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The categorisation of drivers in relation to boredom
Abstract
This paper develops the concept of driver boredom by utilising a cluster analysis to describe different types of driver. A two-step cluster analysis of a 49-item questionnaire measuring driver boredom attitudes and perceptions was performed on 1563 UK drivers, yielding four groups, labelled as ‘young, inattentive and dangerous’, ‘enthusiastic and attentive’, ‘slow and unwilling’ and ‘safe and experienced’. These clusters are compared to ascertain personality and affect differences and whether or not there are different crash and penalty histories. The significant differences found enable the clusters to be seen in wider terms than simply boredom; they are considered in terms of theories of flow and arousal and also in light of previous attempts to classify driver types. This paper reports analyses that are part of a larger study of driver boredom.
... Craik and Salthouse, 2000). Other psychological mechanisms may also decline with age, such as: situational awareness, episodic and autobiographical memory, willingness to take risks, and increased time taken for navigation tasks as well as increased anxiety about new technology, and attitudinal resistance to change (Bolstad, 2001;Moffat et al., 2001;Head and Isam, 2010;Harvey et al., 2011;Barnard et al., 2013;Rashidi and Mihailidis, 2013;Damant and Knapp, 2015). ...
... At the same time, there have been increases in both the number of older drivers and the distance they travel, although they still drive less than younger drivers (Harvey et al., 2011). Evidence suggests that older people prefer to drive for the convenience and accessibility lacking in public transport (Harvey et al., 2011;Guo et al., 2017). ...
... At the same time, there have been increases in both the number of older drivers and the distance they travel, although they still drive less than younger drivers (Harvey et al., 2011). Evidence suggests that older people prefer to drive for the convenience and accessibility lacking in public transport (Harvey et al., 2011;Guo et al., 2017). Many older drivers compensate for perceived declines by age-counteractive behaviours, i.e. avoiding what they perceive to be difficult driving situations (Guo et al., 2010;Edwards et al., 2016). ...
... I argue that the centrality of the rather mundane and commonplace utterances and practices that related to being bored and having fun, especially in relation to place, is critical. The research I refer to here that relates to boredom is (1) research that directly addresses boredom, that is either psychological (usually quantitative: Caldwell et al. 1999;Harvey, Heslop, and Thorpe 2011;Mercer-Lynn et al. 2011) or philosophical (which have been undertaken within literary studies, theoretical sociology or philosophy: Dalle Pezze and Salzani 2009), or (2) research that covertly relates to boredom in some sense, which includes a wider range of studies from the whole spectrum of disciplines/research areas. Within this latter category, boredom is often taken for granted, not considered analytically and/or is seen as an unwanted and negative outcome of spatial, social or cultural conditions. ...
... Understanding boredom in the way outlined above breaks with the colloquial and scholarly understanding, where boredom is most commonly depicted as a negative mental state of specific individuals (most of the psychological research goes under this rubric) or as a negative condition of Western post-modern societies (most of the sociological, philosophical and literary research can be placed here). Whether the research overtly deals with boredom or not, space and place are very rarely taken into account in analyses in psychology (for instance, Caldwell et al. 1999;Harvey, Heslop, and Thorpe 2011;Mercer-Lynn et al. 2011) and the social sciences and arts (for instance, Dalle Pezze and Salzani 2009). When discussing young people, the effects are twofold. ...
In this article I discuss how the experience of boredom becomes a vital part of the narratives and practices of a group of young greasers in a peri-urban community in Sweden. The ethnographic material originates from fieldwork carried out among the local ‘Volvo greasers’, aged between 15 and 19 years, at the local youth centre and the car park in a peri-urban community in Sweden in 2010. The aim of the article is to understand how place, personhood and social relations are intertwined in the greaser culture by introducing the concept of spatial boredom, which strives to illuminate the greasers' active engagement and negotiation with the experience of boredom. In light of this, the semantics of spatial boredom - the community's geographical placement as boring, reactive rather than active, static rather than dynamic - a symbolic link to femininity, domesticity, safety, routine and hence immanence is established. The orientation towards a ‘dangerous’, masculine-coded public space is reinforcing a split between both the feminine and the masculine and the public and the private.
... Boredom directly correlates to sensation seeking, but has only received limited attention to date [38]. Boredom is defined as a 'state of relatively low arousal and dissatisfaction, which is attributed towards an inadequately stimulating environment' (p.3 [63]). ...
... The challenge in addressing this core problem is the fact that proneness to boredom (and sensation seeking behaviour) is a hardwired personality factor in young males [38]. This means that it cannot be changed and that existing road safety strategies such as education programs, punitive fines or awareness campaigns are conceptually flawed in addressing it. ...
The social cost of road injury and fatalities is still unacceptable. The driver is often the main responsible for road crashes, therefore changing the driver behaviour is one of the most important and most challenging priority in road transport. This paper presents three innovative visions that articulate the potential of using Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) communication for supporting the exchange of social information amongst drivers. We argue that there could be tremendous benefits in socializing cars to influence human driving behaviours for the better and that this aspect is still relevant in the age of looming autonomous cars. Our visions provide theoretical grounding how V2V infrastructure and emerging human machine interfaces (HMI) could persuade drivers to (i)(i) adopt better (e.g. greener) driving practices, (ii)(ii) reduce drivers aggressiveness towards pro-social driving behaviours, and (iii)(iii) reduce risk-taking behaviour in young, particularly male, adults. The visions present simple but powerful concepts that reveal ‘good’ aspects of the driver behaviour to other drivers and make them contagious. The use of self-efficacy, social norms, gamification theories and social cues could then increase the likelihood of a widespread adoption of such ‘good’ driving behaviours.
