Why Drivers Feel Safer Than They Really Are

On a busy morning in Brașov, a young driver speeds through an intersection, confident they can “handle anything.” It’s a common story—one that repeats on highways and city streets around the world. Despite rising awareness campaigns, road crashes remain a global epidemic. Over 1.19 million people die in traffic accidents every year, and countries like Romania report some of the highest rates in Europe.

A new study published in Frontiers in Public Health sheds light on why drivers continue to take risks even when they know better. The answer, researchers suggest, lies not just in road conditions or inexperience—but in the psychology of perceived invulnerability

The Hidden Biases Behind the Wheel

Researchers Elena-Cristina Nae, Camelia Truța, and Ana-Maria Cazan studied 115 Romanian drivers to explore how cognitive distortions—like the illusion of control and desire for control—shape driving decisions. They also examined how risk perception and traffic-locus of control (beliefs about who or what causes accidents) interact with these factors.

Their goal: to understand why people who know driving is dangerous still engage in speeding, aggressive driving, or driving after drinking.

Key Terms Explained

• Illusion of Control: Overestimating one’s ability to avoid danger. Example: “I can text and drive safely because I’m experienced.”
• Desire for Control: A personality trait reflecting how much a person wants to be in charge of situations.
• Traffic-Locus of Control: Whether a driver attributes safety to themselves (internal) or to external factors like luck or fate.
• Risk Perception: How dangerous a driver feels a situation is—not how dangerous it actually is.

What the Study Found

The findings were striking. Together, these psychological factors explained nearly half (47%) of all risky driving behavior. That’s a huge proportion—suggesting that mindset matters as much as skill or experience.

1. Perception of Risk ≠ Safer Driving

Surprisingly, drivers who recognized risks were not necessarily safer. In fact, higher risk perception sometimes correlated with more risky behaviors. This aligns with the Risk Homeostasis Theory—the idea that people maintain a personal “comfort level” of risk. Once they feel safe (say, because of seatbelts or ABS brakes), they may drive faster to keep that comfort level steady.

2. Overconfidence Persists—Even with Experience

The study expected that experience might reduce overconfidence. It didn’t. Both novice and experienced drivers showed similar illusions of control, echoing the well-known Dunning–Kruger effect: the less people know, the more confident they feel.

In other words, practice doesn’t erase bias. Years behind the wheel may improve technical skill, but not necessarily judgment.

3. Religion and Fate Shape Risk Awareness

An unexpected finding came from drivers’ religious beliefs. Those who attributed outcomes to divine will or fate perceived driving as more dangerous—but that awareness didn’t translate into safer habits.
This “fatalistic invulnerability” may make drivers more alert to danger but less likely to change behavior, thinking, “If it’s meant to happen, it will.”

4. Desire for Control Doesn’t Predict Risk

Contrary to popular belief, simply wanting to be in control didn’t predict unsafe behavior. It’s not the desire itself that’s risky—it’s the illusion of control that leads drivers astray.

What This Means in Practice

These results carry major implications for road safety programs, especially in regions where crash rates remain high despite awareness campaigns.

✅ For Local Health Departments and Road Safety Agencies:

• Shift from skills to mindset. Traditional training focuses on rules and techniques. Add modules that challenge overconfidence and cognitive biases.
• Use simulators for feedback. Real-time driving simulators can show drivers the limits of their control and recalibrate overconfidence.
• Target all experience levels. Experienced drivers also need interventions—overconfidence doesn’t fade with age.

✅ For NGOs and Public Health Communicators:

• Move beyond fear campaigns. Narratives from crash survivors or peer testimonies can bridge the “it won’t happen to me” mindset.
• Tailor by personality. Drivers high in sensation-seeking may respond better to interactive, visually dynamic education.
• Address cultural beliefs. Programs should account for fatalistic or religious attitudes that influence how risk is interpreted.

✅ For Policymakers and Urban Planners:

• Design for perception. “Shared space” street designs—where boundaries blur and drivers must pay attention—can lower speeding and improve safety.
• Integrate psychology into licensing systems. Screening for risky cognitions could complement standard driving tests.

Key Insight

“The illusion of control doesn’t fade with experience—it evolves with it.”
— Nae et al., Frontiers in Public Health (2025)

This underscores that safe driving is not just a matter of knowledge, but of continuous self-awareness. The drivers most at risk may not be the least skilled—but the most confident.

What’s Next and Remaining Barriers

The study was cross-sectional, meaning it captured a single snapshot in time. Future research should follow drivers longitudinally to track how confidence and perception change after real-world experiences.

Other barriers include:

• Self-report bias: People often understate their risky habits.
• Cultural differences: What counts as “normal risk” in one country may be unacceptable in another.
• Limited sample size: The 115 participants offer insight, but larger studies can clarify how age, gender, or culture modify these effects.

Still, the findings reveal that psychological distortion is as dangerous as mechanical failure—and deserves equal attention in safety policy.

Discussion Starters

1. How might your organization integrate cognitive bias awareness into driver education or road safety campaigns?
2. What interventions could help experienced drivers reassess their sense of control behind the wheel?
3. How can we respect cultural or religious beliefs while promoting evidence-based road safety practices?

Bottom Line

The research confirms what many safety experts suspect: risky driving isn’t just a matter of ignorance—it’s a matter of perception. Drivers often see themselves as the exception to the rule, immune to harm, or skilled enough to beat the odds.

By confronting these invisible biases, road safety efforts can evolve—from teaching people how to drive to helping them understand why they drive the way they do.