Comparison of pedestrian behaviors between drivers and non-drivers in Chinese sample

Road safety is a serious problem worldwide. Pedestrians, as the most vulnerable road users, deserve more attention. The aims of this study were to examine the validity of the Chinese version of the pedestrian behavior scale (CPBS) in both driver and non-driver samples, and to compare pedestrian behaviors between the two samples. In addition, we assessed the association of attention with pedestrian behaviors by exploring the relationships among CPBS, Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) and Attention-Related Cognitive Errors Scale (ARCES). Two groups were assessed, including 302 members in the population with driving experience and 307 individuals in the non-driver group without driving experience. All participants completed the CPBS, MAAS, and ARCES, and provided sociodemographic parameters. The results showed that the CPBS had acceptable internal consistency and stability structure. More importantly, pedestrian behaviors were significantly different between drivers and non-drivers. Drivers reported significantly less transgressive and aggressive behaviors compared with non-drivers. As for the relationship between attention and pedestrian behavior, the MAAS score showed a significant negative correlation with aggressive behavior in the CPBS among drivers, while the ARCES score had significant positive correlations with all three CPBS factors. In non-drivers, the MAAS score was negatively correlated with aggressive behavior and positively associated with positive behavior; the ARCES score was positively correlated with aggressive behavior.     

Driver adherence to recommendations from support systems improves if the systems explain why they are given: A simulator study

This paper presents a large-scale simulator study on driver adherence to recommendations given by driver support systems, specifically eco-driving support and navigation support. 123 participants took part in this study, and drove a vehicle simulator through a pre-defined environment for a duration of approximately 10 min. Depending on the experimental condition, participants were either given no eco-driving recommendations, or a system whose provided support was either basic (recommendations were given in the form of an icon displayed in a manner that simulates a heads-up display) or informative (the system additionally displayed a line of text justifying its recommendations). A navigation system that likewise provided either basic or informative support, depending on the condition, was also provided.Effects are measured in terms of estimated simulated fuel savings as well as engine braking/coasting behaviour and gear change efficiency. Results indicate improvements in all variables. In particular, participants who had the support of an eco-driving system spent a significantly higher proportion of the time coasting. Participants also changed gears at lower engine RPM when using an eco-driving support system, and significantly more so when the system provided justifications. Overall, the results support the notion that providing reasons why a support system puts forward a certain recommendation improves adherence to it over mere presentation of the recommendation.Finally, results indicate that participants’ driving style was less eco-friendly if the navigation system provided justifications but the eco-system did not. This may be due to participants considering the two systems as one whole rather than separate entities with individual merits. This has implications for how to design and evaluate a given driver support system since its effectiveness may depend on the performance of other systems in the vehicle.     

Improving compliance with medical fitness to drive reviews: The role of behaviourally-optimised letters

To manage the increased crash risk posed by drivers with medical conditions and impairments, many licensing authorities ask high-risk drivers to undergo medical fitness to drive assessments. Maximising drivers’ compliance and satisfaction with these assessments is an ongoing challenge for these authorities. This study tested whether drivers’ compliance and satisfaction with a licensing authority’s request to provide a medical report could be improved by incorporating two applied behaviour change principles – simplified messaging and procedural fairness – into the authority’s request letter. Drivers undergoing medical review (N = 876) were assigned to receive either a standard request letter currently used by the authority, or a revised letter that incorporated simplified messaging and procedural fairness amendments. Drivers who received the revised letter were significantly more likely to submit a medical report by the due date. Additionally, of the drivers who submitted the report, those who received the revised letter submitted the report an average of four days faster than those who received the standard letter. These findings demonstrate that optimising letters using behavioural principles can improve compliance with licensing authorities’ requests, resulting in substantial time and cost savings for licensing authorities, possible road safety benefits, and potential reductions in the number of licences suspended for failure to provide a report.     

Breaking the habit: Does fracturing your wrist change your travel and driver behaviour?

When someone breaks their wrist it presents a disruption to everyday routine. Some of this is as a result of having to change travel patterns. This paper investigates the changes people make to their travel behaviour in the light of an unexpected change in their situation caused by fracturing their wrist and wearing a forearm plaster cast. One hundred and eleven participants, approached as they were having their plaster cast removed, completed a questionnaire addressing travel behaviour change, driver safety and information provision covering their time in a plaster cast (typically an average of 5–6 weeks). Eighteen percent of participants drove during the time they had a forearm plaster cast on. All reported they felt safe in doing so and that wearing the plaster cast did not compromise safety, though it was uncomfortable and compensatory behaviours took place. Risk and affective scales did not predict whether participants drove in a cast, suggesting that practical and utilitarian, rather than psychosocial, reasons were the motivation for driving in a plaster cast. Eighty-two percent found other ways of travelling without using their car. Participant’s use of buses and trains, walking and taking lifts were all increased and overall, across all modes of transport, participants travelled fewer miles but made more journeys. There was a reduction in cycling, especially for those who drove in a cast, suggesting cyclists who broke their wrist changed to driving while their arm was in a cast. Information provision did not affect whether someone drove or not. Implications for providing travel information to help people avoid car use while their forearm is in a cast and maintaining behaviour change afterwards are discussed.     

