.724
.690
.689
.673
.662
.648
.630
.578
.573
.569
.550
.480
.464
.444
.421
.063
.136
.082
.035
.040
.118
.303
.224
.226
.227
.197
.218
.212
.033
.195
.249
.236
.383
.204
.280
.281
.217
.066
.291
.370
.215

.295
.034
.119
.080
.123
.182
.011
.150
.023
.282
.172
.048
.296
.333
.333
.286
.494
.456
.453
.447
.444
.433
.418
.415
.412
.097
.075
.137
.117
.020
.063
.038
.016
.378
.368
.366
.397
.366
.347
.176
.056
.303

.044
.051
.040
.093
.055
.016
.061
.048
.151
.018
.044
.108
.076
.123
.031
.157
.117
.024
.115
.033
.088
.033
.038
.148
.140
.592
.675
.665
.571
.570
.537
.524
.506
.226
.019
.034
.139
.271
.123
.335
.319
.110

48

A.R. Nabipour et al. / Accident Analysis and Prevention 75 (2015) 4354

Table 4
The 21-item ARBQ factors loadings.
No.

Item (How often do you . . . )

Factor loading

Factor 1. Dangerous playing on the road, alpha reliability coefcient = 0.85

25
Hold on to a moving vehicle when riding a bike
21
Play chicken by lying down in the road and waiting for cars to come along
22
Play chicken by deliberately running out in front of trafc
24
Hold on to a moving vehicle when riding a skateboard/roller-skates/roller-blades.
28
Run into the road to get a ball, without checking for trafc
23
Deliberately run across the road without looking, for a dare
27
Ride out into the road on a skateboard without thinking to check for trafc
26
Ride a skateboard (or roller-skates/roller-blades) on the road

.77
.75
.74
.72
.66
.65
.62
.60

Factor 2. Planned protective behaviour, alpha reliability coefcient = 0.75

34
Wear bright or reective clothing when riding a bike in the dark
33
Wear reective clothing when out on foot in the dark
32
Wear reective clothing when crossing the road
35
Wear a cycle helmet when riding a bike
36
Use lights on your bike when it is dark

.80
.79
.72
.62
.58

Factor 3. Unsafe road crossing behaviour, alpha reliability coefcient = 0.61

1
Forget to look properly because you are thinking about something else
2
Forget to look properly because you are talking to friends who are with you
12
Think it is OK to cross safely, but a car is coming faster than you thought
13
Get part way across the road and then have to run the rest of the way to avoid trafc
17
Cross between parked cars when there is a safer place to cross nearby
18
Run across a road without looking because you are in a hurry
4
Cross whether trafc is coming or not, thinking the trafc should stop for you
15
See a small gap in trafc and go for it

.62
.62
.54
.46
.46
.46
.40
.33

2004; Sullman and Mann, 2009; Sullman et al., 2011, 2012). The
other two of the three items with the lowest mean, in the Iranian
sample, were play chicken by deliberately running out in front of
trafc and hold on to a moving vehicle when riding a skateboard/
roller-skates/roller-blades, respectively.
In Iranian and English adolescents the behaviour use a lollipop
man/lady where there is one available had a comparable ranking.
This item was 22nd in Iran, 26th in the UK, 4th in New Zealand, 4th
in Belgium and 6th in Spain. The behaviour that the Iranian, English
and Spanish students reported less often than the other two
samples was wear a cycle helmet when riding a bike which was
31st in Iran, 27th in the UK, 26th in Spain, 3rd in New Zealand and
7th in Belgium. However, the biggest difference between Iranian
adolescents and adolescents from other countries was the item
have to stop quickly or turn back to avoid trafc, which was rated
8th in Iran, while it was the 30th, 19th, 23rd and 22nd in Belgium,
the UK, New Zealand and Spain, respectively.
3.2. Factor analysis
The KaiserMeyerOlkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy
and Bartletts test of sphericity were used to examine the
appropriateness of using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The
KMO was 0.91 and Bartletts test of sphericity was signicant
(<0.001), suggesting that the data were appropriate to factor
analyse. Therefore, data from the 1111 students for the 42 ARBQ
items were subject to principal axis factoring (PAF) with Varimax
rotations to explore the factor structure of the scale (Table 3). The
scree plot suggested three or ve potential factors, but a threefactor solution was supported by parallel analysis. The three-factor
solution (Factor 1: dangerous playing in the road, Factor 2: unsafe

