Interaction between socio-demographic characteristics: Traffic rule violations and traffic crash history for young drivers

Young drivers’ high traffic violation involvement rate and significant contribution to traffic crashes compared to older drivers creates the need for detailed analyses of factors affecting young drivers’ behaviors. This study is based on survey data collected from 2,057 18–29 year old young adults. Data were collected via face-to-face questionnaire surveys in four different cities in Turkey. The main objective of this study is to identify the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics, traffic rule violations, and traffic crashes among young drivers. Four main traffic rule violations are examined: red light violations, seat belt violations, speeding, and driving under the influence of alcohol, which are decisive in determining driving behavior and traffic crashes. The survey investigates the socio-demographic characteristics, traffic rule violation behavior and traffic crash histories of young adults. Four hypothetical scenarios were prepared for each traffic rule violation and data from the scenarios were modeled using the ordered probit model. Significant variables affecting each traffic rule violation are stated. Finally, significant variables that interact with crash involvements were investigated with binary logit models. According to the data analysis, 23.9% of drivers stated that they were involved in at least one traffic crash within the last three years. This crash rate increases to 38.3% for those who received at least one traffic citation/violation in last three years and peaks to 47.4% for those who were fined for seat belt violations in last three years.     

Operating styles,working time and daily driving distance in relation to a taxi driver's speeding offenses in Taiwan

This study explored the determinant factors of taxi drivers’ speeding violations in Taiwan. Data were gathered from a nation wide survey and included 6923 professional taxi drivers in 2006. The results indicated that 96.6% were males and 92.5% had less than a college level education. Daily working hours were from 2.5 h to 15 h with a mean of 10.12 h. The data also indicated that taxi drivers worked approximately 27.35 days and only took 2.65 days rest per month. Of the observed taxi drivers, 25.6% reported at least one speeding violation in a one-year period. The results of a generalized linear model (GLM) revealed that the determinant factors associating with a taxi driver's speeding violation were not related to gender or educational level. However, age, job experience, operating styles, kilometers driven daily, driving late at night, and monthly off duty days were significantly associated with committing the speeding violations.     

Predicting self-reported violations among novice license drivers using pre-license simulator measures

Novice drivers are overrepresented in crash statistics and there is a clear need for remedial measures. Driving simulators allow for controlled and objective measurement of behavior and might therefore be a useful tool for predicting whether someone will commit deviant driving behaviors on the roads. However, little is currently known about the relationship between driving-simulator behavior and on-road driving behavior in novice drivers. In this study, 321 drivers, who on average 3.4 years earlier had completed a pre-license driver-training program in a medium-fidelity simulator, responded to a questionnaire about their on-road driving. Zero-order correlations showed that violations and speed in the simulator were predictive of self-reported on-road violations. This relationship persisted after controlling for age, gender, mileage, and education level. Respondents with a higher number of violations, faster speed, and lower number of errors in the simulator reported completing fewer hours of on-road lessons before their first on-road driving test. The results add to the literature on the predictive validity of driving simulators, and can be used to identify at-risk drivers early in a driver-training program.     

Personality and attitudes as predictors of risky driving among older drivers

Although there are several studies on the effects of personality and attitudes on risky driving among young drivers, related research in older drivers is scarce. The present study assessed a model of personality-attitudes-risky driving in a large sample of active older drivers. A cross-sectional design was used, and structured and anonymous questionnaires were completed by 485 older Italian drivers (Mean age = 68.1, SD = 6.2, 61.2% males). The measures included personality traits, attitudes toward traffic safety, risky driving (errors, lapses, and traffic violations), and self-reported crash involvement and number of issued traffic tickets in the last 12 months. Structural equation modeling showed that personality traits predicted both directly and indirectly traffic violations, errors, and lapses. More positive attitudes toward traffic safety negatively predicted risky driving. In turn, risky driving was positively related to self-reported crash involvement and higher number of issued traffic tickets. Our findings suggest that theoretical models developed to account for risky driving of younger drivers may also apply in the older drivers, and accordingly be used to inform safe driving interventions for this age group.     