... Driver boredom also shows connections with personality; a higher level of enthusiasm is associated with a lower level of boredom [35], while neuroticism seems to be positively correlated with boredom. Age also seems to have an effect on boredom: younger drivers experience boredom more often than older drivers [37]. It can be an aim of design to reduce boredom; for example, Steinberger [38] has found that gamification might be a key to solve this problem. ...
... Bjørner (2017) discusses some implications of flow in the context of autonomous vehicles prospective use. Harvey, Heslop, and Thorpe (2011) combine flow theory with reversal theory (Apter 2001) to create a model of 'drivers' boredom'. These authors highlight the benefits of maintaining a good level of challenge in driving environments, such as adopting shared spaces, to increase opportunities for flow. ...
The dominant tradition in transport planning and policy practice considers travel as a derived activity and travel time as an economic disutility. A growing body of literature is challenging this perspective, demonstrating that being ‘on the move’ is a rich experience interlaced with profound shared and individual meanings that can have positive implications on quality of life, well-being and personal development. Yet, mobility in general, and commuting in particular, is often reported as one of the least pleasant daily experiences and as a source of massive environmental impacts. This exploratory article hypothesizes that flow theory, based on Csikszentmihalyi´s seminal work on optimal states of consciousness, has the potential to offer important insights that can contribute to research and policy action on achieving both sustainable and satisfying forms of daily mobility. The article draws on an online exploratory questionnaire in order to reflect on flow theory in relation to the capacity of different mobility modes to either facilitate or constrain the occurrence and duration of optimal states of consciousness. Preliminary conclusions provide a basis for outlining a set of future research directions aimed at better understanding mobility experiences and their relationships with flow theory.
... Aggressive driving was associated by driver in an angry, annoyed, or frustrated state (Dula & Geller, 2003;Ellison-Potter, Bell, & Deffenbacher, 2001;Tasca, 2000;Shinar, 1998). While another study, used boredom to classify drivers (Harvey, Heslop, & Thorpe, 2011). Vaa presented a discussion that emotions is a motivational factor that guides driving behavior (Cacciabue, 2007). ...
In this research work, a novel control system strategy for the robust control of an unmanned ground vehicle is proposed. This strategy is motivated by efforts to mitigate the problem for scenarios in which the human operator is unable to properly communicate with the vehicle. This novel control system strategy consisted of three major components: I.) Two independent intelligent controllers, II.) An intelligent navigation system, and III.) An intelligent controller tuning unit. The inner workings of the first two components are based off the Brain Emotional Learning (BEL), which is a mathematical model of the Amygdala-Orbitofrontal, a region in mammalians brain known to be responsible for emotional learning process. Simulation results demonstrated the implementation of BEL model to be very robust, efficient, and adaptable to dynamical changes in its application as controller and as a sensor fusion filter for an unmanned ground vehicle. These results were obtained with significantly less computational cost when compared to traditional methods for control and sensor fusion. For the intelligent controller tuning unit, the implementation of a human emotion recognition system was investigated. This system was utilized for the classification of driving behavior. Results from experiments showed that the affective state of driver are accurately captured. However, the driver’s affective state is not a good indicator of the driver’s driving behavior. As a result, an alternative method for classifying driving behavior from the driver’s brain activity was explored. This method proved to be successful at classifying the driver’s behavior. It obtained comparable results in comparison to the common approach through vehicle parameters. This alternative approach has the advantage of directly classifying driving behavior from the driver, which is of particular use in UGV domain since the operator’s information is readily available. The classified driving mode was used tune the controllers’ performance to a desired mode of operation. Such qualities are required for a contingency control system that would allow the vehicle to operate with no operator inputs.
... The issues of 'boredom' and 'saving time' should be incorporated into any campaigns. Boredom and arousal in driving have been previously examined, with Harvey, Heslop, and Thorpe (2011) suggesting the task of driving can demand various levels of arousal according to the surrounding environment. This may also be explained by the frequency of use of and exposure to various types of road settings. ...
Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), this study looked at the motivations and reasons behind the behaviour of texting while driving. Following an elicitation study, 150 participants completed a questionnaire measuring self-efficacy and moral norms in addition to traditional TPB variables. Texting while driving was found to be a common behaviour although prevalence varied between age groups. While the youngest age group were more likely to have ever sent a text message while driving, those aged 35-44 years old were most likely to have read a message while driving and to intend to text while driving in the future. Moral norms had the strongest significant correlation with intentions to text while driving. Similar to past research the traditional TPB variables explained significant variance in intentions to perform the behaviour. To be fully effective, future campaigns and interventions to reduce the behaviour are advised to focus on the moral aspect of the behaviour and the beliefs that it saves time and prevents boredom. The setting of campaigns or interventions and the mode of delivery should also be considered. Efforts to deter the behaviour should be aimed at those of all ages and not just younger drivers.
... Aggressive driving was associated by driver in an angry, annoyed, or frustrated state (Dula & Geller, 2003;Ellison-Potter, Bell, & Deffenbacher, 2001;Tasca, 2000;Shinar, 1998). While another study, used boredom to classify drivers (Harvey, Heslop, & Thorpe, 2011). Vaa presented a discussion that emotions is a motivational factor that guides driving behavior (Cacciabue, 2007). ...