crossing behaviour, Factor 3: planned protective behaviour)

accounted for 31.74% of the variance.
3.3. Developing a short Persian version of the scale
The results did not support the three-way distinction for the
42-item questionnaire, as a number of items did not load on the
correct factor. Therefore, using EFA we developed a short version of
the scale, which is more practical and easier to complete by
respondents. In other words, we did not use the same 21-item
version of the scale which was found in other countries, the short
version was developed based on factor analysis of the Iranian
dataset.
In the short version of the ARBQ, EFA showed that factor
2 became factor 3 (and vice versa) and also the internal reliability
coefcients for all subscales were acceptable, at more than 0.60.
The Cronbachs alpha coefcients for the three subscales were 0.85,
0.75 and 0.61 for factors 13, respectively, with an overall scale
coefcient of 0.74. Factors 13 had eight, ve and eight items
loaded on them, respectively. Table 4 indicates that with the
exception of item 15 see a small gap in trafc and go for it, which
had a factor loading of 0.33, the factor loadings for all items were
more than 0.40 and the item-scale correlations were suitable
(>0.30). Loadings lower than 0.3 were not reported. Factors 1, 2 and
3 explained 23.60%, 12.23% and 7.30% of the variance, respectively
and the total variance explained was 43.13%.
Conrmatory factor analysis (CFA) was then used on the full
data set to conrm whether the 3-factor solution identied using
EFA was an adequate t for the Iranian ARBQ data. For CFA, seven t
indices evaluated the appropriateness of the model, these were:
the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), which

Table 5
Summary of the CFA goodness-of-t statistics for the 21 item3-factor model (n = 1111).
Models
a

First model tted

Second model ttedb
a
b

RMSEA

CFI

RFI

IFI

NFI

TLI

X 2/df

0.049
0.039

0.885
0.948

0.870
0.905

0.913
0.948

0.885
0.920

0.902
0.939

3.679
2.672

3-factor 21item ARBQ.

3-factor 21item ARBQ with 8 pairs of errors covaried.

A.R. Nabipour et al. / Accident Analysis and Prevention 75 (2015) 4354

should be no larger than 0.07; the comparative t index (CFI),

which should be equal or larger than 0.93; the relative t index
(RFI), which should be 0.901.00; the incremental t index (IFI),
which should be 0.93 to 1.00; the normed t index (NFI), which
should be 0.601.00; the TuckerLewis index (TLI), which should
be equal or greater than 0.92; and chi square divided by the degrees
of freedom (df), which should be less than 2.0, or at most 5.0
(Bagozzi and Yi, 2012; Oke et al., 2012; Kline, 2011).
Table 4 shows the results of the CFA and that all but one of the
items loads above 0.40, but all loaded above 0.30. Table 5 also
shows that the initial t of the three factor model was not ideal, but
allowing 8 error pairs to co-vary resulted in a very good t. Fig. 1
graphically presents the factor solution, which was very similar to
those found by Elliott and Baughan (2004) in the UK, Sullman et al.
(2011) in Spain and Sullman et al. (2012) in Belgium. Although
19 items had acceptable loadings on three factors (>0.30), the
factor loadings for item 13 get part way across the road and then
have to run the rest of the way to avoid trafc and item 15 see a
small gap in trafc and go for it were both lower than desired.
The three factors were then tested for differences according to
the demographic and descriptive variables. Table 6 shows that

49

males were more likely to be involved in dangerous playing on the

road than females (p = 0 .003). Adolescents whose relatives or
friends had been killed in a road crash or had experienced a road
crash themselves reported playing on the road signicantly more
often than those who had not (p = 0.005 and p < 0.001). Dangerous
playing on the road was also signicantly higher among students in
public schools (p = 0.008). Place of residence also inuenced how
likely they were to engage in dangerous playing on the road, with
post-hoc tests showing that residents of large urban areas were
more likely to engage in this kind of behaviour than small urban
residents (p = 0.011). There were no statistically signicant
differences between students living in rural areas and those from
other areas.
In addition, post-hoc tests showed that students from schools in
the small urban areas reported signicantly less dangerous playing
on the roads than students from schools in the northern (p < 0.001)
and southern urban areas (p = 0.034), but there was no signicant
difference between students from schools in the north and the
south of the city areas (p = 0.298). There were also no statistically
signicant differences on this factor by nationality, parents
education level and grade of students.

