Expectations of efficacy,social influence and age as predictors of helmet-use in a sample of Spanish adolescents

Despite the proven effectiveness of helmets in avoiding or reducing the severity of brain injuries and the law requiring their compulsory use, both by drivers and passengers of motorcycles, approximately 20% of Spanish adolescent motorcycle users do not wear them. This study analysed the pattern of motorcycle and helmet-use in a sample of Spanish adolescents (age range 14–17; n = 874) and the relationship this safety measure has with belief in its effectiveness and its use by friends and relatives. Overall more males than females ride motorcycles and this difference increased with age. Motorcycle drivers and passengers who always wear helmets consider them to be more effective than those who do not use a helmet all of the time. The best predictors of helmet-use among motorcycle drivers were their beliefs regarding the helmet-use of their friends and relatives. In the case of passengers, knowing that their friends always wear them and age were the best predictors of helmet-use. Programmes and campaigns promoting helmet-use must take into account the modelling effect of close referents or other role models in order to increase their effectiveness.     

Perceptual training to increase drivers’ ability to spot motorcycles at T-junctions

Motorcyclists too often collide with other road users who pull out of side roads in front of them. These other road users typically report making all the necessary visual checks, despite failing to see the approaching motorcycle. These Look But Fail To See errors appear to be attenuated in road users who themselves have motorcycling experience, suggesting that motorcycle exposure may lower thresholds for spotting these vulnerable road users through natural perceptual learning. This raises the possibility that perceptual training could improve car drivers’ abilities to spot motorcycles. Two experiments are reported. The first experiment demonstrated that a T-junction task, requiring participants to detect an approaching vehicle in briefly displayed images, was sensitive to participants’ motorcycle experience, with dual drivers (who both ride motorcycles and drive cars) performing better than average car drivers. Following this, a second experiment split the car drivers into 2 groups. One group undertook a Pelmanism task requiring participants to match pairs of motorcycles, while the control group had to match pairs of fruit. When the two groups were re-tested on the T-junction task, the group who had undergone perceptual training for motorcycles via the Pelmanism task, were better able to identify approaching motorcycles, but not approaching cars. The results suggest that gamification of perceptual training for motorcycle detection provides a novel opportunity to improve driver safety.     

Effect of motorcycle lighting configurations on drivers’ perceptions of closing during nighttime driving

ObjectiveThe aims were to better understand how drivers perceive an approaching set of motorcycle headlights during nighttime driving and to determine whether alternative motorcycle headlight configurations improve drivers’ perceptual judgments of closing for an oncoming motorcycle.BackgroundMotorcyclists account for a disproportionate number of roadway fatalities, especially at night. One potential cause of this is drivers’ misjudgments of a motorcycle’s approach.MethodThe first experiment examined whether drivers were more sensitive to horizontal or vertical optical expansion and whether drivers could integrate these two dimensions to achieve a lower looming threshold. A second experiment built on these results to test whether alternative headlight configurations that maximized size were better than other motorcycle headlight configurations and a car’s headlights. In both experiments, participants were instructed to press a button to indicate when they first perceived an oncoming vehicle to be closing under nighttime driving conditions.ResultsHeadlight orientation did not affect when drivers perceived closing, and drivers were not able to integrate optical expansion from multiple dimensions in a way that achieves a lower looming threshold. However, the alternative motorcycle headlight configurations that accentuated the full extent of a motorcycle’s size resulted in drivers perceiving closing sooner than other motorcycle headlight configurations but not sooner than a car.ConclusionDrivers perceive closing sooner for larger headlight configurations except when the headlight configurations are relatively small, in which case the effect of headlight size is attenuated.ApplicationDrivers’ perceptual judgments of motorcycles may improve when motorcycles have headlights that span its full height.     

