Effect of psychosocial interventions on risky driving behaviours among offender drivers by using simulated and real driving: study protocol for a non-randomised controlled trial

Background Risky driving behaviour including anger while driving has led to millions of global road traffic crashes, thousands of mortalities and injuries. These losses are much more in middle-income countries, such as Iran. This paper explains methods of data collection in a controlled trial study for evaluating the effect of psychosocial interventions on risky driving by using simulated and real driving. Methods This non-randomised controlled trial study will include 180 offender drivers. They will refer to the simulation laboratory by traffic police after their driving licences were suspended. At baseline, all participants will fill five questionnaires including demographic, Driving Anger Scale, Driving Anger Expression Scale, Spielberger’s Anger and Manchester Driving Behavioural, and then they will be tested with a driving simulator. Afterwards, they will be allocated to one of three-intervention training arms (mindfulness, meta-cognition and social marketing) or a control arm without any training. Risky driving behaviours will be assessed in three follow-ups after intervention. The primary outcome of interest will be driving offences, recorded by traffic police in two time points: at 6 months and 1 year after the intervention. Discussion This study examines the effect of three interventions in reducing driving offence. The results can end in a new therapeutic training or a new legislation that should be added to current obligatory training for getting driving licence and can lead to long-term safe driving among Iranian drivers. Future research is recommended to study the cost-effectiveness of these interventions in actual driving in Iran. Trial registration number UMIN000039493.