Reducing optimism bias in the driver’s seat: Comparing two interventions

Optimism bias combined with sensation-seeking and risky driving have been proposed to be the main contributing factors to young drivers’ involvement in road traffic collisions. The present study aimed to evaluate how two brief interventions, one based on an unambiguous definition of “good” driving and the other on a hazard perception test, might reduce young drivers’ optimism bias. One hundred and twenty-eight university students were randomly allocated to one of three groups: standard definition, hazard perception or control. Measures evaluating optimism bias were completed before and after the intervention, and questions regarding their sensation-seeking and past risk-taking tendencies were asked at follow-up. Both brief interventions reduced optimism bias levels, but hazard perception had the strongest effect. The effectiveness of the two interventions also differed across individuals depending on their sensation-seeking and past risky driving tendencies. The results provide evidence for the effectiveness of brief interventions to reduce optimism bias.     

Safety of bicyclists in roundabouts with mixed traffic: Video analyses of behavioural and surrogate safety indicators

Although converting an intersection into a roundabout has been shown to result in fewer injury accidents for both motor vehicle drivers and pedestrians, the effect on bicyclists’ safety is unclear or even negative. This study focuses on roundabouts without bicycle facilities (i.e., mixed traffic conditions) and makes use of semi-automated video observation software with the aim of analysing bicyclists’ behaviour and safety on roundabouts with different diameter. Four urban roundabouts in Belgium are observed. Interactions between bicyclists and other vehicles are analysed using speed, lateral position and five indicators to describe the closeness of interactions (TTC_min, PET, T_{2 min}, lateral overtaking proximity and minimum distance headway). Additionally, the lateral position and riding speed of bicyclists that are in interaction with other vehicles is compared with the behaviour of bicyclists that are not in interaction with other vehicles.The behavioural analysis revealed that regardless of the type of condition (free-flow bicyclists or different interactions bicyclist-car), bicyclists always ride faster on roundabouts with big diameter and slower on roundabouts with small diameter. Moreover, bicyclists ride closer to the central island on roundabouts with big diameter compared to roundabouts with small diameter for all the conditions analysed.The analysis of surrogate safety indicators (TTC_min, PET, T_{2 min}) revealed that close interactions between bicyclists and cars are relatively frequent at both small and big roundabouts. The percentages of close interactions are more or less equal for roundabouts with big diameter (7.86% of observed interactions) and roundabouts with small diameter (8.24%). The analysis of the indicators to describe the closeness of interactions also showed that the closest interactions at roundabouts are all situations where the bicyclist has a leading role. The analysis of the most common types of close interactions revealed indeed that the most common close interactions are interactions where the bicyclist is entering the roundabout. The analysis of lateral overtaking proximity showed that bicyclists who overtake a car take smaller lateral overtaking proximities compared to cars overtaking a bicyclist. The analysis of minimum distance headway finally revealed that bicyclists who ride behind a car take smaller distance headways compared to cars driving behind a bicyclist.     

Psychosocial determinants of road traffic offences in a sample of Spanish male prison inmates

ObjectiveThere is very little information available about the characteristics of drivers convicted for traffic offences. The objective of this study was to perform a comparative analysis of the psychosocial characteristics of Spanish prison inmates convicted of road traffic offences (CRTOs), drivers serving a prison sentence for other types of offence (DCOOs), and drivers with no criminal record (DNCRs), in order to identify the psychosocial predictors associated with RTOs.MethodsThe study sample comprised 434 male participants divided into three groups: CRTO (n = 240); DCOO (n = 85); and DNCR (n = 105). Instruments included an interview on sociodemographic data, driving behaviour, and past offences, as well as a set of tests to evaluate personality traits (ZKPQ-50CC), driving-related aspects (MDSI-S and DAS), and alcohol dependence (AUDIT).ResultsA logistic regression analysis showed the following to be reliable predictors of RTOs: low education level (p < .05); having been involved in several road traffic accidents (p < .001); having received several fines (p < .001); a high score on the MDSI-S Risky subscale (p < .05); a low score on the MDSI-S Careful subscale (p < .05); AUDIT scores > 8 (p < .05), and repeatedly driving whilst under the influence of alcohol (p < .05).ConclusionsThe results obtained have significant practical implications for designing and implementing traffic offenders programmes.     