Conditions for speeding behaviour: A comparison of car drivers and powered two wheeled riders

Against a UK background of decreases in collisions involving car drivers, motorcycle collisions are on the increase. To throw light on this process, this paper explores differences between motorcyclists and car drivers in the conditions for speeding behaviour. Some predictions derived from the model of Task-difficulty Homeostasis (TDH) were tested using self-report data from samples of older (>35 years), male car drivers (n = 269) and motorcyclists (n = 102). As predicted, riders were more likely to speed on rural roads and less likely to speed on urban roads, and, riders were much more likely to speed in daytime than at night.Riding a motorcycle offers opportunities for expressive use of the vehicle and riders are more likely to say they really enjoy riding fast. However amongst older riders this behaviour appears to be largely confined to daytime riding on rural roads. Compared with cars, motorcycles provide more of an opportunity to manoeuvre around obstacles in controlling task demand, rather than using speed as the primary controlling variable. Although this provides more options for the rider, it carries with it vulnerability to loss of control from variation in road surface adhesion and maintaining too high a speed.     

Risk-taking behavior and response inhibition of commuter motorcyclists with different levels of impulsivity

The purposes of this study were to identify the relationships between the risk-taking behavior, response inhibition, and risky motorcycle riding behavior of commuter motorcyclists with different levels of impulsivity, and to examine how these behaviors contribute to motorcycle accidents. A total of 255 Chinese commuter motorcyclists were recruited for this study. Their levels of impulsivity were classified according to the Chinese Barratt Impulsiveness Scale version 11th. Their risk-taking behavior was assessed by the Balloon Analogue Risk Task and their response inhibition was assessed by the Chinese version of the Stroop test Victoria version. The Chinese Motorcycle Rider Driving Violation Scale was used to assess risky motorcycle riding behaviors. Results showed that impulsivity was associated with risk-taking behavior and risky motorcycle riding. Highly impulsive motorcyclists carry out more risk-taking behaviors and are less able to inhibit responses than those with low impulsivity. Motorcyclists with medium impulsivity (OR, 4.74; 95% CI, 1.91–11.39) and those with high impulsivity (OR, 4.91; 95% CI, 2.34–10.24) were about 5 times more likely to be actively involved in motorcycle accidents than those with low impulsivity. Postlicense motorcycle riding experience and risky motorcycle riding behavior were two significant predictors of motorcycle traffic accidents after controlling for other sociodemographic variables. These results can facilitate the development of interventions, including the training and testing of motorcyclists, public education, and mass media messages about traffic risk.     

Motorcycle riders’ self-reported aggression when riding compared with car driving

Aggressive driving has been shown to be related to increased crash risk for car driving. However, less is known about aggressive behaviour and motorcycle riding and whether there are differences in on-road aggression as a function of vehicle type. If such differences exist, these could relate to differences in perceptions of relative vulnerability associated with characteristics of the type of vehicle such as level of protection and performance. Specifically, the relative lack of protection offered by motorcycles may cause riders to feel more vulnerable and therefore to be less aggressive when they are riding compared to when they are driving. This study examined differences in self-reported aggression as a function of two vehicle types: passenger cars and motorcycles. Respondents (n = 247) were all motorcyclists who also drove a car. Results were that scores for the composite driving aggression scale were significantly higher than on the composite riding aggression scale. Regression analyses identified different patterns of predictors for driving aggression from those for riding aggression. Safety attitudes followed by thrill seeking tendencies were the strongest predictors for driving aggression, with more positive safety attitudes being protective whilst greater thrill seeking was associated with greater self-reported aggressive driving behaviour. For riding aggression, thrill seeking was the strongest predictor (positive relationship), followed by self-rated skill, such that higher self-rated skill was protective against riding aggression. Participants who scored at the 85th percentile or above for the aggressive driving and aggressive riding indices had significantly higher scores on thrill seeking, greater intentions to engage in future risk taking, and lower safety attitude scores than other participants. In addition participants with the highest aggressive driving scores also had higher levels of self-reported past traffic offences than other participants. Collectively, these findings suggest that people are less likely to act aggressively when riding a motorcycle than when driving a car, and that those who are the most aggressive drivers are different from those who are the most aggressive riders. However, aggressive riders and drivers appear to present a risk to themselves and others on road. Importantly, the underlying influences for aggressive riding or driving that were identified in this study may be amenable to education and training interventions.     

