Need Safer Taxi Drivers? Use Psychological Characteristics to Find or Train!

A review of truck driver persona construction for safety management

The trucking industry urgently requires comprehensive methods to evaluate driver safety, given the high incidence of serious traffic accidents involving trucks. The concept of a "truck driver persona" emerges as a crucial tool in enhancing driver safety and enabling precise management of road transportation safety. Currently, the road transport sector is only beginning to adopt the user persona approach, and thus the development of such personas for road transport remains an exploratory endeavor. This paper delves into three key aspects: identifying safety risk characteristic parameters, exploring methods for constructing personas and designing safety management interventions. Initially, bibliometric methods are employed to analyze safety risk factors across five domains: truck drivers, vehicles, roads, the environment, and management. This analysis provides the variables necessary to develop personas for road transportation drivers. Existing methods for constructing user personas are then reviewed, with a particular focus on their application in the context of road transportation. Integrating contemporary ideas in persona creation, we propose a framework for developing safety risk personas specific to road transportation drivers. These personas are intended to inform and guide safety management interventions. Moreover, the four stages of driver post-evaluation are integrated into the persona development process, outlining tailored safety management interventions for each stage: pre-post, pre-transit, in-transit, and on-post. These interventions are designed to be orderly and finely tuned. Lastly, we offer optimization recommendations and suggest future research directions based on safety risk factors, persona construction, and safety management interventions. Overall, this paper presents a safety management-oriented research technology system for constructing safety risk personas for truck drivers. We argue that improving the design of the persona index system, driven by big data, and encompassing the entire driver duty cycle-from pre-post to on-post-will significantly enhance truck driver safety. This represents a vital direction for future development in the field.

A comparative analysis of risk factors in taxi-related crashes using XGBoost and SHAP

Taxis play a crucial role in urban public transportation, but the traffic safety situation of taxi drivers is far from optimistic, especially considering the introduction of ride-hailing services into the taxi industry. This study conducted a comparative analysis of risk factors in crashes between traditional taxi drivers and ride-hailing taxi drivers in China, including their demographic characteristics, working conditions, and risky driving behaviors. The data was collected from 2,039 traditional taxi drivers and 2,182 ride-hailing taxi drivers via self-reported questionnaires. Four XGBoost models were established, taking into account different types of taxi drivers and crash types. All models showed acceptable performance, and SHAP explainer was used to analyze the model results. The results showed that for both taxi drivers, risk factors related to risky driving behaviors are more important in predicting property damage (PD) crashes, while risk factors related to working conditions are more important in predicting person injury (PI) crashes. However, the relative importance of each risk factor varied depending on the type of crashes and the type of taxi drivers involved. Furthermore, the results also validated certain interactions among the risk factors, indicating that the combination of certain factors generated a greater impact on crashes compared to individual factors alone. These findings can provide valuable insights for formulating appropriate measures to enhance road safety for taxi driver.

Sensation seeking predicts risky driving behavior: The mediating role of difficulties in emotion regulation

The purpose of this study was to explore the mediating effect of difficulties in emotion regulation on the relationship between sensation seeking and driving behavior based on the dual-process model of aberrant driving behavior. A sample of 299 drivers in China completed the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, the Driver Behavior Questionnaire, and the Sensation Seeking Scale V (SSS). The relationships among sensation seeking, difficulties in emotion regulation, and driving behavior were investigated using pathway analysis. The results showed that (1) disinhibition and boredom susceptibility are positively and significantly related to difficulties in emotion regulation and risky driving behaviors; (2) difficulties in emotion regulation are positively and significantly associated with risky driving behaviors; (3) difficulties in emotion regulation mediate the effect of sensation seeking on driving behaviors, supporting the dual-process model of driving behavior; and (4) professional drivers score higher in terms of difficulties in emotion regulation and risky driving behaviors than nonprofessional drivers. The findings of this study could provide valuable insights into the selection of suitable drivers and the development of certain programs that benefit road safety.

The association between the Big Five personality traits and driving behaviors: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Although a large number of studies have examined the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and driving behaviors, consistent evidence for their relationships is still lacking. The main purpose of this study was to systematically review the relationships between the Big Five personality traits and various driving behaviors with different intentions (including risky, aggressive, and positive driving behaviors) through a meta-analysis. A total of 34 articles met the inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis. The results showed that risky and aggressive driving behaviors were negatively associated with conscientiousness (r = -0.21; r = -0.26), agreeableness (r = -0.23; r = -0.37), and openness (r = -0.08; r = -0.07), positively associated with neuroticism (r = 0.11; r = 0.26), and nonsignificantly associated with extraversion (r = 0.06; r = -0.06). Positive driving behaviors were positively associated with conscientiousness (r = 0.30), agreeableness (r = 0.32) and openness (r = 0.20) but nonsignificantly associated with extraversion (r = 0.08) and neuroticism (r = -0.10). In addition, the association between the Big Five personality traits and driving behaviors could be moderated by age, gender and type of personality measure. In conclusion, this study contributes to the literature by quantitatively synthesizing existing findings and reconciling previous debates on the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and driving behaviors. From a practical perspective, our findings provide valuable insights into driver selection and screening, policy development, and safety intervention design.

Integration of Theory of Planned Behavior, Sensation Seeking, and Risk Perception to Explain the Risky Driving Behavior of Truck Drivers

Truck-related accidents account for a substantial portion of traffic accidents. Risky driving behavior is a main cause of traffic accidents. Understanding the risky driving behavior of truck drivers is therefore important in reducing truck-related accidents. This study aimed to propose and validate a research model that integrated a theory of planned behavior, sensation seeking, and risk perception to explain the risky driving behavior of truck drivers. A total of 471 valid data were collected from Chinese truck drivers in this study. Structural equation modeling and mediation analysis were used to examine the influence of factors in the research model on the risky driving behavior of truck drivers. Results showed that sensation seeking and risk perception of truck drivers were influential in shaping their intention to drive riskily with the mediation of attitude toward risky driving. Risk perception and attitude toward risky driving also had a negative influence and positive influence on the intention, respectively. On the basis of the findings, practical recommendations for reducing the risky driving behavior of truck drivers were provided for concerned parties.