The influence of attention allocation and age on intersection accidents

Many severe accidents occur in urban areas. As part of the research project UR:BAN, this study investigated the causes of driver errors (e.g., inadequate attention allocation) in urban areas when turning left at intersections. As intersection accidents are especially difficult for older drivers, differences between older and younger drivers were examined as well. In a first step, accident protocols of left turn crashes with pedestrians and bicyclists were analysed in detail, since they are the most dangerous ones. Characteristics of the oncoming traffic and the location of crossing bicyclists and pedestrians were identified as possible causes. Accordingly, critical scenarios were implemented in a static driving simulator, varying the characteristics of the oncoming traffic, the direction and location of crossing vulnerable road users. These factors were examined in a within-subject design, with two different aged groups of participants (12 aged 20–35 y, 12 aged 65+ y; between-subjects factor).The results revealed that the presence of the oncoming traffic, which was assumed to capture the drivers’ attention, did not lead to more accidents with vulnerable road users. However, this may be because many drivers waited until the oncoming traffic had passed. Unexpectedly, older drivers had fewer accidents. This may be explained by the more cautious behaviour of older drivers, who drove significantly slower and waited significantly longer at the stop line before turning. Further analyses showed that a more cautious behaviour, independently of the age, predicted accident avoidance better than attention allocation. From these results, warning systems for younger and older drivers, especially for those not driving cautious, need to be developed. This idea will be tested in future studies introducing different warning concepts.     

Investigating the motivational factors influencing drivers intentions to unsafe driving behaviours: Speeding and overtaking violations

Achieving road safety depends on driver attitudes and behaviours in handling the vehicle on roads. The availability of good road, improvement of vehicle designs and drivers experience lead to reduction in crashes but not prevention of crashes. The study aims to predict the drivers’ intentions towards speeding and overtaking violations when under the influence of motivational factors using belief measure of TPB and DBQ variables. To achieve this, questionnaires were randomly administered to a sample of Ghanaian drivers (N = 354) who held valid driving licenses. This study applied regression techniques. The result shows that the components of TPB and DBQ variables were able to predict drivers’ intentions towards speeding and overtaking violations. The study further shows that components of TPB made larger contributions to the prediction of divers’ intentions to speeding and overtaking than the DBQ. Further analysis revealed that, in the prediction of drivers’ intentions, speeding attitude was the most frequent violations compared to overtaking. The drivers tend to involved in overtaking violations when they perceived the driving motivations would enhance the performance of the behaviour. Additionally, control belief has been the strongest predictor of drivers’ intentions under the influence of motivations to speeding and overtaking violations. It appeared that the drivers who intended to involve in speeding and overtaking violations had strong beliefs in the factors and are more likely to violate based on their beliefs. The practical implications of the findings for the development of interventions to promote road safety and positive changes are also discussed.     

Cell-Phone–Induced Driver Distraction

ABSTRACT— Our research examined the effects of hands-free cell-phone conversations on simulated driving. We found that even when participants looked directly at objects in the driving environment, they were less likely to create a durable memory of those objects if they were conversing on a cell phone. This pattern was obtained for objects of both high and low relevance, suggesting that very little semantic analysis of the objects occurs outside the restricted focus of attention. Moreover, in-vehicle conversations do not interfere with driving as much as cell-phone conversations do, because drivers are better able to synchronize the processing demands of driving with in-vehicle conversations than with cell-phone conversations. Together, these data support an inattention-blindness interpretation wherein the disruptive effects of cell-phone conversations on driving are due in large part to the diversion of attention from driving to the phone conversation.     

Driver glance behavior towards displayed images on in-vehicle information systems under real driving conditions

Intelligent vehicle technologies like driver assistance systems and in-vehicle information systems, enhance convenience of the driving experience for drivers and passengers. At the same time, these systems may increase driver distraction and workload. Guidelines developed for this purpose include principles, methods, and assessments which are widely agreed upon, with some being singled out for a particular recommendation or requirement. Especially the display of graphical or photographic images are generally assumed to distract the driver from safely operating the vehicle and should be blocked during driving under all circumstances (so called per se lock outs). This study investigates the effect of displaying graphical and photographical images during driving on driveŕs glance behavior during real-world driving. Findings presented in this paper provide empirical evidence for the unobtrusiveness of these stimuli: Participants didn’t exhibit longer glance durations towards in-vehicle information systems, nor a deterioration of driver distraction parameters such as total eyes off road time and long glance proportion when being compared to driving without displaying any photographic images.