Factors associated with red-light running among motorcyclists at signalised junctions in Malaysia

Red-light running (RLR) among motorcyclists at signalised junctions (SJ) in Malaysia are common. This study investigates factors associated with RLR among motorcyclists at signalised junctions. The observation was conducted in 2016–2017, at 26 signalised junctions nationwide, and was analysed using the mixed-effect logistic regression. Out of the 53,475 observed vehicles, only 3.6% run the red light (by which 99% are motorcycles), and from the 19,232 observed motorcycles, 26.2% among motorcyclists run the red light while 54.1% of them, run the red-light without stopping. Factors associated with a high probability of RLR are male riders who do not wear a helmet, who approach the SJ via lane split, who cross SJ via turning, SJ with no traffic island, and SJ with the presence of vehicles waiting on one or both legs. The random parameters show that the majority (83%) of variation in the outcomes occurs among the riders (at Level 1), which suggest that motorcyclists’ characteristics and riding behaviour are still the main factors in affecting the RLR occurrences and require more in-depth study. While 1.5% of variation occurs among the type of motorcycle by region (at Level 2), it also shows that RLR occurs regardless. Other variations are from the range of median width (3.9% at Level 3) and the speed limit range along major roads (9.5% at Level 4). To reduce RLR among motorcyclists, we are recommending that SJ be equipped with traffic islands, and replace the overhead signal pole with pedestal pole.     

Detecting motorcycle rider local physical fatigue and discomfort using surface electromyography and seat interface pressure

Whilst motorcycling is an activity of pleasure in most parts of the world, in India it is a regular mode of commuting. Incidence of fatigue is substantially higher among motorcycle riders than drivers of other modes of transport. The objective of this study was to detect physical fatigue due to motorcycle riding for an hour using surface electromyography (sEMG) and seat interface pressure. Twenty healthy male participants performed 60 min of motorcycle riding in a low traffic density environment. Muscle activity was recorded bilaterally from extensor carpi radialis (ECR), biceps brachii (BB), trapezius medial (TM), sternocleldomastoid (S) latissimus dorsi (LD) and erector spinae (ES) muscle groups. Interface seat pressure distribution was monitored using a pressure mapping system. Results showed that participants have significant (p < 0.05) physical fatigue in TM, LD and ES muscle groups during 60 min of motorcycle riding. Seat pressure distribution was found to be non-uniform during the course of motorcycling. Results suggest that the impact on local physical fatigue and seat discomfort are probably due to static seating demand and prolonged sitting posture balance required to ride the motorcycle for an hour.     

Exploring psychological factors of mobile phone use while riding among motorcyclists in Vietnam

Mobile phone use while riding is one of the five most common risky behaviors of motorcycle riders in Vietnam. This study investigated motorcyclist’s mobile phone use while riding intention and behavior based on the extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) framework. Based on this framework, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, habits, and health motivation underlying the rider’s mobile phone use while riding intentions and behavior were included in a questionnaire and captured by direct and indirect measurements. Small-displacement motorcycle riders (N = 291) completed the extended TPB based questionnaire. An exploratory factor analysis technique identified the selected factors (e.g., attitude, habit, etc.). Moreover, Structural Equation Modeling results showed moderate to good fits to the observed data. Therefore, the results supported the utilization of extended TPB framework in identifying factors of mobile phone use while riding intention and behavior. Specifically, negative attitude, perceived behavioral control, and mobile phone use while riding habit related to the intention to use a mobile phone while riding of small-displacement motorcyclists. Meanwhile, habit and behavioral intention related to the behavior to use a mobile phone while riding of small-displacement motorcycle riders. Especially, the correlation between behavioral intention and self-reported behavior was very strong. This finding embraced previous research indicating that intention was a major motivational component of behavior. Based on the results, safety intervention implications for small-displacement motorcycle riders were discussed.     

