Stress-related psychosocial factors at work, fatigue, and risky driving behavior in bus rapid transport (BRT) drivers

Little is known about how time pressure affects driving behavior The present questionnaire-based research addresses this gap in the literature We used roadside assessment, out-of context self-assessment and hetero-assessment approaches These approaches (1) identify situational factors eliciting time pressure behind the wheel, (2) explore the emotional reactions of time-pressured drivers, and (3) investigate links between time pressure and risky driving Our results suggest that time constraints, time uncertainty and goal importance are causal factors for time pressure, which is mostly encountered chronically in professional fields requiring driving Time pressure is associated with negative emotions and stress, though some motorists also appreciate driving under time pressure because doing so potentially heightens feelings of self-efficacy Time pressure might increase risk taking, but self-reported accidents were not more numerous This null finding is critically discussed, but it could result from increased driving ability in chronically time pressured drivers and from adequate adjustments of other drivers Assessments of objective and subjective factors should be integrated in interventions designed to help working people cope with time pressure behind the wheel

Time pressure and driving: Work, emotions and risks

This paper investigated the types of situations that caused drivers to become angry when driving in China by examining the characteristics of a sample of professional drivers. The revised Chinese version of a 19-item driving anger scale (DAS) was used to examine driving anger amongst a sample of 132 professional drivers. The resultant data were analyzed by conducting principal components analysis, reliability and validity tests, producing four categories of anger provoking situations: discourtesy, traffic obstructions, illegal driving and slow driving. Compared with studies conducted in USA and Malaysia, the present study showed that Chinese professional drivers experienced lower levels of driving anger. Regarding demographics and descriptive variables, age, driving experience, and mileage were weakly correlated with driving anger, whereas preferred speed was positively significantly related to driving anger. In addition, personality differences in driving anger also existed as drivers with Type A personality and those in the middle of this continuum reported higher levels of anger than those with Type B personality. When facing certain traffic scenarios, drivers in the anger-out and the anger-in group were found to have higher anger scores than those in the anger-control group. Importantly, for professional drivers, preferred speed and anger expression were found to be important variables in predicting driving anger. Based on the survey and the comprehensive data analyses, this study provides a valuable contribution to developing the Chinese version of the DAS as a reliable and valid tool to measure driving anger among Chinese professional drivers and demonstrates the possible need for interventions among certain personality types to minimize the safety consequences of driver anger.

Driving anger in China: A case study on professional drivers

Professional drivers are drivers whose profession is to drive a vehicle such as truck and taxi for working purposes. However, these drivers constitute a heterogeneous group and generalizing assumptions about risky driving behaviour across the entire group might be misleading. The current study aimed to investigate similarities and differences of self-reported risky driving behaviour and crash involvement among different groups of professional drivers. Two rather large samples of taxi drivers obtained from 20 taxi stations in two cities (n = 381) and heavy goods vehicles (truck) drivers obtained from a roadside survey in 10 provinces (n = 785) completed the same 27-item Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ) in Iran. Principal component analysis showed that the DBQ segmented into four dimensions both among taxi and truck drivers. Further, a multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) supported strong measurement invariance in the DBQ factor structure across the two samples. The results showed that taxi drivers were more likely than truck drivers to commit errors as well as ordinary and aggressive violations. A one unit increase in ordinary and aggressive violations increased the probability of having experienced a traffic crash in the last year by 69% and 98% for taxi drivers, respectively, and 37% and 42% among truck drivers, respectively. This highlights that driving violations increased the probability of crash involvement almost twice as much among taxi drivers compared to truck drivers. Policymakers could target ordinary and aggressive violations by establishing better driving training and by improving the licensing procedures among professional drivers.

Driver behaviour and crash involvement among professional taxi and truck drivers: Light passenger cars versus heavy goods vehicles

Road accident rates among Iranian lorry drivers are considerably high and, according to empirical evidence, aberrant driving behaviours, summed to certain demographic, psycho-social and work-related factors, may explain their accident involvement. Consequently, the main aim of the study was to examine the direct and indirect effects of background variables (i.e. annual mileage, lorry driving experience, demographic and socioeconomic factors) on accident involvement mediated through aberrant driving behaviour among Iranian lorry drivers. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted in 2012 among 914 lorry drivers in 10 selected provinces in Iran. The 27-item Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ) was used to measure aberrant driving behaviour. Results from valid observations (n = 785) confirmed a four-factor solution (including ordinary violations, aggressive violations, errors, and lapses) of the DBQ. Errors, ordinary violations and aggressive violations were positively associated with accident involvement. However, lapses were not significantly associated with accident involvement. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) further showed that, in addition to direct effects of background variables on accident involvement, several variables had indirect effects mediated by three-DBQ factors; ordinary violations, aggressive violations, and errors. Higher age, having more lorry driving experience, having higher educational attainment, and married drivers were indirectly related to less accident involvement. Annual driving mileage and the resting rate of drivers was both directly and indirectly related to accident involvement. Higher income and car ownership were directly related to fewer accidents. Interventions could aim to decrease ordinary violations, aggressive violations and errors among younger, less educated and single lorry drivers. Initiatives targeted to increase the scheduled resting frequency of lorry drivers may also hold promise.

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Accident involvement among Iranian lorry drivers: Direct and indirect effects of background variables and aberrant driving behaviour

There are likely to be individual differences in bus driver behaviour when adhering to strict schedules under time pressure. A reliable and valid assessment of these individual differences would be useful for bus companies keen to mitigate risk of crash involvement. This paper reports on three studies to develop and validate a self-report measure of bus driver behaviour. For study 1, two principal components analyses of a pilot questionnaire revealed six components describing bus driver behaviour and four bus driver coping components. In study 2, test-retest reliability of the components were tested in a sub-sample and found to be adequate. Further, the 10 components were used to predict bus crash involvement at three levels of culpability with consistently significant associations found for two components. For study 3, avoidance coping was consistently associated with celeration variables in a bus simulator, especially for a time-pressured drive. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: The instrument can be used by bus companies for driver stress and fatigue management training to identify at-risk bus driver behaviour. Training to reduce the tendency to engage in avoidance coping strategies, improve evaluative coping strategies and hazard monitoring when under stress may improve bus driver safety.

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Julie Gandolfi

Papers

Development and validation of a self-report measure of bus driver behaviour

A qualitative analysis of advanced and standard police driver differences

Cross-cultural differences in driver behaviour at work