The influence of personality and cognitive failures on distracted driving behaviors among young adults

•Personality traits alone should not be considered as antecedents of the propensity to engage in DDB but researchers should also consider that driver’s cognitive failure plays a key role in distracting young drivers.•Four of the five Big Five personality traits (i.e., extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, and agreeableness) along with cognitive failure play a major role in the propensity to engage in distracted driving behavior.•The results from this research can be used to develop custom initiatives to decrease the amount of distraction among young adults. Distracted driving is a major safety concern. This paper explores the role personality traits and self-reported cognitive failures play in the propensity towards distracted driving behavior (DDB) among young adults in the United States. Two independent time-separated studies (study 1 with 522 participants; study 2 with 314 participants) confirm the role of cognitive failures as a mediator between specific personality traits and DDB propensity among young adult drivers. The results of this study suggest drivers’ personality traits such as extraversion, conscientiousness, and neuroticism have a direct impact on DDB propensity. In addition, there is evidence that cognitive failure mediates the relationship between these three personality traits and DDB propensity. Lastly, based on the results, agreeableness moderates the relationship between cognitive failure and DDB propensity. Together, these findings suggest that personality traits should be considered in conjunction with driver’s cognitive failure in explaining DDB propensity. Future research using a combination of self-reported, naturalistic and simulation studies may provide additional insight into the relationships between personality traits, cognitive failures, and the propensity towards DDB.