Drivers’ illusions––no more risk

In this invited address to the International Congress of Applied Psychology, it is argued that traffic psychology has not had a major impact on accident prevention. The factors that have determined this are discussed. A review of the theories and models pertinent to drivers’ risk taking and road user behaviour in general is presented. It is argued that both risk-homeostasis theories and task capability model are not sufficiently precise to be used as a basis for preventive measures. Attitude–behaviour models derived from social psychology have proved to be powerful in identifying motivational factors influencing road user behaviour, but the majority of empirical evidence is based on self-reported rather than observed behaviour. It is argued that individual differences can provide a basis for accident prevention, in particular driver training.     

Gender‐Based Judgments of Traffic Violations: The Moderating Influence of Car Type1

This paper reports the findings of a study investigating interpretations of driver behavior during a traffic accident. Using authentic road‐accident reports including figurative depictions of the accident and a photograph of the car involved, participants were asked to make judgments of the driver's carelessness and aggression before and during the accident. Contextual factors were manipulated by altering the type of car driven (following Davies, 1999) and the sex of the driver. Results showed that car type influenced the allocation of cause of the accident, with drivers of a BMW being described as having acted more aggressively, and drivers of Smart Cars having been depicted as acting more carelessly, despite the actions of both drivers being held constant. In addition, the actions of the female driver were interpreted as more attributable to driver carelessness than driver aggression or external factors. Results are discussed with reference to car‐type stereotypes. Ways in which such biased interpretations could influence how drivers respond to other road users in real‐life situations are suggested.     

Psychiatric labeling and social perception

The present study explores the effects of three types of psychiatric labeling on attribution of causality and impression formation. It was found that observers tended to be more person-oriented in their attributions when explaining an accident of a person being labeled formerly mentally ill and formerly psychiatrically hospitalized, as compared to a non-psychiatric control label. However, no such tendency towards person-orientation in causal attribution was found for a problems-of-living label. These effects were found to be independent of variation in amount of neutral context information about the person being labeled. The effect of labeling on impression formation was found to be inconclusive, and reasons for this are discussed. Context information was found to affect impression formation in that the person was evaluated more positively. No sex differences in attribution of causality and impression formation was found.     

Effects of Severity of Accident,Intent, and “Alcoholism is a Disease” Excuse on Judgments of a Drunk Driver1

One hundred fifty-five women and 122 men read scenarios of an accident caused by a male drunk driver. The severity of the accident was either high (death) or low (monetary damage). In addition, the driver either expressed or denied intent (he admitted or denied knowing he was drunk before deciding to drive) and the driver either accepted responsibility for the accident or used the excuse that alcoholism is a disease beyond his control. On trait ratings, the driver was evaluated as being more reckless and as feeling greater emotion when the accident was severe. The driver who used the “alcoholism is a disease” excuse was evaluated as being less sincere and more reckless than the driver who accepted responsibility for the accident. On attributional ratings, the driver was rated as deserving greater punishment when the accident was severe. On sanctions, only severity of the accident influenced recommended fines and prison sentences for the driver. This study was consistent with previous research showing that recommended punishment for a drunk driver who caused an accident is primarily a function of accident severity.     

Spatio-temporal accident analysis for accident prevention in relation to behavioral factors in driving: The case of South Anatolian Motorway

Analyzing the pattern of traffic accidents on road segments can highlight the hazardous locations where the accidents occur frequently and help to determine problematic parts of the roads. The objective of this paper is to utilize accident hotspots to analyze the effect of different measures on the behavioral factors in driving. Every change in the road and its environment affects the choices of the driver and therefore the safety of the road itself. A spatio-temporal analysis of hotspots therefore can highlight the road segments where measures had positive or negative effects on the behavioral factors in driving. In this paper 2175 accidents resulted in injury or death on the South Anatolian Motorway in Turkey for the years between 2006 and 2009 are considered. The network-based kernel density estimation is used as the hotspot detection method and the K-function and the nearest neighbor distance methods are taken into account to check the significance of the hotspots. A chi-square test is performed to find out whether temporal changes on hotspots are significant or not. A comparison of characteristics related driver attributes like age, experience, etc. for accidents in hotspots vs. accidents outside of hotspots is performed to see if the temporal change of hotspots is caused by structural changes on the road. For a better understanding of the effects on the driver characteristics, the accidents are analyzed in five groups based on three different grouping schemes. In the first grouping approach, all accident data are considered. Then the accident data is grouped according to direction of the traffic flow. Lastly, the accident data is classified in terms of the vehicle type. The resultant spatial and temporal changes in the accident patterns are evaluated and changes on the road structure related to behavioral factors in driving are suggested.     