[(Fig._1)TD$IG]

Fig. 1. Conrmatory factor analysis of the 21-item ARBQ.

50

A.R. Nabipour et al. / Accident Analysis and Prevention 75 (2015) 4354

Table 7 shows that females (p = 0.008) and older students (aged

1518 years) reported engaging less often in planned protective
behaviour (p < 0.001) than males and younger students. Furthermore, adolescents who reported no previous trafc accidents
reported more planned protective behaviour than those who
reported prior involvement in an accident (p = 0.001). Students
residing in large urban areas also reported signicantly more
engagement in planned protective behaviour than those from
small urban areas (p = 0.001), but there were no signicant
differences between rural students and those from small and
large urban areas. Engagement in planned protective behaviour
was signicantly lower amongst respondents from schools in small
urban areas, compared with those from schools in the northern
(p = 0.003) and southern (p = 0.008) urban areas. However, there
was no signicant difference between participants from schools in
the northern and southern urban areas (p = 0.887). Finally, there
were no statistically signicant differences found between planned
protective behaviour and the other variables.
Table 8 presents the relationships the unsafe crossing
behaviour factor had with the demographic and descriptive
variables. Students in the 1518 years old age range reported
signicantly more often engaging in unsafe crossing behaviour
than the younger age group (p = 0.031). Respondents whose friends
and relatives had lost their lives in a road crash also had
Table 6
Subgroup comparisons between scores gained in factor 1 analysis (dangerous
playing in the road) through t-test and ANOVA.
Variable
Gender
Males
Females
Age
1314
1518
Nationality
Iranian
Afghan
Living area
Large urban area
Small urban area
Rural area
Mother's education level
Illiterate
Elementary school
Guidance school
High school
Diploma
University
Father's education level
Illiterate
Elementary school
Guidance school
High school
Diploma
University
Relatives or friends killed in a road crash
Yes
No
Trafc accident history
Yes
No
Family motorized vehicle
Yes
No
Kind of school
Public
Private
Location of school
The north of Tehran (large urban)
The south of Tehran (large urban)
Small urban
*

Signicant at the 0.05 level.