The changing nature of motorcycling: Patterns of use and rider characteristics

Notable increases in motorcycling activities since the mid-1990s have been reported in a number of countries worldwide. Governments and enforcement agencies have begun to recognise that not only has this mode of transport been neglected in terms of safety interventions, but also that the reasons behind the increase in popularity are poorly understood. This paper reports the results of a survey distributed to a sample of the UK motorcycling population in order to discover the types of motorcycles they ride and the trips they engage in. From the data, three groups of riders were identified – new, long-term and returning riders. They were additionally stratified by the type of riding they engaged in (leisure or commuting). The results indicated that long-term and returning riders dominated ownership of the higher capacity motorcycles whilst new riders favoured low powered mopeds and scooters. Those riders who used their motorcycles for leisure trips were more likely to be long-term and returning motorcyclists. Using retrospective data, it was found that those motorcyclists who had taken up the activity in recent years, increased the engine size of their machines more quickly, compared to earlier cohorts. Motorcycles purchased today are much more likely to be purchased for reasons of styling and image compared to previous cohorts who relied on them as a form of transport. The overall conclusion is that there is evidence of a shift in the nature of motorcycling in that it has, for some, become a leisure activity, with the motorcycle being more of accessory than a means of transport.     

Masked constituent letter priming in an alphabetic decision task

Abstract

The experiments presented here were designed to test whether the prior presentation of a letter in a word, nonword or a string of Xs facilitates the subsequent identification of this letter. Using briefly presented masked primes, clear facilitatory constituent priming effects were obtained in an alphabetic decision task (letter/non-letter classification) when prime letters were flanked by Xs, but the effects disappeared or were greatly reduced when the prime letter formed part of a consonant array (nonword primes). Evidence for word-letter constituent priming was also obtained but almost only for word-initial letten. These facilitatory constituent priming effects were strongest when the target letter was embedded in a string of hash marks and occupied the same relative position in this string as the prime letter in the prime string. The mediating role of letter representations in word recognition and the position-specific coding of character arrays are discussed in the light of these results.     

Analysis of correlations between psychological factors and self-reported behavior of motorcyclists in Malaysia,depending on self-reported usage of different types of motorcycle facility

Segregated road lanes for motorcyclists are one of the practices implemented by the Malaysian authority to decrease the number of road crashes involving motorcycles. In this study, the motorcycle lanes are divided into three types, exclusive, inclusive, and paved shoulder. This study examined the correlations between motorcyclists’ psychological factors and their risky riding behaviors (speeding and neglecting to wear helmet), depending on self-reported usage of different types of motorcycle facilities. The psychological factors discussed in this study were: attitude, desire, perceived behavior control, moral obligation, perceived danger, fear of being caught, and perception of others’ behaviors toward the risky behaviors. Quantitative analyses, including Structural Equation Modeling, were used as the analytical tools. The results demonstrated the statistically significant relationship of exclusive road lanes’ usage on speeding behavior. However, no statistically significant correlation was found for segregated lanes’ usage on helmet wearing behavior. Psychological factors were found affecting the motorcyclists’ likelihood of performing the risky behaviors. However, these factors influence speeding and helmet wearing behavior differently. The study offers recommendations and theoretical contributions to explain the complex relationships among the uses of segregated lanes, riders’ psychological factors, and their risky behaviors.     

The Morality of Motorcycling

Abstract

Personal motor vehicle use is a common, yet dangerous, practice. While using a motor vehicle one poses himself and others to risk. If it is immoral to pose unnecessary risk to others, it is immoral to drive a car when an alternative is readily available. In this paper I claim that there is a morally better, readily available, alternative to driving a car alone: using a motorcycle. While this claim might sound dubious at first, I will show why it is sound and stands against all kinds of objections. I believe most people should switch from cars to motorcycles as their primary means of transportation, and governments should adopt policies to help people make this switch.     