In this work, the analysis of a filter consisting of the Brain Emotional Learning (BEL) algorithm is presented. The inner workings of the BEL filter are based on emotional learning model in mammalians brain. The BEL filter is implemented in simulation for the purpose of sensor fusion in a ground vehicle. In simulation, the signals from a Global Positioning System (GPS) and an Inertial Navigation System (INS) are integrated, in order to accurately track the trajectory of a ground vehicle around a track. The BEL filter is provided with some sensory signal and reward signal, subsequently the filter seeks to diminish noise from both sensing units, thus eliminating tracking error. A performance comparison between the BEL filter, and the more commonly utilized Kalman filter is presented. The BEL filter demonstrated robustness to uncertainties from the sensing units, it adapts quickly with dynamical change in the plant, and has small computational cost. The BEL filter demonstrated to be effective in sensor fusion.
... For example, boredom among those working for long periods has been connected with reduced output and increased errors (Wyatt, 1929;Thackray, Bailey, & Touchstone, 1977;O'Hanlon, 1981). Drory (1982) found that boredom among truck drivers was significantly associated with incidence of property damage while driving, while others (Kass, Beede, & Vodanovich, 2010;Harvey, Heslop, & Thorpe, 2011) have correlated boredom propensity with the occurrence of moving violations and accidents. Boredom has been connected with work absenteeism and poor job satisfaction (Kass, Vodanovich, & Callender, 2001), and with reporting of a variety of psychological and somatic symptoms (Sommers & Vodanovich, 2000). ...
A variety of causes of boredom have been proposed including environmental, motivational, emotional, and cognitive factors. Here, we explore four potential cognitive causes of boredom: inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and executive dysfunction. Specifically, we examine the unique and common associations between these factors and boredom propensity. Recent research has established that the two most commonly used measures of boredom propensity (BPS and BSS) are not measuring the same underlying construct. Thus, a second goal of the present project is to determine the unique and common roles of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity and poor executive system functioning in predicting the BPS and BSS specifically. The findings reveal that inattention, hyperactivity and executive dysfunction predict boredom propensity, with shared variance accounting for the greater part of this effect. Further, executive dysfunction and hyperactivity uniquely predict boredom propensity as measured by the BPS and BSS, respectively.
In this paper, we examine vehicle owners’ adoption of five different types of partially automated features (PAFs); lane keeping system, backup camera (BUC), adaptive cruise control (ACC), automatic braking system (ABS), and blind spot monitoring; as well as PAF effects on vehicle miles of travel (VMT). The joint modeling of PAF adoption and VMT is achieved using both individual demographic characteristics as well as psycho-social characteristics. A Generalized Heterogeneous Data Model (GHDM) is estimated, which controls for possible self-selection effects in PAF adoption based on VMT, and thus is able to provide “true” PAF effects on VMT. Our analysis specifically indicates that ignoring this self-selection can lead to a significant underestimation of the VMT increase due to PAF adoption. The results also indicate that women and older individuals (65 years or older) appear to be more inclined to invest in assistive PAFs, because of a perception that these assistive features still leave the human driver in control. However, women are less likely than men to invest in the more active ABS PAF because of heightened safety concerns with technology. In terms of PAF effects on VMT, PAFs focusing on lateral movement assistance appear to have a smaller VMT effect than those that serve longitudinal movement assistance. The highest estimated VMT change of 2,462 miles (13.8% change) is for the case when the package of BUC, ACC, and ABS is installed for middle-aged men. The highest percentage VMT change (40%), though, is for the same package of BUC, ACC, and ABS for older women. Overall, there are considerable variations in VMT impact across demographic groupings, suggesting that a single aggregate percentage improvement in safety benefits may suffer from the well-known ecological fallacy.
Numbers of older people are increasing and this will continue for several decades to come. With that, there are changes as we age that can affect or impact upon our travelling and transportation needs and behaviour. In addition, there is an almost universal problem that many of all ages people have low levels of computer literacy. Transport may well look very different in the future. Not only automated vehicles, but also new transportation systems, such as Mobility as a Service [MaaS] and the likely developments in public transport that incorporate real time travel information, facilities and ease of use information all mean that older people wishing to travel will necessarily have to engage with some forms of new technology. The new systems will need to be personalisable to individual travellers. This chapter considers the needs of older travellers and how new technology can meet some of those needs and what is necessary for it to be appropriate to, and usable by, older travellers.
It is important to know and be able to classify the drivers’ behavior as good, bad, keen or aggressive, which would aid in driver assist systems to avoid vehicle crashes. This research attempts to develop, test, and compare the performance of machine learning methods for classifying human driving behavior. It also proposes to correlate driver affective states with the driving behavior. The major contributions of this work are to classify the driver behavior using Electroencephalograph (EEG) while driving simulated vehicle and compare them with the behavior classified using vehicle parameters and affective states. The study involved both classical machine learning techniques such as k-Nearest Neighbor (KNN), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and latest “unsupervised” Hybrid Deep Learning techniques, and compared the accuracy of classification across subjects, various driving scenarios and affective states.
Risky driving behaviours is a key contributor to traffic-related injuries and deaths each year. These risky driving behaviours are especially common among young adults and adolescents. This research was designed to help examine precursors to and motivations for a common risky driving behaviour – phone use in the car. A cross-sectional survey of 526 young adults assessed phone use in the car and risky driving, and potential precursors such as boredom proneness, social connectedness, habitual phone use, and other potentially relevant variables. The results showed that young males and females largely differed in the factors associated with their phone use in the car and risky driving. For example, a range of factors was related to males’ phone use in the car (including boredom proneness and social connectedness), but only phone activity frequency uniquely and significantly predicted females’ phone use in the car. The study results indicate that males’ and females’ phone use in the car should be considered separately, as they appear to be influenced by different precursors. In addition, the findings suggest that habitual phone use may be contributing substantially to young males’ phone use in the car, suggesting a need to address this underlying issue.
