Traffic Psychology is one of the recent outgrowths of psychology. It studies the psychological processes pertaining to behavior pattern of road users under various situations. It is also concerned with transportation psychology, accidents etc., which is also commonly known as mobility psychology.

The nature of traffic psychology does not allow it to rely on just one theory but it uses a blend of other psychological theories such as social psychology, emotional psychology, perceptual psychology, cognitive psychology and motivational psychology.

Behavioral psychology divides traffic related activities into three levels namely the strategic level, the tactical level and the operational level.

Aspects of Traffic Psychology

One of the basic concerns of traffic psychology is the research on the relationship between behavior pattern and accident. While analyzing the behavior pattern and corresponding influence on traffic related activities, traffic psychology tries to find the correlation between age group, mode of transport, road engineering and design of motor vehicles and traffic behavior.

Secondly, traffic psychology is also concerned with accident prevention measures by increasing safety through behavioral adjustments based on proper training for the drive, proper traffic education and proper legal instructions.

Traffic psychology thirdly deals with the ergonomic aspects of vehicle designing. Unprecedented growth patterns are noticeable since 1980 in this field. Lot of automated support systems are available today to help the driver to cope various stressful situations.

It has to be noticed here that traffic psychology is not only related to road traffic. It also covers all modes of transportation such as railways, airways and seaways. However, all of them have its foundation in road psychology developed to suit specific mode of transportation under consideration.

Traffic psychology cannot be a standalone discipline to be useful it has to join hands with ergonomics, economics, ecology, engineering and medicine.

The significance of traffic psychology is to be seen in its ability to analyze traffic related problems and offer reliable solution to the same. Its significance is also to be seen in its scope in improving traffic safety.