Driver's avoidance characteristics to hazardous situations: A driving simulator study

When analyzing the causes of an accident, it is critical to determine whether the driver could have prevented the accident. In previous studies on the reaction times of drivers, the definition and values of reaction times vary, so applying reaction time is difficult. In such analysis, the driver’s reaction time from perception is required to determine whether the driver could have prevented the accident, but past studies are difficult to utilize in accident analysis as reaction time measurements were taken after the occurrence of hazardous situations. In this study, 93 subjects from age groups ranging from 20 s to 40 s participated in an experiment inside a full-scale driving simulator, to determine reaction time values that can be practically applied to accident analysis. A total of 4 hazardous accident situations were reproduced, including driving over the centerline, pedestrian jaywalking, a vehicle cutting in, and intersection traffic signal violation. The Time-To-Collision (TTC) was 2.5 s and the driving speed was set to the common city road speed limits of 60 and 80 km/h. An eye tracker was used to determine the driver’s Saccade Latency (SL) during hazardous situations. Brake Reaction Time from Perception (BRT_P), Steer Reaction Time from Perception (SRT_P), and Driver Reaction Time from Perception (DRT_P) were derived, and the measurements were statistically analyzed to investigate differences by age group, gender, speed, and type of hazardous situation. Most participants were found to avoid collisions by braking first rather than steering for the presented hazardous situations, except for the cutting in situation. Also, to determine a reaction time that would cover most drivers, the 85th percentile of DRT_P was calculated. The 85th percentile of DRT_P was in the range of 0.550 – 0.800 s. Specifically for each hazardous situation, it was 0.650 s for driving over the centerline, 0.800 s for the pedestrian jaywalking, 0.660 s for cutting in, and 0.550 s for the intersection traffic signal violation. For all 4 hazardous situations combined, the 85th percentile of DRT_P was 0.646 s. The findings can be utilized to determine the driver’s likelihood of avoiding accidents when faced with similar hazardous situations.     

Unspecific postevent information,attribution of responsibility,and eyewitness performance

A large number of experiments have demonstrated that misleading postevent information may result in distortions of eyewitness performance. However, most studies have employed a quite specific piece of misinformation (the colour of a car, a type of a road sign) rather than more general postevent information. In the present experiment subjects viewed a film depicting a traffic accident and were subsequently informed that the car driver had or had not committed hit-and-run behaviour and that the motorcyclist had or had not been drinking. An additional control group received no information. In a subsequent interrogation subjects were asked to rate the amount of cause, responsibility and guilt attributable to the car driver and motorcyclist. Results showed that responsibility and guilt and the statements on the accident-related behaviour were influenced by the postevent information. In general, subjects who had received negative information about one of the persons involved attributed higher amounts of responsibility and guilt to them and provided more negative statements concerning their behaviour. However, details that were not closely related to the accident were not significantly influenced by postevent information. The results are discussed in terms of schematic memory reports.     

Effects of Severity of Accident,History of Drunk Driving,Intent, and Remorse on Judgments of a Drunk Driver1

A total of 160 women and 160 men read scenarios of an accident caused by a male drunk driver. The severity of the accident was either high (death) or low (monetary damage) and the driver either had or did not have a history of drunk driving. In addition, the driver expressed or denied feeling remorse and expressed or denied intent (or negligence-he admitted or denied knowing he was drunk before deciding to drive). The driver was evaluated on character traits and cause, responsibility, blame, and punishment. Participants also recommended sanctions (fine and prison sentence). Trait ratings of the driver were influenced negatively by history and positively by remorse. The driver who expressed intent was evaluated as more believable and more reckless. Participants with high belief in a just world evaluated the driver as being less responsible and believable and more of a cause of the accident. There were no differences in judgments given by men and women. Severity did not affect trait ratings, but was the only variable influencing sanctions. Although the driver's self presentation strategies were effective in moderating judgments about his character, they had no bearing on recommended sanctions.     

