The effects of closer monitoring on driver compliance with interlock restrictions

This randomized controlled trial of 2168 DWI multiple offenders assigned to a state-wide ignition interlock program in Maryland compared non-compliance with interlock requirements among drivers who were closely monitored (by Westat staff) and drivers who received standard monitoring (by the Motor Vehicle Administration). Compliance comparisons relied on datalogger data from MVA's interlock providers plus driver records that contained demographic information, prior alcohol-related traffic violations, their dispositions, and interlock duration. Measures for quantifying non-compliance included rates per 1000 engine starts for initial breath test failures at varying BAC levels and time periods, retest failures, retest refusals, interlock disconnects, startup violations, and summation measures. Regression analysis estimated the effects of closer monitoring on non-compliance, using linear mixed models that included random driver effects and fixed effects for study-group assignment, prior alcohol-related traffic violations, and months of continuous datalogger data with a quadratic function that assessed changes and rates of change in interlock non-compliance over time.All the separate non-compliance rates and summary measures derived from them were lower for closer monitored than control drivers for continuous data series of at least 6, 12, or 24 months. The differences for initial test failures and the two summary measures were statistically significant. Most measures of non-compliance decreased significantly as continuous time on the interlock increased. Parallel trends in each study group indicated that drivers learned to improve their compliance over time. Thus, this study convincingly demonstrates that closer monitoring substantially enhanced compliance with requirements of the ignition interlock and that regardless of group assignment, compliance increased over time.     

Collisions and traffic violations of alcohol, cannabis and cocaine abuse clients before and after treatment

Prior research has shown that those with alcohol problems have significantly elevated rates of traffic events (i.e. traffic violations and collisions) than licensed drivers from the general population and that treatment is associated with reductions in alcohol-related collisions. However, very little research exists on traffic events and the impact of treatment for cannabis or cocaine clients. The objectives of this research are: (1) to determine whether clients in treatment for a primary problem of alcohol, cannabis or cocaine have significantly elevated rates of traffic events than a matched control group of licensed drivers; and (2) to assess whether a significant reduction in traffic events occurs after treatment for each client group compared to a control group. Driver records of patients admitted to substance abuse treatment in 1994 for a primary problem of alcohol (n = 117), cannabis (n = 80) or cocaine (n = 169) were accessed from the Ministry of Transportation for Ontario, Canada. A comparison group of 504 licensed drivers frequency matched by age, sex and place of residence, was also randomly selected. Data was collapsed into two 6-year time periods: 1988-1993 (i.e. before treatment) and 1995-2000 (i.e. after treatment). Six repeated measures analysis of variance tests were conducted where traffic violations and collisions of three treatment groups (i.e. alcohol, cannabis or cocaine) and a control group were compared before and after treatment. All three treatment groups had significantly more traffic violations than the control group and no significant interactions between time period and group membership were found. For collisions, there was a significant interaction between the alcohol and control groups and between the cocaine and control groups. The average number of collisions for the alcohol and cocaine groups decreased after completing treatment, whereas the number for the control group was stable over the same time periods. Neither the interaction term nor the between group effect was significant in the comparison of the cannabis and control groups. When rates of collisions were calculated based on the period that each driver had a valid license, the interaction term was still significant for the comparison of the alcohol and control groups but not for the cocaine and control groups. The results contribute to existing literature by demonstrating that cocaine and cannabis clients have a higher risk of traffic violations than matched controls and that reductions in collision risk was found after treatment for the alcohol and cocaine groups. More research is needed to better understand the reasons for the higher risk of traffic events and to determine reasons for declines.     

Random breath testing in Queensland and Western Australia: Examination of how the random breath testing rate influences alcohol related traffic crash rates

In this paper we explore the relationship between monthly random breath testing (RBT) rates (per 1000 licensed drivers) and alcohol-related traffic crash (ARTC) rates over time, across two Australian states: Queensland and Western Australia. We analyse the RBT, ARTC and licensed driver rates across 12 years; however, due to administrative restrictions, we model ARTC rates against RBT rates for the period July 2004 to June 2009.     

Self-reports of aberrant behaviour on the roads: errors and violations in a sample of Greek drivers

Recent studies have shown that unsafe driver acts can be classified into two distinct categories (i.e.. errors and violations) entailing different measures for reducing road traffic accidents. A survey of over 1,400 drivers in Greece is reported in which a variety of aberrant driving behaviours have been identified. The present study has confirmed the results of earlier studies in the driving populations of Britain. Australia and Sweden that errors and violations are the major determinants in the factor structure of aberrant behaviours. Three types of violations were identified including, highway code-, aggressive- and parking-violations (or situational violations). Mistakes and lapses were two major forms of errors. The factor analysis identified another two classes of behaviour that could not be accounted for very well by the error-violation distinction. One class of behaviours referred to a state of low preparedness and negligence while the other class referred to communication errors and 'social disregard' for the other road users. Each class of behaviour was found to have different demographic correlates. Finally, accident liability was predicted by self-reported tendency to commit highway-code violations, but not by tendency to make errors due to failures of judgement (i.e.. mistakes) or lapses. Aggressive violations were significantly related to involvement in speeding convictions and law-breaking whilst highway-code violations were related to speeding convictions only.     

