The objective of this study was to examine prospective associations of perceptions of driving risk and skill with teenage risky driving. The vehicles of 42 newly licensed teenage drivers were instrumented with a data acquisition system. Objective measures of risky driving [crash and near crash (CNC) and kinematic risky driving (KRD) rates] obtained from accelerometers were aggregated over three 6-month periods (T1, T2, and T3). The Checkpoints Self-Reported Risky Driving Scale (C-RDS) and perceptions of driving risk and driving skills were collected at corresponding 6-month intervals. The results indicated that CNC, KRD, and C-RDS were significantly correlated at T1 to T3. Perceptions of driving risk and skill were not significantly correlated with objective or self-reported measures of risky driving. No evidence was found that perceptions of risk or skill were prospectively associated with risky driving. It was concluded that perceptions of risk and driving skills may have limited utility as objectives of prevention efforts.
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