Conversing while driving: The importance of visual information for conversation modulation

Multiple studies have shown an increased accident risk due to telephoning while driving. On the other hand, driving with passengers leads to a decreased accident risk. One explanation is a conversation modulation by passengers in cars which leads to a different conversation pattern which is not so detrimental to driving as that when phoning. A driving simulator study was conducted in order to examine this conversation modulation more closely and to find out more about the factors involved in this modulation, especially about the role of visual information available to the passenger. In a within-subject design the conversational patterns of 33 drivers and passengers in different in-car settings (passenger as usual, passenger without front view or passenger without view of the driver) were compared to a hands-free cell phone and to a hands-free cell phone with additional visual information either about the driving situation or the driver. Participants were instructed to have a naturalistic small-talk with a friend. Results of the drivers’ speaking behavior showed a reduction of speaking while driving. Compared to a conversation partner on the cell phone, a passenger in the car varies his speaking rhythm by speaking more often but shorter. Further analyses showed that this effect is also found with a cell phone when providing the conversation partner additional visual information either about the driving situation or the driver. This latter finding supports the idea that conversation modulation is not triggered by being in the car but by the visual information about the driver’s state and the driving situation.     

Determinants of following headway in congested traffic

This paper reports on results of a study undertaken in the UK aimed at investigating factors affecting the car following process. An understanding of the factors affecting this complex decision making process is essential to a wide range of theoretical issues including driver workload, capacity and the modeling of freeway flow, as well as practical applications such as the design of in-vehicle driver aids and assistance systems, many of which have direct relevance to increasing driver safety. The study used an instrumented vehicle to collect time dependent following data for a group of test drivers. Data was collected on two differing types of high speed road, using six primary subjects who drove a test vehicle, supplemented by data on 123 drivers that were observed following the test vehicle. Examination was made of how the time headway chosen by a driver is influenced by a range of situational variables commonly believed to effect behavior, with four main findings. Firstly, headway was found to change according to the type of vehicle being followed (i.e. subjects followed closer to trucks than to cars), secondly, little variation was found with changes in overall traffic flow, thirdly, little correlation was found with road type, and lastly a distinct day-to-day variation in individual behavior was observed.     

The effect of a collision warning system on the driving performance of young drivers at intersections

This study investigated the manner in which the driving performance of young people was affected by a collision warning system when they encountered a driver running a red light at an intersection. Furthermore, the causal relationship among driving performance, traffic factors and intersection accidents was examined using Path Analysis. Participants drove a driving simulator with an intersection collision warning system (ICWS) in a simulated urban area. The driving performance measures recorded were reaction time, speed, lateral position deviation and crash events. Experimental results indicated that drivers who drove a vehicle with an ICWS audio signal at an intersection had a shorter reaction time, a lower speed and a reduced accident rate than those observed while driving a vehicle without ICWS audio signal. Furthermore, Path Analysis showed that the ICWS had an indirect effect on accident rate reduction through improved driving performance. The location of intersection accident had both direct and indirect effects on the accident rate. The number of driving days per week had a direct effect on accident rate reduction.     

Cross-cultural comparison of drivers’ tendency to commit different aberrant driving behaviours

The first aim of the present study was to identify key items which are rated differently by drivers from Finland, Sweden, Greece and Turkey. The second aim was to examine how these key items relate to drivers’ self-reported accident involvement. Similar comparisons have previously been conducted in Europe but these have only included items classified as violations and errors, but not lapses. A sample of Finnish (N = 200), Swedish (N = 200), Greek (N = 200) and Turkish (N = 200) drivers completed the driver behaviour questionnaire (DBQ) and reported their accident involvement during the previous 3 years. The results showed that nine key items (which drivers from different countries rated differently) could be identified. These items included two aggressive violations, four ordinary violations, three lapses, but no errors. Out of these nine items, five items (Become angered by a certain type of driver and indicate your hostility by whatever means you can, Disregard the speed limit on a motorway, Overtake a slow driver on the inside, Pull out of a junction so far that the driver with right of way has to stop and let you out and Get into the wrong lane approaching a roundabout or a junction) could explain differences in drivers’ self-reported yearly accident involvement when all four countries were taken together. At the same time, none of the items could explain differences in self-reported yearly accident involvement in Finland and Sweden while one of the items (Overtake a slow driver on the inside) could explain differences in self-reported yearly accident involvement in Greece and two of the items (Become angered by a certain type of driver and indicate your hostility by whatever means you can and Disregard the speed limit on a residential road) could explain differences in self-reported yearly accident involvement in Turkey. This shows that different countries have different problems with regard to aberrant driving behaviours which need to be taken into account when promoting traffic safety interventions and the driver behaviour questionnaire (DBQ) can be used to diagnose risk areas and to better inform road safety practitioners within and between countries.     

