4.1 Review of the principal findings

The course-takers were mainly men (89%), and more often in employment (self-employed) than the control group. The educational level of female course-takers was the highest, compared to the level of the controls of both genders, and of the male course-takers.

The course-takers admitted to committing more violations than the control group (37% of course-takers have a high violation score vs 16 %) .

The course-takers drove much more than the control group, were more afraid of losing their driving licence, considered the probability of being arrested to be considerably higher than the probability of having an accident and the majority of them considered the car as an extension of their office. The male course-takers had had more damage-only and injury accidents than the control group. Among the course-takers, the men had had significantly more damage only accidents than the women. The women course-takers drove more frequently after having consumed alcohol than their counterparts in the control group, although this behaviour is much less prevalent than among the men. They also enjoy taking risks during leisure activities.

In addition, the male and female course-takers were more frequently smokers than the control group. The male course-takers more often stated that they were not happy than the males in the control group, and they more often had high extroversion scores and an external locus of control.

After the multivariate analysis performed on all potential risk factors for course-taking, only the variables related to mental representations, leisure pursuits and road-related behaviours (mileage included) remained in the case of women. Among the men, these variables were joined by sociodemographic characteristics (being young, self-employed, coming from large families) and smoking.

No psychological characteristic remained independently of the other factors. The violation score had no influence either, once the mileage was taken into account.

The men and women behaved differently on the road (eg: violations, alcohol, annual mileage, self esteem on the road…), whether they belonged to the control group or the group of course-takers, although the contrast appears to be less marked among the course-takers.