Relationship of parent driving records to the driving records of their children

Many studies have shown that young driver crash rates can be influenced by such factors as lifestyle characteristics and licensing systems. However, the influence of parents on their teenage children's crash and violation rates has not received much attention. The present study used data from the North Carolina driver history file to match the crash and violation records of young drivers between the ages of 18 and 21 with those of their parents. Results indicate that children's driving records in the first few years of licensure are related to the driving records of their parents. Children whose parents had three or more crashes on their record were 22% more likely to have had at least one crash compared with children whose parents had no crashes. Likewise, children whose parents had three or more violations were 38% more likely to have had a violation compared with children whose parents had none. Logistic regression models showed that these relationships held when controlling for household type and child gender.     

Prevalence and factors associated with road traffic crash among taxi drivers in Hanoi,Vietnam

Injury due to road traffic crash is a major cause of ill health and premature deaths in developing countries. Taxis provide a main mode of public transport in Vietnam but there has been little research on the risk of crash for taxi drivers. This retrospective study collected information on taxi crashes for the period 2006–2009 by interviewing drivers from five taxi companies in Hanoi, Vietnam, using a structured questionnaire. Of the total 1214 participants recruited, 276 drivers reported at least one crash, giving an overall crash prevalence of 22.7%. Among the crashed group, 50 drivers (18.1%) were involved in two to four crashes. Logistic regression analysis further identified age of driver, type of driving licence, employment status, perceived sufficiency of income, seat-belt usage, and traffic infringement history to be significantly associated with the crash risk. Further prospective and qualitative studies are recommended to provide detailed crash characteristics as well as behaviour and perception of taxi drivers, so that an effective intervention can be developed to improve road safety and to prevent injury of these commercial drivers.     

“I drove after drinking alcohol” and other risky driving behaviours reported by young novice drivers

Background: Volitional risky driving behaviours such as drink- and drug-driving (i.e. substance-impaired driving) and speeding contribute to the overrepresentation of young novice drivers in road crash fatalities, and crash risk is greatest during the first year of independent driving in particular. Aims: To explore the: (1) self-reported compliance of drivers with road rules regarding substance-impaired driving and other risky driving behaviours (e.g., speeding, driving while tired), one year after progression from a Learner to a Provisional (intermediate) licence; and (2) interrelationships between substance-impaired driving and other risky driving behaviours (e.g., crashes, offences, and Police avoidance). Methods: Drivers (n = 1076; 319 males) aged 18–20 years were surveyed regarding their sociodemographics (age, gender) and self-reported driving behaviours including crashes, offences, Police avoidance, and driving intentions. Results: A relatively small proportion of participants reported driving after taking drugs (6.3% of males, 1.3% of females) and drinking alcohol (18.5% of males, 11.8% of females). In comparison, a considerable proportion of participants reported at least occasionally exceeding speed limits (86.7% of novices), and risky behaviours like driving when tired (83.6% of novices). Substance-impaired driving was associated with avoiding Police, speeding, risky driving intentions, and self-reported crashes and offences. Forty-three percent of respondents who drove after taking drugs also reported alcohol-impaired driving. Discussion and Conclusions: Behaviours of concern include drink driving, speeding, novice driving errors such as misjudging the speed of oncoming vehicles, violations of graduated driver licensing passenger restrictions, driving tired, driving faster if in a bad mood, and active punishment avoidance. Given the interrelationships between the risky driving behaviours, a deeper understanding of influential factors is required to inform targeted and general countermeasure implementation and evaluation during this critical driving period. Notwithstanding this, a combination of enforcement, education, and engineering efforts appear necessary to improve the road safety of the young novice driver, and for the drink-driving young novice driver in particular.     

