Road rage: relationships with borderline personality and driving citations

An Empirical Study on the Effect of Blended Scents in Driving Environments From a Neuro-Cognitive Perspective

BACKGROUND

An effective method that is easy to implement and widely applicable for improving driving performance and reducing driving risks remains a challenge. Although fragrances are widely used in daily driving, there is a gap between empirical research on everyday blended fragrances and functional fragrances clinical reports. In this study, a deliberately chosen blend of scent without overtly stimulating or functional proven evidence was tested for its potential to enhance performance in a driving environment.

METHOD

Thirty qualified young drivers were recruited to participate in the experiment. They were asked to watch a 15-min first-person perspective driving video to simulate a driving environment and then complete questionnaires and three sets of behavioral experiments while their brain activity was monitored by EEG.

RESULT

Participants in the scented environment exhibited statistically significant advantages in two cognitive tasks during behavioral measures. These findings were effectively supported by the EEG data, showing that beta waves exhibited more activity in the occipital and prefrontal cortex, enhanced theta waves were observed in the prefrontal cortex, and the TAB index characterizing driving fatigue was suppressed in the prefrontal cortex.

CONCLUSION

This empirical evidence highlights the potential of pleasant, natural, and blended scents in enhancing driving performance, suggesting that promoting the aromatherapy while driving as an easily applicable approach in daily life seems justified and expands the application of aromatherapy in daily life.

Emotional reactivity: Beware its involvement in traffic accidents

BACKGROUND

Reducing risk attributable to traffic accidents is a public health challenge. Research into risk factors in the area is now moving towards identification of the psychological factors involved, particularly emotional states. The aim of this study was to evaluate the link between emotional reactivity and responsibility in road traffic accidents. We hypothesized that the more one's emotional reactivity is disturbed, the greater the likelihood of being responsible for a traffic accident.

METHODS

This case-control study was based on a sample of 955 drivers injured in a motor vehicle crash. Responsibility levels were determined with a standardized method adapted from the quantitative Robertson and Drummer crash responsibility instrument. Emotional reactivity was assessed with the MATHYS.

RESULTS

Hierarchical cluster analysis discriminated four distinctive driver's emotional reactivity profiles: basic emotional reactivity (54%), mild emotional hyper-reactivity (29%), emotional hyper-reactivity (11%) and emotional hypo-reactivity (6%). Drivers who demonstrated emotional hypo-reactivity had a 2.3-fold greater risk of being responsible for a traffic accident than those with basic emotional reactivity.

CONCLUSION

Drivers' responsibility in traffic accidents depends on their emotional status. The latter can change the ability of drivers, modifying their behavior and thus increasing their propensity to exhibit risk behavior and to cause traffic accidents.

Possible role of a dysregulation of the endogenous opioid system in antisocial personality disorder

Around half the inmates in prison institutions have antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). A recent theory has proposed that a dysfunction of the endogenous opioid system (EOS) underlies the neurobiology of borderline personality disorder (BPD). In the present theoretical paper, based on a comprehensive database and hand search of the relevant literature, this hypothesis is extended to ASPD, which may be the predominant expression of EOS dysfunction in men, while the same pathology underlies BPD in women. According to evidence from human and animal studies, the problematic behaviours of persons with antisocial, callous, or psychopathic traits may be seen as desperate, unconscious attempts to stimulate their deficient EOS, which plays a key role in brain reward circuits. If the needs of this system are not being met, the affected persons experience dysphoric mood, discomfort, or irritability, and strive to increase binding of endogenous opioids to receptors by using the rewarding effects of aggression by exertion of physical or manipulative power on others, by abusing alcohol or substances that have the reward system as target, by creating an "endorphin rush" by self-harm, by increasing the frequency of their sexual contacts, or by impulsive actions and sensation seeking. Symptoms associated with ASPD can be treated with opioid antagonists like naltrexone, naloxone, or nalmefene.