The effects of traffic wardens on the red-light infringement behavior of vulnerable road users

In some Chinese cities, traffic wardens are employed to maintain traffic order at the intersections with a high mixed traffic flow in peak hours. The main work of a traffic warden is to advise pedestrians and riders to wait at the appropriate area during red light periods. In many other countries, there are also traffic wardens at the areas with dense crowds or vehicles, such as at some large parking lots near parks and shopping malls. This paper investigated the effects of traffic wardens on the crossing behavior of pedestrians, cyclists and electric bike riders at signalized intersections. A total of 795 samples with traffic wardens and 773 samples without traffic wardens at intersections in Beijing, China were observed. Logistic regression and multivariate analysis of variance were used to test the effect of traffic wardens on the red-light crossing behavior. The results indicated that the presence of traffic wardens would significantly reduce by 21% red-light infringement behavior of vulnerable road users. However, the effects of traffic wardens were different among different groups. The effect of traffic wardens on reducing the violation rate for pedestrians was smaller compared to cyclists and electric bike riders (8% vs. 23% and 27%, respectively). The effect of traffic wardens was significant for the individuals approaching straight ahead the intersection, while it was not significant for the individuals approaching from the left and right sides of the observed direction. The possible reasons for the different effects and some practical countermeasures to reduce red light infringement were discussed. This study provides insights into the effects of traffic wardens on enhancing the safety of vulnerable road users under mixed traffic conditions. It is useful for the administrators to evaluate the supervision performance of traffic wardens and make informed decisions to employ traffic wardens at locations with dense crowds or vehicles.     

Pedestrians perceptions for utilization of pedestrian facilities – Delhi,India

Pedestrian fatalities from 2001 to 2009 in Delhi, India show that pedestrians have the largest share in total road fatalities. Though, facilities like pedestrian underpasses and overpasses are provided to cross the road at several locations, all too often pedestrians do not use them. This study was designed to analyze the pedestrians’ perceptions for underutilization of pedestrian facilities.Five hundred pedestrians were interviewed at seven different locations based on available pedestrian facilities such as zebra crossing, pedestrian underpasses and overpasses. Analysis of usage of these facilities showed that usage of underpasses and zebra crossing is less by female respondents. To know the safety and convenience perception of pedestrians with respect to a specific facility, ordinal logit model was used in this study. Results showed that convenience perception is statistically significant (at 95% CI) for the use of zebra crossings.The conclusions drawn from this study can be used to improve the state of pedestrian facilities in Delhi for prioritization of the facilities based on stated preferences.     

Field study on the behavior of right-turning vehicles in Malaysia and their contribution on the safety of unsignalized intersections

Behavior of right turning vehicles in the context of safety is characterized by their use of turning indicators and compliance with the stop rule. They are influence by the width of the carriageway and the variation in volume on the major road with respect to the traffic moving in the near and far side direction. Other factors affecting the behavior are the speed and spacing between vehicles moving on the major road. Lack of adequate past knowledge on the effect of geometric variation in terms of road width and directional variation in volume on the safety of unsignalized intersections have provided the motivation for this study. This paper focuses on the many factors that affect the behavior of right-turning vehicles resulting into conflicts. A brief account of the unique indigenous maneuver termed as the “Weaving Merging Right Turn” (WMRT) is provided and its effectiveness with respect to conventional right turn is evaluated. Data of 39,016 vehicles collected on 10 sites between January and June 2014 was analyzed. Multiple accidents were observed only on sites which had near side traffic volume greater than far side traffic volume. This result remains consistent with sites having single as well as multiple lanes per direction on the major roads. The number of conflicts for vehicles performing the WMRT was 2.5 times less as compared to the conventional right turn. Moreover WMRT was found to be the maneuver of choice for right turning motorcyclists with 60% of them opting for it over the conventional right turn on intersections having major road width less than 9 m. None of the motorcyclists, which were involved in a traffic conflict, were observed to use their turning indicator. Moreover none of the motorcyclists, which experienced a traffic conflict, were found to comply with the stopping rule at sites with major road width less than 9 m. On sites with major road width greater than 9 m, 45% of motorcyclists, involved in a traffic conflict, complied with the stopping rule as compared to 79% by vehicles other than motorcycles.     