Predictors of driving exposure and avoidance in a field study of older drivers from the state of Maryland

Using structural equation modeling techniques, this study examines causal models of driving avoidance and exposure among older adults. Prior studies have revealed that past incidence of falls, Useful Field of View (UFOV) test performance, and Trails Making test performance are predictive of subsequent motor vehicle crash involvement [Owsley, C., Ball, K., McGwin Jr., G., Sloane, M.E., Roenker, D.L., White, M.F., Overley, E.T., 1998. Visual processing impairment and risk of motor vehicle crash among older adults. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 279 (14), 1083-1088; Sims, R.V., McGwin, G., Pulley, L., Roseman, J.M., 2001. Mobility impairments in crash-involved older drivers. J. Aging Health 13 (3), 430-438; Stutts, J.C., 1998. Do older drivers with visual nd cognitive impairments drive less? J. Am. Geriatr. Soc. 46, 854-861]. Data analyses used these indices, along with age, health, measures of physical functioning, and additional measures of cognitive functioning, to examine driving exposure and avoidance behaviors. A field sample of 4,234 drivers, 55 years of age and older, were recruited from the Maryland Motor Vehicles Administration after renewing their driver's licenses. A performance-based assessment, which included the Gross Impairment Screening battery and task 2 of the UFOV test, was completed by participants. A sub-sample of participants (n=815) were interviewed by telephone about their health and mobility 3-6 months following the initial assessment at a renewal center. In addition to age and gender, latent variables for health status, physical functioning, cognitive functioning, driving exposure, and driving avoidance were created. Direct and indirect causal paths were specified. Age, gender, health status, and cognitive functioning had direct effects on both driving exposure and driving avoidance; physical functioning did not have a direct effect on driving exposure or avoidance. The implications of these findings are discussed as they relate to designing interventions to promote mobility.     

Characteristics of belted and unbelted drivers

Drivers who had been observed wearing or not wearing shoulder belts were compared using vehicle registration data, driver records, and telephone interviews. The observations were made on the New York Thruway during a special seat belt publicity and enforcement program, which achieved a 75% overall belt use. The results showed that those drivers who still did not wear a shoulder belt despite New York law and the special Thruway program were more likely to be male, to be driving older vehicles, to have more prior traffic convictions, to have more prior injury crash involvements, and to say they are more likely to take risks than others. Although drivers reported that assessing points against the drivers license for belt law violations could increase belt use, citations for belt use law violations were very rare, and enforcement would probably have to increase before any new penalty could be effective.     

Time and distance to first accident and driving patterns of young drivers with pay-as-you-drive insurance

We conducted a study of approximately 16,000 drivers under the age of 30 that had purchased a pay-as-you-drive insurance policy, where their risk of being involved in a crash was analyzed from vehicle tracking data using a global positioning system. The comparison of novice vs. experienced young drivers shows that vehicle usage differs significantly between these groups and that the time to the first crash is shorter for those drivers with less experience. Driving at night and a higher proportion of speed limit violations reduces the time to the first crash for both novice and experienced young drivers, while urban driving reduces the distance traveled to the first crash for both groups. Gender differences are also observed in relation to the influence of driving patterns on the risk of accident. Nighttime driving reduces the time to the first accident in the case of women, but not for men. The risk of an accident increases with excessive speed, but the effect of speed is significantly higher for men than it is for women among the more experienced drivers.     

The efficacy of an educational intervention in promoting self-regulation among high-risk older drivers

