^Highlights • Factors impacting risky driving behaviors of bus drivers are systematically assessed. • Enterprise management and external environment are related to bus drivers’ safety attitudes. • Factors in the study are related to bus drivers’ risky driving behaviors in China. • Recommended measures to improve the bus drivers’ safety attitudes are put forward.

Abstract Several studies have shown that enterprise management (e.g. culture, salary) and external environment (e.g. traffic congestion) predict risky driving behaviors and accident involvement. However, this process has not been systematically investigated in bus drivers. The present study uses structural equation model to assess whether enterprise management and external environment are associated with risky self-reported driving behaviors both directly and indirectly, through the effects of attitudes towards traffic safety in a large sample of bus drivers. Three hundred and thirty-one bus drivers (mean age = 39.5, SD = 5.6 years) completed a structured and anonymous questionnaire measuring enterprise management, external environment, attitudes toward traffic safety, and self-reported risky driving behaviors (i.e., speeding, fatigue driving, running the light) in the last 6 months. Structural equation modeling analysis revealed that enterprise management, and external environment were associated with risky driving behaviors both directly and indirectly. In particular both of them were directly correlated with bus drivers’ attitudes toward traffic safety which, in turn, were related to the five types of self-reported risky driving behaviors. The present findings suggest that measures related to the impact factors could be carried out to reduce the probabilities of the risky driving behaviors among bus drivers, such as improving the salary level of bus drivers, setting up bus lanes and priority signals to alleviate road congestion, optimizing shift schedules, implementing effective safety education, etc. These findings can provide the empirical basis for evidence-based road safety interventions in the context of public transport.