Introduction:
Road crash statistics are evidence of the severe consequences resulting from human error, especially among young adult males. Drivers perform best and safest when they are adequately engaged in the driving task. Boredom and a lack of engagement in the driving task may cause risk taking and phone use. However, the antecedents to driver boredom, the subjective experience itself, as well as the coping strategies to combat boredom are not well understood. The aim of this study was to investigate these aspects.
Method:
We carried out a qualitative study in a simulated, safe, yet highly immersive driving environment. The 24 participants included male drivers aged 18 to 25 susceptible to risky driving and phone use. A phenomenological framework was used to analyze their accounts of the experience of boredom while driving.
Results:
Results indicate that situations giving rise to driver boredom include low traffic, slow or constant speed, and routine drives. Feelings comprising the experience were frustration, vigilance, relaxing, autopilot, mind wandering, and discomfort. Coping mechanisms manifest themselves in approach strategies related to the driving task such as speeding, which are often dangerous, and avoidance strategies, which include phone use.
Conclusions:
We conclude that driver boredom bears similarities to the experience of boredom at work (unlike boredom at home) due to the situational constraints, where people feel stuck, trapped, or obliged to remain vigilant.
Practical applications:
The findings present an opportunity for the road safety and automotive technology community to address the issue of under-stimulation through safety interventions aimed at increased task engagement. Our work can also aid in investigating driver experiences in partially automated driving, which is likely to induce boredom as well.
This paper explores novel driving experiences that make use of gamification and augmented reality in the car. We discuss our design considerations, which are grounded in road safety psychology and video game design theory. We aim to address the tension between safe driving practices and player engagement. Specifically, we propose a holistic, iterative approach inspired by game design cognition and share our insights generated through the application of this process. We present preliminary game concepts that blend digital components with physical elements from the driving environment. We further highlight how this design process helped us to iteratively evolve these concepts towards being safer while maintaining fun. These insights and game design cognition itself will be useful to the AutomotiveUI community investigating similar novel driving experiences.
Young males are over-represented in road crashes. Part of the problem is their proneness to boredom, a hardwired personality factor that can lead to risky driving. This paper presents a theoretical understanding of boredom in the driving context and demonstrates convincing arguments to investigate the role of boredom further. Specifically, this paper calls for the design of innovative technologies and applications that make safe driving more pleasurable and stimulating for young males, e.g., by applying gamification techniques. We propose two design concepts through the following questions: A. Can the simulation of risky driving reduce actual risky driving? B. Can the replacement of risky driving stimuli with alternative stimuli reduce risky driving? We argue that considering these questions in the future design of automotive user-interfaces and personal ubiquitous computing devices could effectively reduce risky driving behaviours among young males.
Objective:
We review historical and more recent efforts in boredom research and related fields. A framework is presented that organizes the various facets of boredom, particularly in supervisory control settings, and research gaps and future potential areas for study are highlighted.
Background:
Given the ubiquity of boredom across a wide spectrum of work environments-exacerbated by increasingly automated systems that remove humans from direct, physical system interaction and possibly increasing tedium in the workplace-there is a need not only to better understand the multiple facets of boredom in work environments but to develop targeted mitigation strategies.
Method:
To better understand the relationships between the various influences and outcomes of boredom, a systems-based framework, called the Boredom Influence Diagram, is proposed that describes various elements of boredom and their interrelationships.
Results:
Boredom is closely related to vigilance, attention management, and task performance. This review highlights the need to develop more naturalistic experiments that reflect the characteristics of a boring work environment.
Conclusion:
With the increase in automation, boredom in the workplace will likely become a more prevalent issue for motivation and retention. In addition, developing continuous measures of boredom based on physiological signals is critical.
Application:
Personnel selection and improvements in system and task design can potentially mitigate boredom. However, more work is needed to develop and evaluate other potential interventions.
The social cost of road injury and fatalities is still unacceptable. The driver is often mainly responsible for road crashes, therefore changing the driver behaviour is one of the most important and most challenging priority in road transport. This paper presents three innovative visions that articulate the potential of using Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) communication for supporting the exchange of social information amongst drivers. We argue that there could be tremendous benefits in socialising cars to influence human driving behaviours for the better and that this aspect is still relevant in the age of looming autonomous cars. Our visions provide theoretical grounding how V2V infrastructure and emerging human–machine interfaces (HMI) could persuade drivers to (i) adopt better (e.g. greener) driving practices, (ii) reduce drivers aggressiveness towards pro-social driving behaviours, and (iii) reduce risk-taking behaviour in young, particularly male, adults. The visions present simple but powerful concepts that reveal ‘good’ aspects of the driver behaviour to other drivers and make them contagious. The use of self-efficacy, social norms, gamification theories and social cues could then increase the likelihood of a widespread adoption of such ‘good’ driving behaviours.
