Özlem Şimşekoğlu

Nord University | HIBO · Department of Education of Driver Instructors

Norway is the leading country in electric car adoption in the world, while in Italy electric cars are only recently gaining acceptance. We compared car choices in the two countries highlighting commonalities and differences in the choice determinants, distinguishing between the small and the large car segment. We analyzed actual choices made in the...

All-terrain vehicles (ATVs) are commonly used by adolescents in rural Norway, but there has been little research on their driving behavior and accident rates. This project seeks to investigate common traits of adolescents' ATV use and how social norms affect risk-taking behavior. Research on ATV use from several countries reveals a high accident ra...

It is important to examine changes in driving performance and driver behavior with increasing age to improve road safety. The main purpose of this study was to explore if there were any differences in a group of young drivers (n=36, Mage=32) and a group of elderly drivers (n =40, Mage=72) on driving performance and driving skills on a number of dri...

This study focuses on examining the relationships between the variables within the driving education process in Norway by aiming to answer three research questions: 1) Is there a difference between learner drivers above and below 25 years old in time spent at different steps and between theory and practical tests? 2) Do the time spent during differ...

Although horse users in traffic are a vulnerable road user group, traffic safety problems among them are scantly examined by previous research. The main aim of the present study was to examine the role of some demographic variables, traffic safety attitudes, and level of knowledge about rules and regulations applying to horse use in traffic for pre...

Electric vehicles (EVs) are related to various symbols, identities, and beliefs, and are considered much more than a means of transport. Existing literature has investigated the contribution of financial incentives and various psychological factors to the EV purchase decision. However, few studies investigate the effect of psychological factors on...

This paper describes the aim, methodology, objectives and expected impacts of a project proposal submitted to the Research Council of Norway in April 2019. TrønderMaaS assesses the implementation of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) solutions in Norway using multiple perspectives, focusing on business models, users' acceptance and environmental impact....

Seat belt use is one of the most effective behaviors for saving lives and reducing injuries in bus accidents. This behavior among Iranian bus passengers has not received enough attention. The aim of this study was to discover the determinants of the use and lack of use of bus seat belts in a sample of bus drivers and passengers, traffic police, and...

The electric bicycle (e-bike) is a newly emerging transport option that brings several environmental and individual benefits. In order to promote e-bike use, it is important to understand which factors influence the intention to buy an e-bike among the non-users. The main aim of the present study is to examine the role of perceived benefits, barrie...

Despite rapid increase of battery electric vehicles (BEV) in many countries, there are still concerns related to technology, usability and safety aspects of BEVs. The present study examines the role of perceived accident risk, knowledge, perceived car attributes, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control, together with demographic variables,...

The electric bike (e-bike) is emerging as a new sustainable transport mode in Norway and has the potential to lead to increased cycling among the population. However, little is known about psychosocial determinants of e-bike use. The aim of the study was to examine the role of normative and environmental beliefs, the perceived attributes of e-bikes...

Increasing number of drivers are using electric cars either as their main or additional car. It is important to make a distinction between sole electric car drivers and drivers of both an electric and a conventional car to understand whether determinants of electric car use differ across these sub-groups. The main aim of the present study was to ma...

More than 16,500 people lose their lives each year due to traffic crashes in Iran, which reflects one of the highest road traffic fatality rates in the world. The present study aimed to investigate the factors structure of an extended Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) and to examine gender differences in the extracted factors among Iranian drives...

Background and aims: Car use in urban areas carries well known risks for negative effects on urban quality of life, the environment and land use. Previous psychological work has mainly studied the habit of using a car as a predictor variable, whereas only a few studies have focused on psychological factors that may underlie and shape the habit. The...

The present study aimed to examine and compare the role of safety culture/climate and social cognitive factors on driving behaviors in a group of Turkish professional drivers transporting petroleum products. A questionnaire survey was conducted in a sample of 119 male drivers working for an oil company. The questionnaire included items related to d...

Aims: The aim of the study was to make a theoretical contribution by investigating social cognitive factors and personality traits related to risky driver behaviour in a Turkish sample. The study tested three theoretical models by Structural Equation Modelling (SEM): (1) a model using risk perception and attitudes towards traffic safety to predict...

Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the role of pedestrian attitudes and personality traits (social conformity and empathy) on pedestrian behaviors in a Turkish sample. An equally important aim of the study was to examine the association between pedestrian and driver behaviors. Method: The sample included 289 road users including p...

The majority of previous cross-country studies of human factors relevant to traffic safety have not operationalized and measured culture. Also studies in this vein have mostly been carried out in Europe and the United States. The aim of the study was to examine country cluster differences, based on the Culture's Consequences framework, in road traf...

The present study aims to investigate differences in road safety attitudes, driver behavior, and traffic risk perception between Turkey and Norway. A questionnaire survey was conducted among a sample of Norwegian (n = 247) and Turkish (n = 213) road users. The results show that Turkish respondents perceived traffic risk to be higher than Norwegian...

The present study investigated differences in road traffic culture in Norway and Turkey. Differences in non-transport accidental risk perception and risk willingness were also examined. An additional aim was to scrutinise differences in how these constructs predict speeding and rule violations in the two countries. The results are based on a questi...

Despite the proven effectiveness of seat belt use in reducing injury severity in road traffic accidents, a large number of car occupants do not use a seat belt in Turkey. The main aim of the present study was to explain self-reported seat belt use among front seat passengers with the basic and extended (habit, moral norm and anticipated regret adde...

Despite the effectiveness of seat belt use and legislation, seat belt use rate is low in Turkey. The aim of this study was to investigate the motives to use and not to use a seat belt in different traveling conditions in a sample of car drivers and passengers. Interviews were made face to face with 221 interviewees from different age and occupation...

Low seat belt use rate among car occupants is one of the main problems contributing to low driver and passenger safety in Turkey, where injury and fatality rates of car occupants are very high in traffic crashes. The present article consists of two observation studies, which were conducted in Ankara. The first study aimed at investigating environme...

CORRELATES OF SEAT BELT USE AMONG TURKISH FRONT SEAT OCCUPANTS Þimþekoðlu, Özlem M.S., Department of Psychology Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Timo Lajunen June, 2005, 79 pages This thesis included three separate studies, which were observational, interview and survey studies, on seat belt use among Turkish front seat occupants. The observation study...

Seat belts are effective safety devices used to protect car occupants from severe injuries and fatalities during road vehicle accidents. Despite the proven effectiveness of seat belts, seat belt use rates are quite low, especially in developing countries, such as Turkey. The general aim of the present study was to investigate a large variety of fac...