Non-compliance with graduated driver licensing (GDL) requirements: Changes in GDL-related conviction rates over time among 16–17-year-old California drivers

Introduction

Self-reports by novice teen drivers in California and elsewhere suggest that many violate graduated driver licensing (GDL) nighttime and passenger restrictions, and to a lesser extent, drive on learner permits without being supervised. Is this corroborated by their traffic conviction records?

Method

We examined historical aggregated conviction rates for GDL-related violations before and after GDL, and Poisson regressions of conviction rates over time among 16–17-year-old California novices.

Results

During the year before they received their provisional licenses, <1% of 16-year-old novices and <2% of 17-year-old novices were convicted of driving unlicensed or unsupervised on their learner permits. Statewide historical conviction rates for these offenses were not higher after GDL was implemented, despite the longer holding period. Convictions for violating GDL nighttime or passenger restrictions were highest almost immediately after provisional licensure, though only about 3% of 16-year-old novices and 2% of 17-year-old novices were ever convicted of violating either restriction.

Discussion

California 16–17-year-old novice drivers were very rarely convicted of GDL-related violations. The contradictive, large differences between the current findings and self-report surveys are likely due in part to the fact that most self-reports assessed only whether teens had ever violated a GDL-related requirement, which exaggerates prevalence. Our conviction findings are more similar to estimates of non-compliance with GDL-related requirements from naturalistic driving studies that monitor actual driving behavior and take exposure into account, but are lower likely due to issues related to detection, enforcement, and adjudication of violations, as well as limitations of existing naturalistic studies.     

Risky driving related to driver and vehicle characteristics

This investigation was performed to determine relationships between driver and vehicle characteristics and risk taking in everyday driving, as measured by close following in freeway traffic. A total of 12,000 observations were made of headways (time intervals between successive vehicles) in high flow freely moving freeway traffic at two sites, one in Michigan, the other in Toronto, Canada. The headways were measured using a photographic technique which allowed vehicle and occupant characteristics to be recorded, including type of vehicle and sex and seat belt use. For the Michigan observations, the vehicle license number was recorded, from which additional information on the vehicle and owner (usually the driver) was obtained from state files, including the vehicle mass and model year and the owner's age. sex and history of recorded accidents and traffic violations. Shorter headways, corresponding to higher risk, were found for drivers with prior accidents or violations, young drivers, male drivers, drivers with no passengers. and drivers who did not wear a seat belt. Vehicles associated with shorter headways included newer cars and cars of intermediate mass (1600–1900 kg).     

驾驶员风险驾驶行为及影响因素分析

为探究中国驾驶员风险驾驶行为产生的原因及其影响因素,利用修正的曼彻斯特DBQ问卷对349名中国驾驶员进行了问卷调查。经过探索性因素分析(EFA)得到了4因子结构模型,分别命名为认知错误、违规行为、无意失误和记忆力流失,并利用验证性因素分析(CFA)对该模型进行了验证。研究了性别与驾驶行为的关系,结果表明男性驾驶员更容易发生违规行为,而女性驾驶员发生无意失误行为的频率较男性驾驶员偏高。通过变量间的相关性分析,研究了驾驶员的统计学信息、4因子以及交通事故之间的关系,构建了基于Logistic回归的交通事故预测模型,研究表明违规行为和年龄是影响交通事故的重要参数。     

Confirmatory factor analysis of the Behaviour of Young Novice Drivers Scale (BYNDS)

Purpose

The greatly increased risk of being killed or injured in a car crash for the young novice driver has been recognised in the road safety and injury prevention literature for decades. Risky driving behaviour has consistently been found to contribute to traffic crashes. Researchers have devised a number of instruments to measure this risky driving behaviour. One tool developed specifically to measure the risky behaviour of young novice drivers is the Behaviour of Young Novice Drivers Scale (BYNDS) (Scott-Parker et al., 2010). The BYNDS consists of 44 items comprising five subscales for transient violations, fixed violations, misjudgement, risky driving exposure, and driving in response to their mood. The factor structure of the BYNDS has not been examined since its development in a matched sample of 476 novice drivers aged 17–25 years.