Mean

SD

p-value
0.003*

1.57
1.44

1.70
1.56

1.60
1.55

0.73
0.77

1.57
1.51

0.76
0.63

1.60
1.43
1.65

0.79
0.61
0.74

1.69
1.53
1.51
1.72
1.58
1.55

.84
.67
.67
.85
.79
.76

1.54
1.46
1.49
1.74
1.62
1.54

0.71
0.68
0.62
0.83
0.82
0.75

0.259

0.535

0.011*

0.370

0.064

0.005
1.63
1.51

0.77
0.74

1.73
1.48

0.82
0.71

1.58
1.52

0.77
0.71

<0.001*

0.267

0.008*
1.52
1.64

0.69
0.84

1.53
1.67
1.44

0.74
0.83
0.61

<0.001*

signicantly higher scores for unsafe road crossing (p < 0.001),

as was the case for those participants who reported previously
being involved in a trafc accident (p < 0.001).
4. Discussion
The main objective of the present study was to investigate the
psychometric properties of the Adolescent Road User Behaviour
Questionnaire (ARBQ) as a self-report tool to measure potentially
risky on-road behaviours amongst school aged adolescents living
in Iran. This present study was the rst research to investigate the
psychometric properties of the ARBQ in a non-European based
culture. Interestingly the three latent factors were supported here,
indicating that this distinction holds even in very different
cultures. Furthermore, these three factors had acceptable internal
reliability, as found in the previous research (Elliott and Baughan,
2004; Sullman et al., 2011, 2012).
There were also similarities in the ordering (by mean) of the
42 behaviours with the four previously studied countries, in that
the three most frequently reported behaviours and the three least
frequently reported behaviours were fairly consistent across all
ve countries. In particular, the three behaviours with the highest
Table 7
Subgroup comparisons between scores gained in factor 2 analysis (planned
protective behaviour) through t-test and ANOVA.
Variable
Gender
Males
Females
Age group
1314
1518
Nationality
Iranian
Afghan
Living area
Large urban area
Small urban area
Rural area
Mothers education level
Illiterate
Elementary school
Guidance school
High school
Diploma
University
Fathers education level
Illiterate
Elementary school
Guidance school
High school
Diploma
University
Relatives or friends killed in a road crash
Yes
No
Trafc accident history
Yes
No
Family motorized vehicle
Yes
No
Kind of school
Governmental
Nongovernmental
Location of school
The north of Tehran (large urban)
The south of Tehran (large urban)
Small urban

Mean

SD

p-value
0.008*

3.75
3.91

1.04
0.95

3.59
3.95

1.06
0.95

3.82
3.98

5.00
5.03

3.76
4.04
3.92

1.01
.90
1.07

3.78
3.98
3.81
3.91
3.81
3.78

1.02
.96
1.00
1.07
1.00
1.00

3.67
3.00
3.83
3.85
3.83
3.79

1.14
.94
.97
1.04
1.00
1.00

3.85
3.81

0.99
1.01

3.94
3.77

0.96
1.02

3.80
3.91

1.00
1.01

3.84
3.79

1.00
1.00

3.75
3.79
4.03

.98
1.05
0.91

<0.001*

0.185

<0.001*

0.415

0.425

0.537

0.008*

0.139

0.349

<0.001*

Note: lower mean scores reect a more frequent engagement in planned protective
behaviour.
*
Signicant at the 0.05 level.

A.R. Nabipour et al. / Accident Analysis and Prevention 75 (2015) 4354

means in the present study were the same as in Spain and the UK,
while two of the top three were also the same in New Zealand and
Belgium. Furthermore, the three least frequently reported
behaviours (play chicken by lying down in the road and waiting
for cars to come along, play chicken by deliberately running out
in front of trafc and hold on to a moving vehicle when riding a
skateboard/roller-skates/roller-blades) were also similar to those
reported in the previously investigated countries.
There were also some differences in the ranking of these
behaviours by Iranian adolescents and those of other countries and
also some indices between Iran and these countries (Table 9). For
example, wear a cycle helmet when riding a bike was reported
much less often by the English, Iranian and Spanish adolescents
than the New Zealand and Belgian adolescents. As bicycle helmets
have been mandatory in New Zealand since 1994 (Taylor and
Scuffham, 2002), New Zealand adolescents wear cycle helmets
more often than in many other countries. An explanation of this
phenomenon in Belgium may be due to there being a stronger safe
cycling culture among adolescents in that country. Adolescents in
Iran reported more frequently having to stop quickly or turn back
to avoid trafc than in the developed countries. This may indicate
that many Iranian adolescents are not well-trained in safe crossing
behaviours (e.g. using pedestrian crossings) as a pedestrian.
Iranian and English students reported much less often using a
Table 8
Subgroup comparisons between scores gained in factor 3 analysis (unsafe crossing
behaviour) through t-test and ANOVA.
Variable
Gender
Males
Females
Age
1314
1518
Nationality
Iranian
Afghan
Living area
Large urban area
Small urban area
Rural area
Mothers education level
Illiterate
Elementary school
Guidance school
High school
Diploma
University
Fathers education level
Illiterate
Elementary school
Guidance school
High school
Diploma
University
Relatives or friends killed a road crash
Yes
No
Trafc accident history
Yes
No
Family motorized vehicle
Yes
No
Kind of school
Public
Private
Location of school
The north of Tehran (large urban)
The south of Tehran (large urban)
Small urban
*

Signicant at the 0.05 level.