Virtually driving: are the driving environments "real enough" for exposure therapy with accident victims? An explorative study.

There is a small but growing body of research supporting the effectiveness of computer-generated environments in exposure therapy for driving phobia. However, research also suggests that difficulties can readily arise whereby patients do not immerse in simulated driving scenes. The simulated driving environments are not "real enough" to undertake exposure therapy. This sets a limitation to the use of virtual reality (VR) exposure therapy as a treatment modality for driving phobia. The aim of this study was to investigate if a clinically acceptable immersion/presence rate of >80% could be achieved for driving phobia subjects in computer generated environments by modifying external factors in the driving environment. Eleven patients referred from the Accident and Emergency Department of a general hospital or from their General Practitioner following a motor vehicle accident, who met DSM-IV criteria for Specific Phobia-driving were exposed to a computer-generated driving environment using computer driving games (London Racer/Midtown Madness). In an attempt to make the driving environments "real enough," external factors were modified by (a) projection of images onto a large screen, (b) viewing the scene through a windscreen, (c) using car seats for both driver and passenger, and (d) increasing vibration sense through use of more powerful subwoofers. Patients undertook a trial session involving driving through computer environments with graded risk of an accident. "Immersion/presence" was operationally defined as a subjective rating by the subject that the environment "feels real," together with an increase in subjective units of distress (SUD) ratings of >3 and/or an increase of heart rate of >15 beats per minute (BPM). Ten of 11 (91%) of the driving phobic subjects met the criteria for immersion/presence in the driving environment enabling progression to VR exposure therapy. These provisional findings suggest that the paradigm adopted in this study might be an effective and relatively inexpensive means of developing driving environments "real enough," to make VR exposure therapy a viable treatment modality for driving phobia following a motor vehicle accident (MVA).     

Determinants of confirming and disconfirming responses to negative social labels

Two experiments explored the question of when people will respond to negative labels by confirming them and when they will respond by disconfirming them. In a field experiment subjects were accused of not taking advantage of the opportunities available in a nearby city, and in a laboratory experiment they were accused of having low self-confidence. After these accusations, subjects were given an opportunity to behave in ways that varied in the degree to which they were consistent with the experimenter's labels. For some subjects the experimenter's accusations included mention of the fact that the negative label also applied to many other members of their group, while for other subjects this group factor was not mentioned. The reference to the group either increased or decreased subjects' label-confirming behavior, depeding on whether the subject had provided the experimenter with evidence consistent with the label before the accusations were made. When the experimenter had this evidence, subjects subsequently confirmed the label more if the fact that the negative label applied to many group members was mentioned than if it was not mentioned. When the experimenter accused the subject without having any evidence, subjects disconfirmed the label more if the group was mentioned than if it was not.     

Attribution of cause by patients with depression, anxiety, and alexithymia

This study evaluated the relationship between the personality construct of alexithymia and the attribution of depression to biological, psychological, sociocultural, and external stress. When alexithymia was considered as a continuous variable, there was a significant correlation between a higher score on the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and a greater belief in psychological causes for their psychiatric disorder. The other factors also had positive but nonsignificant correlations with alexithymia. When alexithymia was categorically partitioned and controlled for depressed mood, alexithymic subjects more frequently endorsed all four factors to be causal for their psychiatric illness. This appears to contradict earlier assumptions that alexithymic patients tend to be less psychologically minded than those without this psychological trait.     