Method

The current research attempted to refine the BYNDS and explore its relationship with the self-reported crash and offence involvement and driving intentions of 390 drivers aged 17–25 years (M = 18.23, SD = 1.58) in Queensland, Australia, during their first 6 months of independent driving with a Provisional (intermediate) driver's licence. A confirmatory factor analysis was undertaken examining the fit of the originally proposed BYNDS measurement model.

Results

The model was not a good fit to the data. A number of iterations removed items with low factor loadings, resulting in a 36-item revised BYNDS which was a good fit to the data. The revised BYNDS was highly internally consistent. Crashes were associated with fixed violations, risky driving exposure, and misjudgement; offences were moderately associated with risky driving exposure and transient violations; and road-rule compliance intentions were highly associated with transient violations.

Conclusions

Applications of the BYNDS in other young novice driver populations will further explore the factor structure of both the original and revised BYNDS. The relationships between BYNDS subscales and self-reported risky behaviour and attitudes can also inform countermeasure development, such as targeting young novice driver non-compliance through enforcement and education initiatives.     

Do accident-involved drivers exhibit riskier everyday driving behavior?

For more than forty years researchers have tried to relate traffic accident involvement to how an individual normally drives. Such efforts have not hitherto discovered clear effects. This study establishes statistically significant relations between prior involvement in accidents and an observed characteristic of every day driving. The observed driving characteristic is following headway in high flow freeway traffic, defined as the time interval between a vehicle and the preceding vehicle in the same lane. This headway is interpreted as a measure of driver risk. It is found that accident-involved drivers are more likely to follow with short headways (less than 1 s) than accident-free drivers. A similar effect is found in comparing drivers with and without traffic violations.     

The effectiveness of alcohol control policies on alcohol-related traffic fatalities in the United States

Multiple alcohol control policies have been enacted since the early 1980s to keep drunk drivers off the roads and to prevent more alcohol-related traffic fatalities. In this paper, we analyze nine traffic policies to determine the extent to which each policy contributes to effective alcohol-related fatality prevention. Compared with the existing literature, this paper addresses a more comprehensive set of traffic policies. In addition, we used a panel GLS model that holds regional effects and state-specific time effects constant to analyze their impact on alcohol-related fatalities with two distinct rates: alcohol-related traffic deaths per capita and alcohol-related traffic deaths per total traffic deaths. While per capita alcohol-related traffic deaths is used more often in other studies, alcohol-related traffic deaths per total traffic deaths better reflects the impact of policies on deterring drunk driving. In addition, regional analyses were conducted to determine the policies that are more effective in certain regions. The findings of this study suggest that zero tolerance laws and increased beer taxes are the most effective policies in reducing alcohol-related fatalities in all regions.     

Risk factors associated with traffic violations and accident severity in China

With the recent economic boom in China, vehicle volume and the number of traffic accident fatalities have become the highest in the world. Meanwhile, traffic accidents have become the leading cause of death in China. Systematically analyzing road safety data from different perspectives and applying empirical methods/implementing proper measures to reduce the fatality rate will be an urgent and challenging task for China in the coming years. In this study, we analyze the traffic accident data for the period 2006–2010 in Guangdong Province, China. These data, extracted from the Traffic Management Sector-Specific Incident Case Data Report, are the only officially available and reliable source of traffic accident data (with a sample size >7000 per year). In particular, we focus on two outcome measures: traffic violations and accident severity. Human, vehicle, road and environmental risk factors are considered. First, the results establish the role of traffic violations as one of the major risks threatening road safety. An immediate implication is: if the traffic violation rate could be reduced or controlled successfully, then the rate of serious injuries and fatalities would be reduced accordingly. Second, specific risk factors associated with traffic violations and accident severity are determined. Accordingly, to reduce traffic accident incidence and fatality rates, measures such as traffic regulations and legislation—targeting different vehicle types/driver groups with respect to the various human, vehicle and environment risk factors—are needed. Such measures could include road safety programs for targeted driver groups, focused enforcement of traffic regulations and road/transport facility improvements. Data analysis results arising from this study will shed lights on the development of similar (adjusted) measures to reduce traffic violations and/or accident fatalities and injuries, and to promote road safety in other regions.     

Annual mileage, driving violations, and accident involvement in relation to drivers' sex, age, and level of education.

The paper presents results of some analyses on a Dutch database that contains disaggregated data on both the traffic system input variables of the driver population (characteristics of drivers, including their annual mileage) and the output variables of the driver population in terms of habitual driving behaviour (operationalised in number of fines) and accident involvement. Accidents increased as annual mileage increased. A relationship between violations and accidents turned out to exist in different classes of annual mileage. Moreover, multivariate analyses showed that--corrected for annual mileage--male and female drivers do not differ in accident involvement; younger drivers have the highest rate of accidents and level of education is not related to accident involvement.     

