Past research indicated the importance of traffic safety and driving behaviors for the sustainability of the traffic system. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of emotion regulation on drivers’ tendency to obey or transgress traffic rules. A sample of 554 Romanian drivers completed a set of measures assessing their driving styles, traffic offenses, and their habitual use of three emotion regulation strategies. The results of the mediation analyses showed that two of these strategies, i.e., reappraisal and experiential avoidance, are associated with less traffic offenses, and that specific driving styles mediate these effects. While the behavioral effects of experiential avoidance were mixed in valence, reappraisal was found to diminish the use of maladaptive driving styles and to foster careful driving. Overall, this pattern of results indicates the potential benefits of future interventions aiming to develop drivers’ abilities to regulate their emotions, especially through reappraisal, for increasing traffic safety.

Traffic norms violations are the most common form of law breaking. Our aim was to investigate a factor that might contribute to the massive disobedience to traffic laws, namely drivers’ use of self-legitimization strategies that allow them to transgress them without paying the psychological costs that would follow, such as regret or shame. Using the framework of the self-exoneration mechanisms described by the Social Cognitive Theory, we developed a measure assessing drivers’ strategies of justification of their traffic violations. Across two studies, we tested the psychometric proprieties of the Justifications of Traffic Violations scale (JTVs), its factorial structure, and its construct, external and incremental validity. Results showed that drivers self-exonerate when transgressing traffic laws predominantly through four strategies (Minimizing risks, Displacement of responsibility, Personal needs and Outcome – based justification) that are addressed by the JTVs and that construe one’s refraining from committing deviant driving behaviours as unnecessary, impossible or undesirable. The JTVs and each of its four specific cognitive mechanisms were found to be positively related to the most maladaptive driving styles, as well as to self-reported traffic offences and accidents, suggesting that these self-exonerating strategies favour the instilment and maintenance of habitual deviant behaviours on the road.

The present research tested the dimensionality and cross-cultural differential item functioning of the Short Dark Tetrad (SD4; Paulhus et al., 2021 ) in samples of university students (total N = 804) from Italy ( N = 268), Romania ( N = 313), and the United Kingdom ( N = 223), respectively. Multidimensional Item Response Theory was used to model the data and ordinal logistic regression for differential item functioning analyses. The results showed that a four-factor model was the best fit for the data. However, the model showed metric non-invariance between the three samples, as well as non-negligible differential item functioning for several items in each of the four factors, in line with findings from previous research on cultural differences in antagonistic traits. Implications for theory and research are discussed.