Mean

SD

p-value
0.282

2.59
2.54

0.66
0.67

2.50
2.60

0.70
0.64

2.56
2.67

0.67
0.62

2.56
2.57
2.65

0.67
0.65
0.66

2.66
2.62
2.54
2.53
2.59
2.51

0.69
0.57
0.60
0.68
0.69
0.69

2.60
2.51
2.56
2.66
2.56
2.56

0.69
0.58
0.63
0.70
0.67
0.68

2.64
2.49

0.65
0.67

2.68
2.50

0.65
0.66

2.57
2.54

0.66
0.67

2.57
2.56

0.65
0.68

2.54
2.58
2.58

0.64
0.69
0.64

0.031*

0.171

0.592

0.455

0.742

<0.001*

<0.001*

0.620

0.793

0.657

51

crossing guide (lollipop man/lady) where there was one available

than students in New Zealand, Belgium and Spain. These
differences may be due to cultural differences and/or differences
in each countrys road safety culture or differences in the trafc
environment (e.g. level of motorisation, vehicle mix, legislation
and level of enforcement).
For example, as seen in Table 9 according to statistics
motor vehicles per capita (excluding motorcycles) in Iran are
127/1000 people, which is much less than in countries such as: the
UK, New Zealand, Spain and Belgium (World Bank, 2014). Despite
the lower level of motorisation, mortality from road crashes is
considerably higher in Iran than these countries. Furthermore, in
Iran pedestrians are the group most at risk of road crash mortality,
and this proportion is higher than the above mentioned countries
(World Health Organization, 2013).
Finally the mixture of vehicles on the road differs in Iran
from other countries which have used the ARBQ. Just over half of
the vehicles on Iranian roads are cars and 4-wheeled light
vehicles (57.7%) and 39.3% are two or three wheeled motorcycles.
In Iran the ratio of cars to other vehicles is lower than the other
western countries (Table 9), but two and three wheeled
motorcycles, which are less safe, occupy a larger percent (World
Health Organization, 2013).
Although disobedience of road trafc regulations has been
identied as the factor most commonly responsible for pedestrian
injuries (World Health Organization, 2013), road user behaviour is
also problematic, and is related to: dense trafc in cities, absence of
foot paths beside the road, lack of over/under passes for
pedestrians, low pedestrian awareness and a lack of sufcient
parks and recreational facilities which forces children to play in the
streets (Tabibi et al., 2012; Soori, 2006).
There have been regulations for pedestrians in Iran since 1971,
but these regulations are not enforced and so pedestrians do not
feel obliged to observe these regulations (Babapour, 2014).
The main problems in Iran, in comparison to countries such as
England, New Zealand, Spain and Belgium, are not obeying the
right of way regulation, not slowing down at pedestrian crossings,
not observing the speed limit, not separating pedestrian walkways
from the road, dangerous behaviours by pedestrians and drivers,
limited visibility on roads due to dim lighting, poor road markings,
pedestrians wearing dark clothing (especially women), overloaded
vehicles, low seat belt or safety helmet use, driver sleepiness and
drug abuse (World Health Organization, 2013; Rouzikhah and
Shabani, 2007; Moaan et al., 2013; Nabipour et al., 2013).
In the EFA using the 42-item version of the questionnaire there
were six items which did not belong to the factor they loaded on
and a number that were missing from each factor in the Iranian
study. Other than the research by Sullman and Mann (2009), the
two more recent studies were not able to support the three way
distinction in the long version of the ARBQ (Sullman et al., 2011,
2012). The three factor solution produced using the 21-item ARBQ
in this sample of Iranian students also had some differences with
that obtained by Elliott and Baughan (2004) in England and the
research from other previously studied countries. For example,
unlike previous research Elliott and Baughan (2004), Sullman and
Mann (2009) and Sullman et al. (2011, 2012), the EFA of Iranian
data showed that factor 1 changed into factor 2 (and vice versa).
The rst factor contained the vast majority of the items related to
dangerous playing in the road. All items which loaded on this factor
in England also loaded in the Iranian sample. However, there were
also an additional four items (including 3, 4, 10 and 30) which
loaded on this factor, but did not involve playing on the road. Factor
2 dangerous road crossing behaviours contained only ve items,
similar to that found by Elliott and Baughan (2004). Only one item
walk facing the trafc when on roads without pavements was not
related to this type of risky behaviour. The last factor was labelled