Visual processing impairment increases crash risk among older drivers. Many older drivers meet the legal requirements for licensing despite having vision impairments that elevate crash risk. In this study, 365 older drivers who were licensed, visually-impaired, and crash-involved in the prior year were randomly assigned to an intervention group or usual-eye-care control group to evaluate the efficacy of an educational intervention that promoted the performance of self-regulatory practices. The educational curriculum was designed to change self-perceptions about vision impairment and how it can impact driver safety and to promote the avoidance of challenging driving situations through self-regulation, leading to reductions in driving exposure. Analyses compared the intervention and control groups at pre-test and 6 months post-test with respect to self-reported perceptions about vision and driving practices. At post-test, drivers who had received the educational intervention were more likely to acknowledge that the quality of their eyesight was less than excellent, report a higher frequency of avoiding challenging driving situations (e.g. left-turns) and report performing more self-regulatory practices (e.g. three right-turns) as compared to controls. Additionally, drivers in the educational intervention group reported significantly fewer days, fewer places and fewer trips made per week as compared to those not receiving the educational intervention. These findings imply that visually-impaired older drivers at higher risk for crash involvement may benefit from educational interventions by reducing their driving exposure and increasing their avoidance of visually challenging driving situations. A critical future step in this research program will be to examine whether this educational intervention has an impact on the safety of these high-risk older drivers by reducing their crash involvement in the years following the educational intervention.     

Classification analysis of driver's stop/go decision and red-light running violation

When the driver encounters a signal change from green to yellow, he is required to make a stop or go decision based on his speed and the distance to the stop bar making the wrong decision will lead to a red-light running violation or an abrupt stop at the intersection. In this study, a field data collection was conducted at a high-speed signalized intersection, where a video-based system with three cameras was used to record the drivers’ behavior related to the onset of yellow. Observed data include drivers’ stop/go decisions, red-light running violation, lane position in the highway, positions (leading/following) in the traffic flow, vehicle type, and vehicles’ yellow-onset speeds and distances from the intersection. Further, classification tree models were applied to analyze how the probabilities of a stop or go decision and of red-light running are associated with the traffic parameters. The data analysis indicated that vehicle's distance from the intersection at the onset of yellow, operating speed, and position in the traffic flow are the most important predictors for both the stop/go decision and red-light running violation. This study illustrates that the tree models are helpful to recognize and predict how drivers make stop/go decisions and partake in red-light running violations corresponding to the traffic parameters.     

Red-light running rates at five intersections by road user in Changsha,China: An observational study

The red-light running rate by type of road users has not been reported in China so far. We conducted an observation study to report the violation rate in Changsha, China. Portable digital devices were used to record red-light running violations at five selected intersections. The observation was performed for three days (weekday, weekend and holiday), four time periods per day and an hour per time period (peak and off-peak hours in the morning and in the afternoon). Violation rate was calculated as number of violations divided by total number of vehicles/pedestrians × 100%. We used adjusted violation rate ratio (VRR) to quantify the effects of type of day and time period based on Poisson model. Totally, 162,124 vehicles (including motor vehicles, motorcycles and bicycles) and 31,649 pedestrians were recorded. The red-light running rate was 0.14% for motor vehicle drivers, far lowering than those for motorcyclists (18.64%), bicyclists (18.74%) and pedestrians (18.54%). The rate on holiday was 1.89 times that on weekday for drivers. The rate for motorcyclists was high in off-peak hours (adjusted VRR: 1.11), but low on weekend and on holiday (adjusted VRRs: 0.80 and 0.65). The rate for bicyclists was 32% lower on weekend than on weekday. For pedestrians, the rates were high on weekend and holiday and in off-peak hours (adjusted VRR: 1.09, 1.67 and 1.30). The red-light running rate of motor vehicle drivers is far lower than those for motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians. The effects of type of day and time period on violation rate vary with road users, indicating the type of day and time period should be considered when developing and implementing interventions to reduce red-light running of different road users.     

Aberrant driving behaviors: A study of drivers in Beijing

The addition of massive numbers of new drivers with varied driving experience to roads in China suggests it is important to understand the nature of aberrant driving behaviors for this new set of drivers. A paper-based and an Internet survey were administered. Factor analysis produced a five-factor structure for each survey. The distinction between violations and errors indicated in previous studies was confirmed. The violations included emotional violations, risky violations and self-willed violations, and the errors included inexperience errors and distraction errors. In contrast to previous work, age was not found to be a good predictor of violations though driving experience was. Contrary to expectations, non-automotive (bicycle) roadway experience or level of driving training failed to predict poor driving behavior. On-road experience is the key to risk for China's drivers. Good agreement between the paper-based and Internet surveys indicate online surveys to be a feasible way to conduct research of driving behavior at low cost.     