Soul searching on the wings of my wheels: Motorcyclists’ happiness

This study aimed to investigate how personal characteristics of motorcyclists influenced their affect and sense of happiness with their motorcycles. Data on personal characteristics, motorcycle characteristics, feelings about owning a motorcycle, discreet emotions, and overall happiness were collected from 367 motorcyclists attending the annual charity run event (female = 29%, male = 71%, average age ranged between 40 and 49). Results, following Structural Equation Modelling, indicated male and younger motorcyclists to experience higher discreet positive emotions compared to females and those with a preference for outdoors lifestyle. Male motorcyclists reported being happier, overall, with their motorcycles compared to female motorcyclists. Amongst males, those reporting to be self-employed and with a social life involving drinking places, tended to report higher discreet negative emotions than other male motorcyclists. Lifestyle characteristics of motorcyclists appear to have a direct effect on their overall happiness.     

Levels of representation in word processing

Abstract

Four experiments are described examining the effects of words frequency, orthographic structure, and letter spacing on a range of tasks designed to tap different levels of representation in word processing. In Experiment 1, the task was lexical decision. Effects of both frequency (high-frequency words were recognized faster than low-frequency words) and orthographic regularity (illegal non-words were rejected faster than legal non-words) were found. In Experiment 2 subjects had to detect a rotated letter within the letter strings. Effects of orthographic structure emerged, with a marked disadvantage for illegal non-words with respect to the other types of string. No difference was found among high-frequency words, lowfrequency words and legal non-words. In Experiment 3, subjects had to detect a letter elevated above the horizontal plan with respect to the rest of the string. Effects of both spatial arrangement of letters and number of letters were found (spaced strings were responded to less accurately than non-spaced strings and seven-letter extra-spaced strings were responded to slower than the other strings). Neither lexical nor orthograpic variables affected this task. In Experiment 4 subjects had to detect the presence of a bold segment contained in one of the letters in the strings. Performance was unaffected by both lexical and spatial variables. The pattern of results is discussed with reference to a multi-stage model of word recognition in which lexical and spatial variables affect processing at different stages. At a feature map level, in which features are extracted from the discontinuities of light intensities, processing is independent of both spatial and lexical factors. At a letter-shape map level, in which spatial relationships between features are coded, spacing between letters affects encoding. At a graphemic map level, in which letter identities and their relative positions within strings are coded, orthographic variables have an effect. Lexicality and frequency affect only subsequent stages of processing, when stored lexical information is retrieved (e.g. for lexical decision).     

Effect of a short nap on the alertness of young drivers: Repercussion on the perception of motorcycles according to extent of the useful visual field of the driver

The objectives of this study are to analyze the effect of a short nap on the level of alertness and on the drivers’ ability to detect the motorcyclists on the road according to the size of his/her useful visual field (UVF).Nineteen participants (m = 21 years old) carried out a driving task with a simulator, after taking a short nap (30 min) in the vehicle or not. They had to distinguish the colour change of a signal on a vehicle they were following and to detect a motorcycle which briefly appeared on the road at different eccentricities.Drivers with a limited UVF are those who detect the fewest motorcycles. Taking a short nap before the driving does not have any significant effect on data related to vision (motorcycles and signals detected), driving and alertness state ((α+θ)/β). There is a linear relationship between the size of the UVF and the ability to detect the motorcycle appearing in the left outside mirror.The implications of the results concerning the short nap as a countermeasure to a decrease in alertness and the perception of motorcycles according to extent of the useful visual field of the driver are discussed in terms of road safety.     

Communicating Negative Hire Decisions to Applicants: Fulfilling Psychological Contracts

This study demonstrates that characteristics of rejection letters combine in a complex manner to affect impressions of the organization, and likelihood of re-applying to and of patronizing the organization. Specifically, the most negative reactions to rejection letters were found when a contact person existed, along with a long time interval before receiving a letter that failed to include an explicit statement of rejection. Some support was found for the failure to receive a rejection letter as a psychological contract violation.