Attitudes towards risky driving and Dark Triad personality traits in a group of learner drivers

•Male learner drivers posess riskier driving attitudes and antisocial personality than females.•Dark personality is related to the riskier driving attitudes in learner drivers.•Particular dark personality traits are related to specific risky driving attitudes.•Narcissism is negatively related to showing off and joyriding attitudes in females. The main purpose of this study is to explore the associations between Dark Triad personality traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy) and attitudes towards risk taking in driving in a group of learner drivers. A total of 475 driving licence candidates (187 males, 288 females) participated in the cross-sectional survey. They completed the self-reported questionnaire with a Scale of Risk-Taking Attitudes to Driving (Ulleberg & Rundmo, 2002) and Short Dark Triad Scale (Jones & Paulhus, 2014). The results revealed that dark personality is significantly related to the riskier driving attitudes (speeding, drunk driving, joyriding, and violating rules for keeping up to traffic flow) for both males and females. Still the trait narcissism is negatively related to showing off while driving and joyriding attitudes in female learner drivers’ group. The conclusion is drawn, that even in the training period, the endeavours to identify possible risk groups of future drivers are valuable.