Influence of personality traits on aberrant driving behaviors: A comparison of Japanese, Chinese, and Vietnamese drivers

Behind the wheel: Probing into personality, skills, and driving behavior's role in bus rapid transit crashes

OBJECTIVE

Personality traits and driving skills are significantly associated with driving behaviors and crashes. In the case of professional bus drivers, the relationships amongst these variables have not been sufficiently examined in terms of road crashes. Therefore, this study seeks to examine the relationship between personality traits, driving skills, driving behaviors, and crash involvement among Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) drivers.

METHODS

The study employed a comprehensive data collection strategy involving self-reported questionnaires, including the driver behavior questionnaire, driver skill inventory, and Big Five inventory, alongside Global Positioning System (GPS)-extracted speeding data from a sample of 166 drivers. To explore the relationship between variables, the study utilized the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM) as the analytical method.

RESULT

The findings reveal that self-reported violations and actual speeding performed by drivers were positively associated with crash involvement, whereas positive driving behavior negatively influences violation, errors, speeding and crash involvement. The study also found that the safety skills were negatively associated with violations, errors, and speeding, while higher perceptual-motor skills were associated with higher instances of speeding violations, resulting to a higher possibility of getting involved in a crash. Finally, the study reveals that certain personality traits (extraversion and neuroticism) were positively associated with violations, errors, and speeding, leading to a higher risk of getting involved in crashes, whereas certain personality traits (conscientiousness and agreeableness) were associated with safe driving.

CONCLUSION

The study findings offer valuable insights into the predictors of crashes among professional BRT drivers, which can be used to enhance driving practices, ensuring the safety of the public. Moreover, these findings provide transportation agencies with better management and decision-making capabilities to implement effective interventions to improve road safety.

Beyond adaptive cruise control and lane centering control: drivers' mental model of and trust in emerging ADAS technologies

Introduction

The potential safety benefits of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) highly rely on drivers' appropriate mental models of and trust in ADAS. Current research mainly focused on drivers' mental model of adaptive cruise control (ACC) and lane centering control (LCC), but rarely investigated drivers' understanding of emerging driving automation functions beyond ACC and LCC.

Methods

To address this research gap, 287 valid responses from ADAS users in the Chinese market, were collected in a survey study targeted toward state-of-the-art ADAS (e.g., autopilot in Tesla). Through cluster analysis, drivers were clustered into four groups based on their knowledge of traditional ACC and LCC functions, knowledge of functions beyond ACC and LCC, and knowledge of ADAS limitations. Predictors of driver grouping were analyzed, and we further modeled drivers' trust in ADAS.

Results

Drivers in general had weak knowledge of LCC functions and functions beyond ACC and LCC, and only 27 (9%) of respondents had a relatively strong mental model of ACC and LCC. At the same time, years of licensure, weekly driving distance, ADAS familiarity, driving style (i.e., planning), and personability (i.e., agreeableness) were associated with drivers' mental model of ADAS. Further, it was found that the mental model of ADAS, vehicle brand, and drivers' age, ADAS experience, driving style (i.e., focus), and personality (i.e., emotional stability) were significant predictors of drivers' trust in ADAS.

Discussion

These findings provide valuable insights for the design of driver education and training programs to improve driving safety with ADAS.

Subjective evaluations of self and others' driving behaviors: A comparative study involving data from drivers in Japan, China, and Vietnam

INTRODUCTION

This study explored the influence of personal attributes on subjectively-reported aggressive driving behaviors, with an emphasis on the inter-influences between subjectively-reported aggressive driving behaviors between self and other individuals. To determine this, a survey was conducted comprising participants' socio-demographic data, information on their history with automotive accidents, and subjective scales to report on the driving behaviors between self and others. More specifically, a four-factor shortened version of the Manchester Driver Behavior Questionnaire was used to collect data on the aberrant driving behaviors of "self" and "others."

METHOD

Participants were recruited from three countries, namely, Japan (1,250 responses), China (1,250), and Vietnam (1,000). This study only considered the "aggressive violations' factor," which was referred to as self-aggressive driving behaviors (SADB) and others' aggressive driving behaviors (OADB). After collecting the data, univariate and bivariate multiple regression models were employed to better understand the response patterns from both scales.

RESULTS

This study found that accident experience had the strongest influence on the reporting of aggressive driving behaviors (followed by education level). However, variation in countries was also found between both the rate of engagement in aggressive driving behavior and its recognition. In this study, highly educated Japanese drivers tended to evaluate others as safe, whereas highly educated Chinese drivers tended to evaluate others as aggressive. This discrepancy can likely be attributed to cultural norms and values. Meanwhile, evaluations from Vietnamese drivers seemed to differ depending on whether they drove cars or bikes, with additional influences as a result of the driving frequency. Furthermore, this study found that it was most difficult to explain the driving behaviors on the "other" scale reported by Japanese drivers.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

These findings can aid policymakers and planners to develop road safety measures that reflect the behaviors of drivers in their respective countries.

Born to Be a Risky Driver? The Relationship Between Cloninger's Temperament and Character Traits and Risky Driving

Temperament refers to basic, largely inherited, relatively stable personality traits which have been present since early childhood. Considering the very fundamental role of temperament in human development and behaviour, it is reasonable to assume that temperament is also related to risky driving and drivers' view of themselves as drivers. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationships between Cloninger's temperament dimensions, risky driving and drivers' view of their perceptual motor and safety skills. The sample consisted of 335 Turkish drivers (aged 19-57; 53.7% men) who completed an Internet-based survey including Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ) and Driver Skill Inventory (DSI). Correlation analyses showed that TCI scale Cooperativeness correlated negatively with all DBQ scales indicating risky driving and positively with safety skills. In regression analyses after controlling age, gender and lifetime mileage, cooperativeness still was significantly related to all DBQ scales and safety skills. Persistence correlated negatively with ordinary violations, lapses and errors and positively with perceptual motor skills. In regression analyses, persistence was related to errors and lapses. Reward dependence was positively related to lapses and harm avoidance negatively to perceptual motor skills. The results of the present study indicate that largely innate temperament character traits may influence an individual's predisposition to risky driving. Future studies about temperament and risky driving with larger samples allowing sub-group analyses are needed.