**1. Introduction**

The present chapter shows one of the most relevant issues regarding the area of road safety since according to the WHO, road accidents are among the ten leading causes of death in the world [1]. "In Mexico, it is estimated that between 70% and 90% of traffic accidents are attributed to the driver, with human errors and driver offenses in traffic regulations as the two main contributing factors" [2].

Shell [3] exposes "Improving road education involves an analysis of human behavior, where both classroom instruction on safety issues, laws and regulations, vehicle operation, and those factors affecting driving are combined." It is for these reasons that "the vast majority of road education exams have focused on accidents" [4]. The factors in these studies include age, income, and driver's attitude.

In relation to the implementation of any road safety system, Ker *et al*. [5] and Mackay and Tiwari [6] acknowledge that human errors should be minimized in order to significantly improve road safety. In the circumstances of drivers, traffic safety policies recently implemented have been focused on improving their traffic behavior [7], particularly to endorse a better attitude when using roads [8–10]. Nonetheless,

Mirzaei *et al*. [7] reported that while many drivers show a positive safety attitude in regards to traffic, there are specific circumstances that may induce a poor traffic performance from some of these road users. Therefore, the authors inform us about the need to illuminate such situations, containing any potential cultural aspects. For the diverse groups of road users, Factor *et al.* [11, 12] proposed a theoretical model to analyze the influence that some social and cultural characteristics of these groups have on traffic safety, reporting that road safety differs in cultural and social features, including lifestyles and attitudes.

This study analyzed together the socioeconomic and road knowledge characteristics of these users to determine the probabilities of being involved in a road accident. This issue arises from the research that has been done [3], which informs us that those who have knowledge of road education are less likely to be involved in accidents or to carry out traffic violations. Whereas Factor *et al*. [12], using a logistic regression, found a relationship between socioeconomic status and presence in traffic accidents, as to say there is a direct correlation between higher level of education and greater socioeconomic status, which lowers the probability of being involved in a road accident.

It is worth mentioning that the present research aims to develop a methodology to create, step by step, a model that determines which socioeconomic variables and road education are significant to determine the probability of being involved in a road accident, which was applied to a case study in the city of Santiago de Querétaro.

This is why it is important to analyze the behavior of drivers on public roads since one of the main factors of road accidents is the lack of education and knowledge that these users may have about road safety. Not only does lack of knowledge influence road safety but also social factors, such as differing cultures, social behavior, the age of a driver, and the socioeconomic status of the drivers. This is an explanation as to the importance of doing the study because knowing these aspects that were previously mentioned, are all aspects that can attribute to a driver's performance when operating a vehicle.