Traumatic brain injury, driver aggression and motor vehicle collisions in Canadian adults

OBJECTIVE

This study examines the associations between lifetime traumatic brain injury (TBI), driver aggression, and motor vehicle collisions among a population sample of adults who reside in the province of Ontario, Canada.

METHOD

A cross-sectional sample of 3993 Ontario adults, aged 18-97 were surveyed by telephone in 2011 and 2012 as part of Center for Addiction and Mental Health's ongoing representative survey of adult mental health and substance use in Canada. TBI was defined as trauma to the head that resulted in loss of consciousness for at least five minutes or overnight hospitalization.

RESULTS

An estimated 91% (95% CI: 90.0, 91.9) of individuals in this sample held a valid Ontario driver's license at the time of testing. Among those, 16.7% reported a history of lifetime TBI and 83.3% reported no TBI. The prevalence of TBI was higher among men than women. Relative to licensed adults without TBI, adults with a history of TBI had significantly higher odds of engaging in serious driver aggression in the past 12 months, such as making threats to hurt another driver, passenger or their vehicle (AOR=4.39). These individuals also reported significantly higher odds (AOR=1.74) of being involved in a motor vehicle collision that resulted in hurting themselves, their passenger(s) or their vehicle.

CONCLUSION

This is the first population-based study to demonstrate a relationship between a history of TBI and higher rates of serious driver aggression and collision involvement. Given the large proportion of adult drivers with a history of TBI, these individuals may account for a disproportion burden of all traffic safety problems. Whether the increased road safety risk of adults with a history of TBI is reflective of neurocognitive deficits or is merely evidence of a cluster of unsafe activities produced by a higher risk lifestyles requires further research attention.

The impact of childhood symptoms of conduct disorder on driver aggression in adulthood

BACKGROUND

Despite limited empirical investigation, existing scientific literature suggests that individuals with a history or current diagnosis of conduct disorder (CD) may be more likely to demonstrate reckless and aggressive driving. Much of the limited research in this field examines the impact of childhood CD on driver behaviour and collision risk in young adults. Few if any, studies assess the impact of this disorder on driver behaviour beyond age 21 years. The current research is a population-based study of the impact of CD symptoms during childhood on the risk of engaging in driver aggression during adulthood.

METHODS

Data are based on telephone interviews with 5230 respondents who reported having driven in the past year. Data are derived from the 2011-2013 cycles of the CAMH Monitor, an ongoing cross-sectional survey of adults in Ontario, Canada aged 18 years and older. A binary logistic regression analysis of self-reported driver aggression in the previous 12 months was conducted, consisting of measures of demographic characteristics, driving exposure, problem substance use, alcohol- and drug-impaired driving, symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and childhood (before age 15) symptoms of CD.

RESULTS

When entered with demographic characteristics, driving exposure, and other potential confounders, childhood symptoms of CD increased the odds of reporting driver aggression more than two-fold (adjusted OR=2.12). Exploratory analyses of the interaction between childhood symptoms of CD and age was not a significant predictor of driver aggression.

CONCLUSIONS

Results suggest that symptoms of CD during childhood are associated with significantly increased odds of self-reported driver aggression during adulthood. Limitations and future directions of the research are discussed.

Driving frequency and Its impact on road rage offending and victimization: a view from opportunity theory

Road rage has been described as a key criminal justice and public health concern. Although research attention to this issue has expanded dramatically, most of this work has focused on the identification of predisposing individual factors. It is equally important to begin to assess those factors that may modify the likelihood of road rage including the broader structural opportunities that are connected with the propensity to be involved in a road rage incident. Drawing on opportunity theory, this article examines whether there is a relationship between increased opportunities to be involved in road rage and an increased likelihood of being a road rage victim or offender. The analysis is further extended to specifically test whether this relationship is linear, thereby examining the applicability of the opportunity saturation hypothesis. Using data from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Monitor, our findings support both the application of opportunity theory to understanding road rage and the presence of opportunity saturation. Although a clear relationship exists between kilometers driven and experiences of road rage, evidence emerged suggesting there may be a threshold whereby increased opportunities for road rage do not lead to road rage behavior.