The contribution of inhibitory deficits to dangerous driving among young people

A recent theory of adolescent risk taking that may be applicable to young drivers proposed that young people engage in more risks because they are more impulsive. While past research has found that problematic drivers do tend to score higher on measures of impulsivity, most of this research has relied on self-reported behaviours and attitudes. The present study investigates the role of impulsivity using computer-based measures of inhibitory functioning. Young drivers who had been caught speeding by the police were compared with non-offenders on two inhibitory measures: the Stop-signal task and the Go/no-go task. While the two groups did not differ in their performance on the Stop-signal task, there were significant differences between the groups on the Go/no-go task with the offender group displaying lower inhibitory skills. The results of the Go/no-go task were not entirely unambiguous as offenders were also found to have responded to go trials with a faster reaction-time. The implications of these results both for the impulsivity theory of adolescent risk taking and for the more general issue of adolescent risk taking are discussed.