Using naturalistic data to assess e-cyclist behavior

In Europe, the use of electric bicycles is rapidly increasing. This trend raises important safety concerns: Is their use compatible with existing infrastructure and regulations? Do they present novel safety issues? How do they impact other traffic? This study sought to address these concerns, using instrumented electric bicycles to monitor e-cyclists’ behavior in a naturalistic fashion. Data was collected from 12 bicyclists, each of whom rode an instrumented bicycle for two weeks. In total, 1500 km worth of data were collected, including 88 critical events (crashes and near-crashes). Analysis of these critical events identified pedestrians, light vehicles and other bicycles as main threats to a safe ride. Other factors also contributed to crash causation, such as being in proximity to a crossing or encountering a vehicle parked in the bicycle lane. A comparison between electric and traditional bicycles was enabled by the availability of data from a previous study a year earlier, which collected naturalistic cycling data from traditional bicycles using the same instrumentation as in this study. Electric bicycles were found to be ridden faster, on average, than traditional bicycles, in addition to interacting differently with other road users. The results presented in this study also suggest that countermeasures to bicycle crashes should be different for electric and traditional bicycles. Finally, increasing electric bicycle conspicuity appears to be the easiest, most obvious way to increase their safety.     

The development and validation of a hazard perception test for Thai drivers

Thailand is a developing country with a high traffic accident fatality rate. However, few attempts have been made to understand crash risks in Thai drivers from a psychological perspective. The purpose of the present study was to develop and validate a latency-based hazard perception test for Thai drivers. The initial test comprised our full item pool of 77 clips containing traffic conflicts captured on video from the driver’s perspective on Thai roads. We evaluated the validity of this test by examining whether performance differed as a function of driving experience in a sample of 135 Thai drivers. We found that experienced drivers (n = 87) performed significantly better than novice drivers (n = 48) after adjusting for individual differences in computer mouse skill, mirroring crash risk differences between these groups. The final 30-item version of the test, which comprised the best items from the initial test, yielded novice/experienced driver differences with or without adjusting for computer mouse skill. These results offer preliminary support for the validity of the latency-based test as a measure of hazard perception ability in Thai drivers.     

Assessing the factor structure of the Behaviour of Young Novice Drivers Scale (BYNDS)

The Behaviour of Young Novice Drivers Scale (BYNDS) is a self-report instrument to assess risky driving behaviours among youth population. Although previous studies have offered evidences of reliability and validity for the BYNDS scores, results are not conclusive as regards its factor structure. The aim of this research was to assess the factor structure of the BYNDS via Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA). The BYNDS was administered to a sample of 832 drivers aged from 18 to 25 years (Argentina = 270, Colombia = 350, and Mexico = 212). Six models were examined: three derived from previous literature, one emerged from an exploratory factor analysis, a unidimensional model, and a bifactor model. Results showed that none of the models analysed offered a completely acceptable fit to the data. However, the original model hypothesizing five orthogonal factors showed the best fit indices, with all of the items loading onto the associated factor. Results of the bifactor analysis suggested that three of the subscales (transient violations, fixed violations, and misjudgements) share a strong common basis and their scores would not offer much information above and beyond the total score. On the contrary, the items in the subscale of risk-exposure are clearly influenced by a specific domain factor, contributing to the multidimensionality of the BYNDS. In line with previous studies, males scored higher than females in driving violations, fixed violations, and risk-exposure. This study contributes to the psychometric refinement of a novel measure of risky driving in youth population. This self-report could be a valuable tool in the evaluation of road safety performance.     

“They would call me,and I would need to know because it is like life and death”: A qualitative examination of the acceptability of smartphone applications designed to reduce mobile phone use while driving

Distracted driving is one of the most prevalent risky behaviours worldwide. Research has highlighted that current approaches to distracted driving based on education and police enforcement have shown low effectiveness. Smartphone applications to reduce distracted driving are an emerging technology with the potential to prevent road crashes. However, recent evidence has shown that the adoption of these applications has been limited. A qualitative study was carried out to investigate the acceptability of smartphone applications that are designed to prevent distracted driving. A total of 35 drivers (57% females) aged 19–44 years (Mean = 28.43) participated in interviews which explored acceptability constructs for in-vehicle intelligent technology as defined by Regan et al. (2012): usefulness, usability, effectiveness, social acceptability, affordability, and willingness to use the application functions. Generally, drivers perceived that these applications have the potential to increase safety and reduce voluntary and involuntary mobile phone interactions while driving. Nonetheless, it was also found that drivers want to retain some of the functionalities of their mobile phone, such as music playing applications, accessing GPS/maps and being able to interact with certain groups of people through their phones while driving. Finally, barriers to the uptake of the applications among drivers who use their mobile phone while driving are discussed. A frequent barrier that needs to be overcome is the perceived need and pressure to respond to their phone while driving to communicate for work purposes or with people with strong social ties to the driver, for example, a parent or spouse.