52

A.R. Nabipour et al. / Accident Analysis and Prevention 75 (2015) 4354

planned protective behaviours and consisted solely of behaviours

designed to increase safety. Two items (40 and 41) which loaded on
this factor in the present study did not load at >0.40 in the English
sample. Nevertheless, overall the present research supported the
three-factor structure and was clearly measuring the same latent
variables identied by Elliott and Baughan (2004).
In addition, CFA revealed satisfactory t indices to conrm that
the 21-item version of the ARBQ was a good t to the three-factor
model. According to Table 5 and Fig. 1, the factor solution found
here was very similar to that found in the UK (Elliott and Baughan,
2004), Spain (Sullman and Mann, 2009) and in Belgium (Sullman
et al., 2012). Previous research using CFA has shown that the three
factor model did not t the data when using the 43-item version,
but that acceptable goodness-of-t indices were obtained for the
21-item scale in Belgium and Spain (Sullman et al., 2011, 2012).
However, there were a number of differences with the New
Zealand research (Sullman and Mann, 2009). Using EFA they found
a similar three-way distinction using the 43 item version of the
scale and also developed a short 19-item version of the scale, rather
than a 21-item version. However, if the New Zealand research had
used CFA to analyse their data, they may also have supported the
three factor solution for the same short version of the scale.
Although there were some relatively minor differences in the
factor structure, the ARBQ factors had similar relationships with
the demographic and descriptive variables measured here. For
instance, in agreement with previous research males were
signicantly more likely to engage in dangerous playing on the
road than females (Elliott and Baughan, 2004; Sullman and Mann,
2009; Sullman et al., 2011, 2012). Iranian females were also found
to report engaging less frequently in dangerous playing on the
road, which also agrees with previous research (e.g. Elliott and
Baughan, 2004; Sullman et al., 2011, 2012) and is possibly related to
a higher level of risk perception and more compliance with the
trafc rules among females (Moyano Diaz, 2002; Waylen et al.,
2002; Tom and Granie, 2011).
The present study also found that unsafe road crossing
behaviours increased with age, which was also supported in the
UK, Spanish and Belgian studies (Elliott and Baughan, 2004;
Sullman et al., 2011, 2012). This nding indicates that the trafc

laws tend to be ignored more often with increasing age during

adolescence. One of the reasons for this is that during adolescence,
children are getting more freedom and independence from their
family and without the guidance of family members may engage
more often in risky and unsafe behaviours (West et al., 1998;
Campbell and Keegan, 2000).
The planned protective behaviour factor was also correlated
with the demographic variables. The present study found that
younger adolescents had a higher engagement in planned
protective behaviour, than older adolescents, which again was in
agreement with the English and Spanish research (Elliott and
Baughan, 2004; Sullman et al., 2011). However, this nding was in
contrast with the Belgian study which found that planned
protective behaviour decreased with age (Sullman et al., 2012).
The present study also found that females engage less frequently in
planned protective behaviour, which contrasts with the previous
research which found no differences by gender (Elliott and
Baughan, 2004; Sullman and Mann, 2009; Sullman et al., 2011,
2012). The less frequent engagement in planned protective
behaviour in females is probably related to the different cultural
setting found in Iran. For example, many Iranian females wear
Chador, which is the traditional Islamic clothing that covers the
head and all other parts of the body except the face and hands. This
type of clothing makes wearing a bicycle helmet difcult and
therefore they hardly ever use a helmet while cycling.
The ARBQ factors were also related to the location and type of
school they attended. Those students attending private schools,
while enjoying a higher socio-economic status, reported engaging
more often in dangerous playing on the road. This could be related
to more freedom or independence among these students and a
lower respect for trafc rules. In addition, students from schools in
the south of Tehran (low socioeconomic area) reported engaging in
dangerous playing on the road and unsafe crossing behaviour more
often than students from schools in the north of Tehran. These
regional and differences by school type indicate that certain school
students and areas need to be targeted more strongly with
interventions than other areas and school types.
This study also found that the ARBQ factors were related to the
size of the area in which the students live. Adolescents from large

