An experimental study of factors associated with driver frustration and overtaking intentions

This study examined directly the impact of various factors associated with driving on ‘A-class’ roads in the United Kingdom (specifically length of platoon, proportion of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), speed and opportunities for overtaking) on self-reported frustration and overtaking intentions. The impact of situational variables (being under time pressure, and time behind a slower moving platoon) were also examined, as was the association between frustration and self-reported overtaking intentions. 183 members of the public from the areas around Perth and Inverness, Scotland took part in the study. Participants viewed simulated ‘driver’s viewpoint’ clips representing all the combinations of the experimental variables (except time pressure, which was a between-groups variable, and time behind platoon, which was examined separately in four specific clips). After each clip, participants responded on a paper questionnaire as to the level of frustration they would feel for a given clip, and the likelihood that at some point during the clip they would have attempted an overtake manoeuvre. The findings show that the links between traffic variables such as speed and platoon length, and behaviourally-relevant variables such as frustration and overtaking intentions, are not simple. Although there are broad and predictable effects of speed and platoon length (lower speeds and longer platoons leading to greater frustration) these are mediated by other variables, and it is not always the case that more frustration leads to more intention to overtake. Analysis of driver attitudes identified three clusters (low, medium and high risk drivers) and suggests that higher risk drivers’ levels of frustration are more affected by situational changes than those of lower risk drivers.