Driver boredom has received little research attention in efforts to develop understanding of driver behaviour and further road safety. This study aimed to develop understanding of relationships between individual differences and driver boredom as well as between driver boredom and driver behaviour. A self-report questionnaire was developed and used to gather data pertaining to individual differences, driver boredom, and driver behaviour. The sample comprised 1550 male and female drivers aged between 17 and 65+ years. The results of this study show that people who are younger, less conscientious, and less enthusiastic about driving are more likely to pose a high threat to road safety because they are more likely to suffer driver boredom. Those more enthusiastic about driving seem less likely to suffer driver boredom due to their being more engaged in the driving task. Further research should be conducted to test whether engagement in the driving task and levels of perceived stimulation therein explain relations between driver enthusiasm and driver boredom. If this is the case, intervention programmes could be developed and tested in order to encourage engagement in the driving task and so limit driver boredom.
Recent debates on the status of contemporary trait psychology (Pervin, 1994) have revived old questions about the role of traits in the explanation of behavior: are traits mere descriptions of behavior, or do they offer one legitimate and useful form of explanation? We review the logic of trait explanation and present a general model of the person in which personality traits are hypothetical constructs regarded as basic dispositions. In interaction with external influences—notably shared meaning systems—traits contribute causally to the development of habits, attitudes, skills, and other characteristic adaptations. In this model, action and experience can be explained directly or proximally in terms of the interaction of the immediate situation with the individual's characteristic adaptations, and indirectly or distally in terms of underlying personality traits.
Driver boredom is an area of driver behaviour that has received limited attention. This study explores the factor structure underlying driver boredom and investigates age and gender differences in the experience of driver boredom, and preferred driving speeds using a self-report questionnaire. A rotated principle components analysis of 49 attitude items yielded four dimensions: responses to under-stimulation; flow; lapse and error-proneness; and anxiety. Age and gender differences were found in these dimensions as well as in preferred driving speeds; two of the factors, responses to under-stimulation and flow were particularly related to preferred driving speeds on all but urban roads. These findings are considered in terms of cognitive capacity required for driving, self-reporting of cognitive failure and error-proneness and the implications for drivers maintaining safety margins when bored.
Increasing support for the relationship between road traffic violations and accident liability has led to research focusing on the motivational factors that promote these behaviors. In Study 1, a large sample of young (17–40 years) drivers were asked to complete the Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ; Parker, Reason, Manstead, & Stradling, 1995). Factor analysis revealed 3 factors: errors, highway code violations, and more interpersonally aggressive violations. In Study 2, a smaller sample of drivers was recruited (17–70 years) to investigate further this distinction between different types of violation and also the role of affect in predicting behavior. Factor analysis of a modified DBQ revealed 3 types of violation. Measures of positive affect were found to be good predictors of all 3 violation types. Discussion focuses on social psychological and applied implications.
The aim of this study was to investigate how sex (male and female) and gender roles (masculinity and femininity) and their interaction were associated with driving skills and accident involvement among young drivers. Two-hundred and seventeen young Turkish drivers (131 males and 86 females) filled in a form including the short form of Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), the Driver Skill Inventory (DSI), and questions about accident history and background information. The effects of sex and gender roles were tested on outcome variables by using Poisson, negative binomial, and hierarchical regression analyses. It was found that sex (being male) predicted the number of total, active, and passive accidents, and perceptual-motor skills. While masculinity score predicted positively the perceptual-motor skills, femininity score predicted positively the safety skills. No significant interaction effects between sex and gender roles on criterion variables were found.
The aims of the present study were to develop an instrument for measuring “positive” driver behaviours and to investigate the relationship between these behaviours, DBQ scales (violations and errors), aggression, traffic offences, and accidents. Participants were 306 Turkish drivers (194 male and 112 female) who completed a questionnaire including the newly developed Positive Driver Behaviour Scale, Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ), Driver Aggression Indicators Scale (DAIS), and items related to drivers’ driving records and demographics. Factor analysis resulted in a clear three-factor structure (violations, positive driver behaviours, and errors), high item loadings, and acceptable internal consistency coefficients. Negative binomial regression analyses showed that violations were related to the number of accidents and penalties. Multiple regression analyses indicated that violations were also associated with all other dependent variables except hostile aggression and revenge committed by the respondent, measured by the DAIS “self” scale. Errors were related to hostile aggression and revenge committed by the respondent and other drivers, measured by the DAIS “other drivers” scale, and aggressive warnings measured by the DAIS “Self” scale. Positive driver behaviours were negatively related to hostile aggression and revenge measured by the DAIS “Self” and “Other drivers” scales, but not to traffic offences or accidents.
A new conception of sensation seeking is presented, along with a new scale [the Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking (AISS)]. The new conception emphasizes novelty and intensity as the two components of sensation seeking. Two studies were conducted to validate the new scale. In the first study, the AISS was found to be more strongly related to risk behavior than Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS) among 116 adolescents aged 16–18 years, although the new scale contains no items related to risk behavior (in contrast to the SSS). In the second study, involving 139 adolescents, similar relations were found between the AISS and risk behavior, and the new scale was also found to be significantly correlated with the Aggression subscale of the California Psychological Inventory (CPI). In addition, adults (N = 38) were found to be lower in sensation seeking than adolescents. In both studies, males were higher in sensation seeking than females.
Within psychology, different research traditions have attempted to explain individual differences in risky driving behaviour and traffic accident involvement. The present study attempts to integrate two of these research traditions, the personality trait approach and the social cognition approach, in order to understand the mechanisms underlying young drivers' risk-taking behaviour in traffic. The study was based on a self-completion questionnaire survey carried out among 1932 adolescents in Norway. The questionnaire included measures of risk perception, attitudes towards traffic safety and self-reported risk-taking in traffic. Personality measures included aggression, altruism, anxiety and normlessness. The results of a structural equation model suggested that the relation between the personality traits and risky driving behaviour was mediated through attitudes. On this basis it was concluded that personality primarily influences risky driving behaviour indirectly through affecting the attitudinal determinants of the behaviour. Practical implications for traffic safety campaigns are also discussed.