Table 9
Inter-country differences in the number of vehicles, mortality rates and safety behaviours.
Iran

UK

New Zealand

Spain

Belgium

Cycle helmet use by

students*

Low

Low

Low

Students have to stop

quickly or turn back to
avoid trafc*
Using a crossing guide
(lollipop man/lady)*

Low
High not well-trained in safe crossing
behaviours (e.g. using pedestrian crossings) as a
pedestrian
Low possible weaker road safety culture
Low- Possible
weaker road safety
culture
Cars and 4-wheeled light vehicles: 57.7%
Cars and 4-wheeled
light vehicles:
92.7%
Motorized 2- and 3-wheelers: 39.3%
Motorized 2- and 3wheelers: 3.6%
Heavy trucks: 2.3%
Heavy trucks: 1.4%
Buses: 0.7%
Buses: 0.5%
Other: Other: 1.8%
127
516

High mandatory
bicycle helmet use
law
Low

Low

High possible
stronger safe cycling
culture
Low

High

High

High

Cars and 4-wheeled Cars and 4-wheeled

light vehicles: 92.4% light vehicles:
78.8%
Motorized 2- and 3- Motorized 2- and
wheelers: 3.5%
3-wheelers: 8.7%
Heavy trucks: 3.5% Heavy trucks: 9.5%
Buses: 0.04%
Buses:0.2%
Other: 0.6%
Other:2.8%
708
593

Motorized 2- and 3wheelers: 5.6%

Heavy trucks: 8.6%
Buses: 0.2%
Other: 2.3%
562

34.1

3.7

9.1

5.4

8.1

28%

22%

9%

19%

11%

Total registered vehicles**

Motor vehicles per 1000

people (excluding two
wheelers)**
Mortality from road crashes
per 100,000 people**
Proportion road crash
mortality in pedestrians**

Cars and 4-wheeled

light vehicles: 83.3%

*According to the reported ndings of the current and other studies (Elliott and Baughan, 2004; Sullman and Mann, 2009; Sullman et al., 2011; Sullman et al., 2012). **Based
on statistics from World Health Organization (2013) and the World Bank (2014).

A.R. Nabipour et al. / Accident Analysis and Prevention 75 (2015) 4354

urban areas were found to be more likely to behave in an unsafe or

risky manner on the road. This may be because living somewhere
with a high volume of trafc might encourage a low perception of
risk for on-road situations (Elliott and Baughan, 2004). However,
students living in large urban areas also reported engaging more
frequently in planned protective behaviour, which contrasts with
the results of the UK study (Elliott and Baughan, 2004). The UK
research found that adolescents from rural areas reported
engaging more often in planned protective behaviour than
adolescents from urban areas.
The three ARBQ factors also had a signicant relationship
with prior crash involvement amongst this sample of Iranian
school students. As was the case in the Belgian research,
those adolescents who had previously been involved in an
accident were more likely, than those without an accident
history, to engage in dangerous playing on the road and
unsafe crossing behaviour (Sullman et al., 2012). However, in
contrast to the Belgium ndings, the present study found
that adolescents who had been involved in an accident were
also more likely, than those without an accident history, to
engage in planned protective behaviour (Sullman et al., 2012). On
the surface the present nding appears to make more sense
than the Belgian research as we would expect those adolescents
who engage in planned protective behaviours to be, on
average, less frequently involved in accidents on the road.
However, an alternative view might be that the Belgian
students were more likely to take precautions after being
involved in an accident. Unfortunately the answer to this question
cannot be solved using cross sectional research, but future
longitudinal research should be undertaken to better understand
this relationship.
The present study also found that students who reported the
death of a relative or friend in a road crash also reported engaging
more often in the two types of risky behaviours and less often in
planned protective behaviours. This nding has not been
previously reported with regards to the ARBQ or similar scales.
However, in support of this nding, previous research has found
there to be a signicant relationship in the road safety climate and
driving behaviour of family members (e.g. Bianchi and Summala,
2004; Taubman-Ben-Ari and Katz-Ben-Ami, 2013). Although the
current study is not studying driving behaviour, it is likely that
these ndings also related to an individual's behaviour on the road
in general (i.e. including as a pedestrian or cyclist). Therefore, those
adolescents who had previously been involved in an accident or
had lost a relative or friend in a road crash need to be targeted as at
risk groups vulnerable to trafc crashes. The ndings suggest that
interventions, such as health promotion activities in schools
should place particular emphasis on road safety education for this
vulnerable group of road users in Iran.
The school police programme is one example of a road safety
education programme which currently exists in Iran. This
programme started in 2006 and was implemented in order to
increase school childrens awareness of road trafc regulations. In
this programme children were offered identity cards as police
assistants. Their role was to remind drivers about the road trafc
regulations and to help school children with crossing the road.
Health promotion programmes have also been undertaken in
schools with the aim of raising safety awareness among students.
Furthermore, mass media campaigns have also been used in Iran to
increase awareness of road safety and trafc nes have also
recently been increased.
However, the results of the present study provide some
recommendations for additional interventions and suggest
improvements to those already being undertaken. Firstly, we believe
that police assistants and the school police should be organized
better and that their scope of activity broadened to include

