Traditional models of driving behavior often neglect the social-cognitive processes that underlie interactions in traffic. Drawing on a series of complementary studies, we propose that drivers' ability to reflect on traffic situations and adopt others' viewpoints—captured by the newly developed Driver Situational Reflection Scale (DSRS)—plays a critical role in predicting safe and prosocial driving. The DSRS, a two-factor measure (Caution and Perspective-Taking) was validated across multiple samples. Its factors reliably predicted fewer violations, errors, and lapses, as well as greater prosocial driving and self-reported driving skills, outperforming established empathy measures. Another study experimentally examined perspective-taking in dynamic traffic scenarios. Results revealed that dispositional perspective-taking correlates with perceiving traffic situations as riskier and with making more cautious predictions about other drivers' behaviors, while situational manipulations of perspective-taking produced subtler effects. Together, these findings highlight perspective-taking and situational reflection as distinct, measurable cognitive competencies shaping risk perception and driving behavior. They suggest promising directions for road-safety interventions, such as integrating perspective-taking exercises into driver education or simulator-based training, and open avenues for cross-cultural validation and application of DSRS.