Nearly everyone experiences episodes of boredom at work from time to time, regardless of the nature of their job. Previous research on vigilance and industrial monotony is unable to explain boredom on any but the simplest of tasks. A broader view of the causes of boredom, including attributes of the task, environment, person, and person-environment fit, is proposed. Likely consequences of boredom are considered, and research needs and implications are discussed.
Job stressors (underutilization of skills, quantitative P-E fit, and job future ambiguity) and social support (tangible and emotional support from supervisor, coworkers, and nonjob sources) were used to predict employees’ psychological and physiological strains (job dissatisfaction, boredom, workload dissatisfaction, depression, heart rate, and blood pressure) and organizational consequences (absenteeism and job performance) among 102 hospital nurses in a nonexperimental field study. Based on previous theory and research, social support was expected to moderate the relationship between stressors and strains so that stressors are less strongly related to strains in the presence of strong social support than they are under conditions of less social support. Several interactions were found, but all were in the direction opposite from predictions, that is, social support strengthened the positive relationship between stressors and strains. This result contradicts most theories and models of job stress and social support.
Taylor [Taylor, D.H., 1964. Drivers' galvanic skin response and the risk of accident. Ergonomics 7, 439-451] argued that drivers attempt to maintain a constant level of anxiety when driving which Wilde [Wilde, G.J.S., 1982. The theory of risk homeostasis: implications for safety and health. Risk Anal. 2, 209-225] interpreted to be coupled to subjective estimates of the probability of collision. This theoretical paper argues that what drivers attempt to maintain is a level of task difficulty. Naatanen and Summala [Naatanen, R., Summala, H., 1976. Road User Behaviour and Traffic Accidents. North Holland/Elsevier, Amsterdam, New York] similarly rejected the concept of statistical risk as a determinant of driver behaviour, but in so doing fell back on the learning process to generate a largely automatised selection of appropriate safety margins. However it is argued here that driver behaviour cannot be acquired and executed principally in such S-R terms. The concept of task difficulty is elaborated within the framework of the task-capability interface (TCI) model, which describes the dynamic interaction between the determinants of task demand and driver capability. It is this interaction which produces different levels of task difficulty. Implications of the model are discussed regarding variation in performance, resource allocation, hierarchical decision-making and the interdependence of demand and capability. Task difficulty homeostasis is proposed as a key sub-goal in driving and speed choice is argued to be the primary solution to the problem of keeping task difficulty within selected boundaries. The relationship between task difficulty and mental workload and calibration is clarified. Evidence is cited in support of the TCI model, which clearly distinguishes task difficulty from estimates of statistical risk. However, contrary to expectation, ratings of perceived risk depart from ratings of statistical risk but track difficulty ratings almost perfectly. It now appears that feelings of risk may inform driver decision making, as Taylor originally suggested, but not in terms of risk of collision, but rather in terms of task difficulty. Finally risk homeostasis is presented as a special case of task difficulty homeostasis.
The streets and spaces that constitute the majority of our public realm play an increasingly important role in the economic and social foundations of towns and cities. Simultaneously, public dissatisfaction with the clutter and barriers associated with conventional traffic engineering is growing. There is also growing recognition of the links between health and the quality of the built environment. New approaches to reconciling the relationship between traffic and the public realm represent a significant challenge to long-standing assumptions underpinning the conventional segregation of traffic from civic space associated with established policy and practice. Often labelled ‘shared space’, such schemes raise important questions about risk and safety, the role of government in regulating and controlling behaviour and the conventional professional boundaries of urban designers and traffic engineers. A radical review of the role of government in regulating and controlling street design, combined with decisive changes in the organisational structure and processes employed by highway authorities is implied if the benefits for safety, traffic capacity, health and economic vitality from shared space are to be realised. This paper outlines the background and principles underpinning shared space, and describes some of the significant examples in the UK and mainland Europe.URBAN DESIGN International (2008) 13, 130–138. doi:10.1057/udi.2008.13
It is held that many of the current problems in the field of motivation arise from the acceptance of a conceptual nervous system of an earlier day. To develop this thesis, the author examines the concept of motivation as it relates to the conceptual nervous systems of the period before 1930, of the period 10 years ago, and of today. It is shown that today's physiology provides common ground for communication among the differing conceptions of motivation. 51 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
The present study aimed at identifying subtypes of young drivers (N=2524) and evaluate how these responded to a traffic safety campaign. On basis of a cluster analysis of personality measures, six subtypes of young drivers were identified. The subtypes were found to differ on self-reported risky driving behaviour, attitudes towards traffic safety, risk perception, estimation of own driving skills, and accident involvement. Two of the subtypes were identified as high-risk groups in traffic. The first high-risk group consisted of mostly men, characterised by low levels of altruism and anxiety, and high levels of sensation-seeking, irresponsibility, and driving related aggression. The second high-risk group reported high sensation seeking, aggression, anxiety, and driving anger. The subtypes were also found to differ on how they evaluated and responded to the traffic safety campaign. The results indicated that the campaign seemed to appeal most to the low-risk subtypes. Gender differences within each subtype were also found on the different traffic related measures, as well as on response to the campaign. It is concluded that young drivers should not be treated as a homogenous group pertaining to road safety. Practical suggestions on how to promote safe driving among these subtypes are also discussed.