53

pedestrian and cyclist safety. Our results also highlight the

need to provide more safe places for children to play (i.e. parks
and playgrounds) in order to prevent children from playing
on the road. Increasing the number of overpasses and equipping
these with escalators, reviving pedestrian lanes and separating
pedestrian walkways from motorist also need to be undertaken
more seriously in Iran. Finally, NGOs should also be active in
promoting safe cycling behaviour, helmet use, wearing
bright/reective clothing in the dark and teaching trafc regulations
to young pedestrians.
There are a number of potential methodological limitations of
this study which should be taken into consideration when
interpreting the results. Firstly, the students attending schools
in Tehran province may not be representative of the general
population of adolescents in Iran, and therefore the ndings might
not be generalized to the entire Iranian adolescent population. This
research also suffers from the usual perceived weaknesses of using
self-reported data, in particular social desirability bias. This is
especially the case for questions about risky or illegal behaviours,
which applied to a number of the questions in this study. However,
the participants were assured of complete anonymity and
condentiality, which reduced the impact of social desirability
bias. Furthermore, research using a similarly constructed scale, the
Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ), has found that the effect of
social desirability bias on self-reported risky behaviours is
often statistically non-signicant (e.g. Sullman and Taylor, 2010;
Lajunen and Summala, 2003).
Another possible limitation of the study is that the same data set
was used to derive the 42-item and the 21-item versions of the scale.
Therefore, it cannot be ignored that the 21 items were completed in
the presence of the other 21 items, which may have inuenced the
mode of reply. Furthermore, to facilitate comparisons with previous
research, several of which had larger sample sizes, the present
research used p < 0.05 to indicate a signicant relationship.
However, some readers might argue that due to the high sample
size and the high chance to achieve signicance it might have been
better to limit the results to lower p values. Therefore, the ndings
made here need to be read with this in mind.
5. Conclusions
The present study conrmed the psychometric properties of the
ARBQ in Iran, a country which differs from the UK, New Zealand,
Spain and Belgium in many ways, including: language, religion,
history and culture. Despite these differences, the present study
found that the 21-item Persian version of the scale is a valid and
reliable instrument for investigators to measure the on-road
behaviours of Iranian adolescents. The results also showed that a
large number of Iranian school students engaged in risky and
unsafe behaviours. Therefore, it seems that particular emphasis
should be placed on behavioural change programmes, as well as
law enforcement to enhance the road user safety culture among
adolescents in Iran.
Finally, the ARBQ has now been validated in Iran and several
countries with European, or European-based cultures, but the
validity of the scale in other countries and cultures, such as Asian
countries, is still unknown. Therefore, future research should be
conducted to conrm the applicability of the ARBQ in these as yet
untested settings.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the authorities of the Education
Department of Tehran, and the school principals and teachers who
cooperated with us in data collection and also the students that
took part in the study.

54

A.R. Nabipour et al. / Accident Analysis and Prevention 75 (2015) 4354

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