Personality, risky driving and accident involvement among Norwegian drivers

Despite the large body of studies, the role of personality in risk research still remains debatable and unclear. The objective of this study was to identify determinants of road user behaviour and accident involvement with the aim of developing effective accident countermeasures. Examining relationships between personality, risky driving and involvement in accidents can open up the possibility of early identification of those more likely to be involved in accidents. The aim is not to influence personality as such, but to develop measures constructed for specific groups. The results are based on a self-completion questionnaire survey carried out among a sample of Norwegian drivers in year 2000 and 2001 (n=2605). The Norwegian Directorate of Public Roads financed the study. The questionnaire included measures of risky driving, accident involvement, normlessness, sensation-seeking, locus of control and driver anger. Results showed that those who scored high on sensation seeking, normlessness and driver anger reported more frequent risky driving compared to those who scored low on these variables. They were more often involved in both speeding and ignorance of traffic rules. Respondents involved in risk taking-behaviour experienced near-accidents and crashes leading to both injuries and material damage more often than other drivers.     

Prevalence of traumatic brain injury in an inpatient psychiatric population

This study investigated the prevalence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in an inpatient psychiatric population. We hypothesized increased prevalence of TBI relative to the general population due to a variety of risk factors observed in psychiatric patients. One hundred (mean age = 34) psychiatric inpatients completed the revised Head Injury Questionnaire. Chart review of 17 subjects reporting injuries established whether injuries were documented in medical records. Sixty-eight percent of this psychiatric population reported one or more injuries in which they were unconscious or dazed. This number is higher than the prevalence in the general population. Injuries were generally of mild to moderate severity; multiple injuries were common. Chart review of 17 subjects reporting TBI indicated that histories of TBI had not been noted in the medical record. Finally, 63% of TBI subjects reported that their injury predated the onset of their psychiatric symptoms. These results suggest a possible role of TBI in psychiatric symptomatology and have implications for psychiatric treatment in this population.     

Analysis of the occurrence and severity of vehicle-pedestrian conflicts in marked and unmarked crosswalks through naturalistic driving study

BackgroundAlthough many studies have been conducted on the safety of pedestrian crossings, few researches have been focused on drivers' behavior in unmarked crosswalk and marked crosswalk areas. Considering that statistics of pedestrian accidents are not the same in the two types of crossing area, based on the last report of the World Health Organization, it is very critical to evaluate driver yielding behavior to determine the differences in the actions of drivers when encountering pedestrians in the two areas.MethodsThis study was conducted based on surrogate measures of safety (SMoS) collected through a Naturalistic Driving Study on 52 participants in Iran. The study was carried out from April 2017 to April 2018 using the installation of cameras in the private vehicle of the participants. The analysis of the recorded films showed that 956 conflicts have occurred in unmarked crosswalks and 392 conflicts in marked crosswalks, respectively.ResultsA model was developed for driver yielding behavior using binary logistic regression, and showed that yielding rates in unmarked crosswalsk were about fifty percent of the yielding rates in marked crosswalks. Based on the model, it is indicated that the aggressive behavior of pedestrians during the crossing, such as running, zigzag and diagonal crossing, as well as the late detection of pedestrians by drivers resulting from high-speed driving in the unmarked crossing areas, will reduce the yielding behavior rate. Also, using the Swedish traffic conflicts technique, the severity of the conflicts was classified into four general categories: encounter, potential, slight, and serious conflict, through 30 different levels on the basis of conflicting speed and time to the accident. The results showed that pedestrians behavior during conflicts of the group “encounter” and drivers’ behavior during conflicts of the groups of “potential”, “slight” and “serious”, were the principal factors in preventing collision through an evasive maneuver. The results showed that increasing the level of conflict severity, which indicates an increase of the conflicting speed and a decrease of the time remaining to point of a possible collision with pedestrian, causes drivers to yield a harsh-maneuver to prevent collision. Soft-maneuvers such as deceleration and acceleration, as well as harsh-maneuvers such as changing the lane/stop during conflicts were most driver yielding behavior during conflict groups of slight and serious. According to the results of the analysis, the behavior of drivers in marked crossing areas is better than in the unmarked crossing area, leading to safer crossing for pedestrians.ConclusionsThis study suggests that the significant differences in driver yielding behavior in the two areas is due to the late detection of pedestrians by drivers and also the less proper action by them in unmarked crosswalk areas. Thus, the probability of accidents in Unmarked Crossing areas is higher than in marked crossing areas. Consequently, the design of improved advanced driver assistance systems to identify the risk of pedestrian accident may improve the driver yielding behavior and thus increase the safety of pedestrians.