This article reports the development and validation of a 10-item international Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) Short Form (I-PANAS-SF) in English. A qualitative study (N = 18) and then an exploratory quantitative study (N = 407), each using informants from a range of cultural backgrounds, were used to identify systematically which 10 of the original 20 PANAS items to retain or remove. A same-sample retest study (N = 163) was used in an initial examination of the new 10-item international PANAS's psychometric properties and to assess its correlation with the full, 20-item, original PANAS. In a series of further validation studies (N = 1,789), the cross-sample stability, internal reliability, temporal stability, cross-cultural factorial invariance, and convergent and criterion-related validities of the I-PANAS-SF were examined and found to be psychometrically acceptable.
Introduces the general characteristics of reversal theory. The roles of motivational state, emotion, arousal, and personal characteristics are discussed. Causes of reversal are also presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The present study was concerned with the relationships between boredom at work, personal characteristics and performance. Data on individual characteristics, work effectiveness and experienced boredom at work was collected from a sample of 93 heavy truck drivers by means of questionnaires and personnel file records.
The results suggest that boredom while driving through a monotonous desert road was moderately, yet systematically, associated negatively with higher mental and physical individual capacity. Boredom was also negatively associated with effectiveness. The relationship between boredom and work effectiveness was significantly moderated by personal characteristics. It was found that boredom was more strongly related to work effectiveness at the lower levels of individual capacity. The results are discussed in terms of possible implications for personnel selection and placement decisions.
The Telic Dominance Scale (TDS; Murgatroyd, Rushton, Apter, & Ray, Journal of Personality Assessment, 42, 519–528, 1978), originally developed using U.K. samples, has been found to have limited effectiveness when used on U.S. samples. In an attempt to address its shortcomings, a new scale measuring telic–paratelic dominance, the Paratelic Dominance Scale (PDS; Cook & Gerkovich, Advances in Reversal Theory, Swets & Zeitlinger, Amsterdam, 1993), was developed using both U.K. and U.S. samples. The PDS has a three-factor structure; the factors identified as playfulness, spontaneity and arousal seeking. The present study cross-validated the TDS and the PDS using different diverse international samples. First, individual TDS and PDS items were evaluated to determine their potential contribution for inclusion in effective international scales. Second, an internationally relevant measure of telic–paratelic dominance was developed. Several factor analyses were performed on TDS and PDS data from a combined Australian, Netherlands and North American (USA) sample (N=1203). Items of the TDS proved to be of limited value in that a large number of factors (some unique), each accounting for little variance, emerged. Analyses of PDS items were more fruitful, yielding readily interpretable factor structures. However, psychometrically sound two- and three-factor structures, replicable across validation and separate Australian, Netherlands and North American (USA) samples, emerged only when reduced item sets were used. The availability of shortened scales, comprised of internally consistent yet non-redundant scale items, is thought to be advantageous in, for example, international comparative work.
Our current knowledge regarding age and sex differences in sensation seeking is based on studies, which all use the SSS-V. The aim of the present study therefore was to validate the results reported by Zuckerman, Eysenck, and Eysenck (1978) while applying an alternative instrument. We also examined the relevance of sociodemographic factors in sensation seeking. German data were collected from 1949 subjects (47% female; aged 16–79 years) constituting a representative population sample of Germany. Sensation Seeking was measured using the Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking (AISS), which consists of two subscales: Novelty and Intensity constituting a Total Score. The results clearly confirm the postulated age and sex differences. Significant age declines occurred on all three scales for both sexes. Males generally scored higher than females in all age groups. The age and sex differences are independent of sociodemographic factors. On the whole, sociodemographic factors explain only a small part of the variance in sensation seeking.
The current study examines the relationship between cognitive failures, daytime sleepiness, and boredom proneness within two populations. A military and a university sample completed the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire, Boredom Proneness Scale, and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. Results indicated that higher daytime sleepiness and boredom proneness scores are predictive of higher cognitive failure scores. The military sample had significantly higher daytime sleepiness and cognitive failure scores as compared to the university sample. Possible implications and applications for using scores on these measures to assess individuals in educational and industrial settings are discussed, as well as possible treatments for individuals scoring high on these measures.
This study was aimed at measuring skill and safety-motive dimensions in drivers' self-assessments of their driving abilities and at investigating correlations among three driving inventories and six general personality measures. The questionnaires were completed by 113 students with a driver's licence. The orthogonal model with the skill and safety-motive factors explained 35% of the variance in the questionnaire based on the work of Spolander (Drivers' Assessment of Their Own Driving Ability, 1983) and Hatakka, Keskinen, Katila and Laapotti (International Conference on Traffic Safety, 1991). Multiple regression analysis showed driving experience to be a significant predictor of safety and skill-oriented driving, so that with driving experience drivers assess themselves as more fluent in handling the car, but lower in safety aspects of driving. The safety-motive scale had only weak correlations with driving-specific or personality measures except the Lie-scale of the EPQ, which suggests that ‘safe driving’ expressed in questionnaires is safety jargon soon forgotten after driving school with driving experience, possibly together with the corresponding safety behavior, rather than a permanent response tendency. The skill scale correlated strongly with scales expressing an emotional attitude to driving and with a sense of coherence. Driving aggression and dislike of driving DBI scales correlated with neuroticism, Type-A behavior, self-esteem, sense of coherence, and locus of control, whereas the MDIE scales correlated only with Type-A behavior and neuroticism.
Objectives:
To assess professional status (PS) differences in the risk of road crash involvement (RCI) (irrespective of crash severity), and to examine the underlying mechanism by evaluating the role of exposure to road risk (ERR).