基于演化博弈论的可变导向车道设置策略研究

可变导向车道的设置，在提高道路通行效率的同时会造成驾驶人情绪紧张或者因不了解路况导致违规甚至发生事故，对交通系统的安全和稳定运行产生负面影响。以交管部门设置可变导向车道的策略选择为研究目标，结合驾驶人走可变导向车道时产生的紧张情绪损失等因素，构建交管部门−驾驶人群体两方博弈模型。采用演化博弈论的方法分析博弈双方选择行为演化和稳定策略，对系统中存在的5个演化均衡点进行分析，得到系统的3种理想稳定状态和相对应的参数条件，为交管部门设置可变导向车道进行策略选择提供理论支撑。     

Attitudes and behavior of Chinese drivers regarding seatbelt use

In the current study, research was conducted in five cities in China to examine seatbelt use and to explore Chinese drivers’ attitudes toward using seatbelts. Multiple data collection methods consisted of 35 initial semi-structured interviews to create questions for an in-person survey and 500 driver observations that included administering the in-person survey. Questions explored were why Chinese drivers use or do not use seatbelts and what they think would be the best interventions to increase the rate of seatbelt use in Chinese drivers. The relationships between various personal characteristics and seatbelt use rates were investigated. Also examined were the relationships between seatbelt use (both objective observation and subjective self-reported use) and self-reported car crashes and traffic violations. This study provides insight into the attitudes of Chinese drivers on seatbelt use and potential interventions.     

High school driver education: further evaluation of the DeKalb County study

The DeKalb County, Georgia, study is the largest experimental evaluation of high school driver education to date. Detailed reanalyses of data from that study reveal that students assigned to an enhanced driver education program (Safe Performance Curriculum) were more likely to obtain drivers licenses, to be in car crashes and to have traffic violations than control students not assigned to driver education. Students assigned to a minimal program of high school driver education (Pre-Driver Licensing Curriculum) were also more likely than control students to obtain licenses, but the difference was smaller than for the enhanced program and they were not significantly more likely to be in crashes or to have violations. Students in the more limited course were less likely than those in the enhanced course to complete the course in a timely manner, which suggests that exposure differences may explain differences between the two groups. The results confirm that greater availability of driver education causes students to become licensed sooner, although the DeKalb study probably underestimates the effect. Because of this greater exposure, crashes and violations are incurred at an earlier age.     

How accurately do drivers evaluate their own driving behavior? An on-road observational study

Self-assessment of driving skills became a noteworthy research subject in traffic psychology, since by knowing one's strenghts and weaknesses, drivers can take an efficient compensatory action to moderate risk and to ensure safety in hazardous environments. The current study aims to investigate drivers’ self-conception of their own driving skills and behavior in relation to expert evaluations of their actual driving, by using naturalistic and systematic observation method during actual on-road driving session and to assess the different aspects of driving via comprehensive scales sensitive to different specific aspects of driving. 19–63 years old male participants (N = 158) attended an on-road driving session lasting approximately 80 min (45 km). During the driving session, drivers’ errors and violations were recorded by an expert observer. At the end of the driving session, observers completed the driver evaluation questionnaire, while drivers completed the driving self-evaluation questionnaire and Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ). Low to moderate correlations between driver and observer evaluations of driving skills and behavior, mainly on errors and violations of speed and traffic lights was found. Furthermore, the robust finding that drivers evaluate their driving performance as better than the expert was replicated. Over-positive appraisal was higher among drivers with higher error/violation score and with the ones that were evaluated by the expert as “unsafe”. We suggest that the traffic environment might be regulated by increasing feedback indicators of errors and violations, which in turn might increase the insight into driving performance. Improving self-awareness by training and feedback sessions might play a key role for reducing the probability of risk in their driving activity.     

Self-report measures of distractibility as correlates of simulated driving performance

The present study investigated the relationship between self-reported measures pertaining to attention difficulties and simulated driving performance while distracted. Thirty-six licensed drivers participated in a simulator driving task while engaged in a cell phone conversation. The participants completed questionnaires assessing their tendency toward boredom, cognitive failures, and behaviors associated with attention deficit and hyperactivity. Scores on these measures were significantly correlated with various driving outcomes (e.g., speed, lane maintenance, reaction time). Significant relationships were also found between one aspect of boredom proneness (i.e., inability to generate interest or concentrate) and self-reports of past driving behavior (moving violations). The current study may aid in the understanding of how individual differences in driver distractibility may contribute to unsafe driving behaviors and accident involvement. Additionally, such measures may assist in the identification of individuals at risk for committing driving errors due to being easily distracted. The benefits and limitations of conducting and interpreting simulation research are discussed.     

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.     

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.