Explicit and implicit self-enhancement biases in drivers and their relationship to driving violations and crash-risk optimism

Previous research has found that drivers tend to consider themselves superior to their peers on both driving ability and driving caution, as well as judging themselves as at less risk of a crash (crash-risk optimism). These studies have relied on explicit measures by getting drivers to respond to written items. The current study measured 158 New Zealand drivers’ explicit and implicit attitudes towards their own driving attributes in comparison with others. Implicit attitudes were measured using a computer-based reaction time task, the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Both explicit and implicit self-enhancement biases were found in driver ability and driver caution. Implicit biases were considerably stronger than explicit biases and men demonstrated stronger self-enhancement biases in driving ability than women. Explicit and implicit ratings of driving ability and explicit ratings of driver caution predicted crash-risk optimism. Explicit and implicit ratings of driving caution predicted a measure of driving violations. The implications for safety interventions and research on drivers’ mental processes are discussed particularly in regard to the ability of implicit measures to bypass social desirability effects.     

Self-reported and observed risky driving behaviors among frequent and infrequent cell phone users

The apparently higher crash risk among individuals who use cell phones while driving may be due both to the direct interference of cell phone use with the driving task and tendencies to engage in risky driving behaviors independent of cell phone use. Measurements of actual highway driving performance, self-reported aberrant driving behaviors as measured by the Manchester Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ), and attitudes toward speeding, passing behaviors and relative concern about being involved in a crash were assessed. Individuals who reported frequently using cell phones while driving were found to drive faster, change lanes more frequently, spend more time in the left lane, and engage in more instances of hard braking and high acceleration events. They also scored higher in self-reported driving violations on the DBQ and reported more positive attitudes toward speeding and passing than drivers who did not report using a cell phone regularly while driving. These results indicate that a greater reported frequency of cell phone use while driving is associated with a broader pattern of behaviors that are likely to increase the overall risk of crash involvement.     

Gender differences among older drivers in a comprehensive driving evaluation

Research studies typically consider older drivers as a homogenous group and do not report on the influence of gender on driving performance. Prior studies report that females are over-represented in crashes compared to males, caused by errors of yielding, gap acceptance, and speed regulation, all of which are assessed in a comprehensive driving evaluation (CDE). In a sample of 294 community dwelling older drivers, we examined and compared specific and total driving errors of both genders, and determined predictors of gender-specific driving errors and pass/fail outcomes who completed a CDE assessed by a certified driving rehabilitation specialist. No differences in specific or total number of driving errors on the CDE were found between older males (Mean age 73.4 ± 6.0) and older females (Mean age 73.8 ± 5.7). Education, days of driving, Useful Field of View™ (UFOV), Rapid Paced Walk Test (RPW) and the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) were all independent predictors of failing a road test for both genders (p < 0.05). However, older females were 22% less likely than older males to fail an on-road test. Within group comparisons showed that older males and females >75 years were 3.2 and 3.5 times more likely to fail the on-road test compared to younger males and females (aged between 63 and 75), respectively. Our findings suggest that focusing on older old (75+) and old–old (85+) age groups may be more efficient for future investigations of driving performance.     

On-the-road driving records of licensed race drivers

On-the-road driving records of Sports Car Club of America national competition license holders from three states were compared with the records of other drivers of the same age and sex. In each state the race drivers had a greater number of crashes per driver, and a greater number of speeding violations, other moving violations, and non-moving violations per driver, than the drivers comprising the matched comparison group. The results cast considerable doubt as to the validity of the Master Driver's License concept, which has been given serious consideration by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The results also suggest a need for caution regarding the assumption that advanced driver education crash-avoidance techniques can he translated into reduced crash experience.