Method:
A total of 15,271 subjects selected from the French GAZEL cohort were studied. A proportional hazard model for recurrent events was used to calculate the relative risks (RR) of RCI associated with PS. The associations between RCI and PS were investigated by adjusting for ERR (kilometers travelled and risk behaviors on the road).
Results:
In all, 1890 RCI were reported. Managers have greater crude RCI risk than unskilled workers (male, RR=1.30; female, RR=1.44). This difference was no longer statistically significant when adjusting for factors describing the drivers' behaviors. Female managers' risks were also insignificant when adjusted for vehicle kilometers travelled (VKT). Managers seemed at lower risk of injury when involved in a crash.
Conclusion:
Socially advantaged subjects have the greatest RCI risk. Qualitative and quantitative ERR factors explain these disparities. These results highlight the importance to focus on ERR when studying the effect of an individual characteristic on RCI. They also highlight the importance to analyse separately the "RCI" and the "susceptibility to injury".
The current study adopted an approach, in which reckless driving is perceived as related to both personal and environmental factors. Young drivers (N = 295) reported on reckless driving related threat and challenge appraisals, their perceived control over reckless driving, their disregard for negative consequences of this specific behavior, positive feedback received on their driving, environmental driving-climate and negative driving modeling. The dependent measure was self-reported frequency of reckless driving. Findings indicated that challenge and self-efficacy appraisals, along with negative environmental influences were related to higher frequency of risky driving, whereas threat appraisals, as well as positive feedback, were related to a lower frequency of reckless driving. In addition, whereas for men, self-efficacy in driving strongly predicted reckless driving, disregard for negative consequences was an important predictor for women. The results are discussed in view of an evaluating process of personal cognitive-emotional resources and environmental support proposed by Lazarus. Recommendations are made regarding the potential effectiveness of using positive appeals in prevention interventions.
When time is limited, researchers may be faced with the choice of using an extremely brief measure of the Big-Five personality dimensions or using no measure at all. To meet the need for a very brief measure, 5 and 10-item inventories were developed and evaluated. Although somewhat inferior to standard multi-item instruments, the instruments reached adequate levels in terms of: (a) convergence with widely used Big-Five measures in self, observer, and peer reports, (b) test–retest reliability, (c) patterns of predicted external correlates, and (d) convergence between self and observer ratings. On the basis of these tests, a 10-item measure of the Big-Five dimensions is offered for situations where very short measures are needed, personality is not the primary topic of interest, or researchers can tolerate the somewhat diminished psychometric properties associated with very brief measures.
Investigations of relationships between the personality variable, locus of control (LOC, Rotter, 1966) and driver behaviour or accidents have returned contrasting results. Literature review suggests results depend on gender or accident experience of participants, suggesting these factors interact with LOC to influence driving. Relationships were investigated in terms of influence on the eight driving styles of the Multidimensional Driving Style Inventory (MDSI, Taubman-Ben-Ari, Mikulincer, & Gillath, 2004) in young drivers (18–29 years). Gender and LOC differences in driving styles previously related to accidents were proposed. It was also proposed that driving experience influences driving style, and LOC influences effect of driving experience. Gender differences were found for dissociative, anxious, patient, risky, angry and high-velocity styles. Women had more external LOC than men. Driver stress styles increased with more external LOC, but reduced with increased driving experience, but so did patient style. High-velocity style increased with experience. Controlling for LOC revealed important gender differences in effect of experience: positive effects for men (reducing angry and high-velocity, increasing carefulness) and negative effects for women (increasing angry and higher velocity, reducing carefulness). Findings suggest negative influence of high internal LOC on young men in terms of its interaction with experience.
A new model for the motivational factors in decision-making processes undergone by drivers is introduced. It emphasizes the competition between the driver's desire to perform a certain act—induced by (excitatory) motives—in a certain traffic situation and the subjective risk associated with this desire. The import of this model to traffic-safety work lies in its emphasis on what the driver actually does in any given traffic situation rather than on his driving skill and or the traffic conditions as such.
In driving motorised vehicles, the amount of risk accepted varies between individuals. Traditional theories of risk have tended to focus on a lack of skill as a function of risk taking and have ignored social motivations and attitudes for engaging in risk. This study aims to categorise and contextualise risk taking behaviour in relation to car driving through studying the motivations and attitudes towards risk. The results were tested on a representative sample (n=1655) of the UK driving population and four groups were identified based on motivations; those that took risk unintentionally formed the largest group. Three smaller groups who took deliberate risks were also found, a reactive risk taking group who took risks when reacting to stress or being in a hurry, a calculated risk taking group who took risks when they felt it was safe to do so, such as late at night or on well-known roads, and a continuous risk taking group who frequently took risks for their own sake.
Observing motorway driving violations Contemporary issues in road user behaviour and traffic safety
- A I Glendon
- D C Sutton
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Does increasing intrigue and uncertainty compromise safety? [online] Available from
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Opportunities and new challenges for traffic and transport psychology
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Driver behaviour: safe and unsafe drivers
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A very brief measure of the Big-Five personality domains Towards an international scale of telic-paratelic dominance
- S D Gosling
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- G H Gotts
- J H Kerr
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Trait explanations in personality psychology The essence of boredom Attitudes towards vehicle driving behaviour: categorising and contextualising risk
- R R Mccrae
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- W L Mikulas
- S J Vodanovich
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Characteristics of speeding, violating and thrill-seeking drivers Traffic and transport psychology
- S G Stradling
- M Meadows
- S Beatty