The Development and Validation of Pre-Driving Assessment: Attitude towards safe driving scale

An occupational therapist who involved with driving rehabilitation should use a proper evaluation in identifying safe driving behaviour during the pre-driving assessment. Many reports have stated that human factors contributed up to 97% of collision. This study aims to develop a psychological evaluation that measures human factors in traffic safety during the pre-driving assessment. This study was involved sequential mix methodology approach. The factor analysis was carried out to determine the validity and reliability of the evaluation (Cronbach alpha .887). This assessment found to be adequate in providing the standard means of risky driving attitude based on the cut off value established.Keywords: Occupational science; Pre-driving assessment; Functional activities; Driving rehabilitationeISSN: 2398-4287 © 2020. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v5i13.206

The Evaluation of Route Guidance Systems

BACKGROUND We were commissioned by the Transport and Road Research Laboratory to: "collaborate with the German government and their representatives who are responsible for conducting the LISB trial in Berlin in order to produce an agreed methodology, which is acceptable in both Germany and the UK, for assessing the automatic route guidance systems which will be provided in Berlin and London." The brief suggested a number of aspects to be included, and required detailed proposals, timescales and costs for implementation in London. 1.1.2 The background to the brief lies in decisions to introduce pilot automatic route guidance systems in the two cities. The principles of the systems are similar, and have been described in detail elsewhere (Jeffery, 1987). In brief, they involve : (i) a central computer which retains information on a specified road network, which is updated using real time information from the equipment users; (ii) infra red beacons at selected junctions which transmit information to equipped vehicles and receive information from those vehicles; (iii) in-vehicle equipment which includes a dead-reckoning system for position finding, a device for requesting guidance and specifying the destination, a micro-computer which selects the optimal route, and a display which indicates when a turn is required on the main network, and the compass direction and distance to the final destination; iv) transmission from the equipped vehicles of origin, requested destination, links used since passing the last beacon and, for each link, the time of entry and departure and time spent delayed. It is this travel time information which is used to update the central computer's knowledge of the best routes. (Continues..

Traffic accidents in Saudi Arabia: a study of their causes and association with driver behaviour, with specific reference to the eastern region

A high incidence of road accidents has been recorded in Saudi Arabia in recent years (Traffic Department Statistics 1991). Various factors might have accounted for this high rate of road accidents; the aim of this research, therefore, was to examine what factors contribute to road accidents in the country.In pursuit of this aim, a review of relevant literature on factors related with road accidents in many countries of the world was undertaken. Through this review, a list of road, vehicle and driver-related variables was selected for investigation in this study.The target population for the study was 4,100 drivers in Eastern Saudi Arabia who had been involved in road accidents in the period. Out of this population, a sample of 600 drivers was selected. The instrument used to collect data for the study was a questionnaire which requested demographic information on factors which had caused them to have an accident, and questions analysing habitual driving behaviour. Drivers were also tested on their knowledge of road signs. Returns were received from 484 drivers, 81% of the study sample.Two statistical techniques, chi square and correlation coefficient Spearman Brown formula, were utilised to test the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable - the number of road accidents.The findings of the study show that certain variables were significantly associated with road accidents in Saudi Arabia. Among the significant variables were the age of the driver, education level, profession, violation record, vehicle ownership, joy-riding, poor eye sight, sun haze, sand storm, long hours driving, non-observance of speed limit, emerging and exiting from roads without signals, presence of stray animals, non-marking of the road, non-familiarity with the road, lack of regular checking of vehicles, lack of regular servicing of vehicles and driving under medication.The variables that were not significant include marital status, non-possession of a licence, mechanical fault, reversing, non-alertness to others' errors, use of high beam lights while driving, non-lighting of the roads, passengers' behaviour, ear disorder.Conclusions were drawn as to deficiencies in driver training in Saudi Arabia and inadequacies of supervision by the law enforcement agents. It is recommended that policy makers should make intensive efforts in organising training programmes and seminars for drivers and curriculum of driving schools should be expanded. Measures for improving enforcement of traffic regulations are made, and it is suggested that an Islamic insurance policy for vehicles should be introduced in the country. Finally, suggestions are made for further research

Promoting Public Health and Safety: A Predictive Modeling Software Analysis on Perceived Road Fatality Contributory Factors

Extensive literature search was conducted to computationally analyze the relationship between key perceived road fatality factors and public health impacts, in terms of mortality and morbidity. Heterogeneous sources of data on road fatality 1970-2005 and that based on interview questionnaire on European road drivers’ perception were sourced. Computational analysis was performed on these data using the Multilayer Perceptron model within the dtreg predictive modeling software. Driver factors had the highest relative significance. Drivers played significant role as causative agents of road accidents. A good degree of correlation was also observed when compared with results obtained by previous researchers. Sweden, UK, Finland, Denmark, Germany, France, Netherlands, and Austria, where road safety targets were set and EU targets adopted, experienced a faster and sharper reduction of road fatalities. However, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Portugal experienced slow, but little reduction in cases of road fatalities. Spain experienced an increase in road fatalities possibly due to road fatalities enhancing factors. Estonia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Hungry, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland experienced a fluctuating but decreasing trend. Enforcement of road safety principles and regulations are needed to decrease the incidences of fatal accidents. Adoption of the EU target of -50% reductions of fatalities in all countries will help promote public health and safety

Preliminary on Human Driver Behavior: A Review

Drowsiness is one of the main factors causing traffic accidents. Research on drowsiness can effectively reduce the traffic accident rate. According to the existing literature, this paper divides the current measurement techniques into subjective and objective ones. Among them, invasive detection and non-invasive detection based on vehicles or drivers are the main objective detection methods.Then, this paper studies the characteristics of drowsiness, and analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of each detection method in practical application. Finally, the development of detection technology is prospected, and provides ideas for the follow-up development of fatigue driving detection technology

The influence of personal navigation devices on drivers\u27 visual attention on the road ahead and driving performance

Nowadays, personal navigation devices (PNDs) that provide GPS-based directions are widespread in vehicles. These devices typically display the real-time location of the vehicle on a map and play spoken prompts when drivers need to turn. While such devices are less distracting than paper directions, their graphical display may distract users from their primary task of driving. This thesis investigates the influence of two PNDs on driving performance and visual attention. In the experiments conducted with a high fidelity driving simulator, we found that drivers using a navigation system with a graphical display indeed spent less time looking at the road compared to those using a navigation system with spoken directions only. Furthermore, glancing at the display was correlated with higher variance in driving performance measures. We discuss the implications of these findings on PND design for vehicles

Driving Anger, Sensation Seeking, Narcissism, and Driver\u27s Angry Thoughts in the Prediction of Unsafe Driving

The present study expanded the previous research on multivariate prediction of unsafe driving behaviors. Specifically, the utility of combining driving anger, sensation seeking, narcissism, and driver\u27s angry thoughts variables in the prediction of various unsafe driving behaviors and driving anger expression were assessed. In addition the present study sought to explore the predictive utility of driving anger and sensation seeking in a non-college sample. Three hundred and forty-nine college students completed measures of driving anger, sensation seeking, narcissism, driver\u27s angry thoughts, unsafe driving behavior, and driving anger expression. Ninety eight non-college participants completed a subset of the previously mentioned measures. Hierarchical multiple regressions controlling for age, gender, and average miles driven per week supported the predictive utility of driving anger, sensation seeking, and driver\u27s angry thoughts. Results demonstrated significant improvements in the prediction of various unsafe driving behaviors through the use of combining driving anger, sensation seeking, and driver\u27s angry thoughts. Exploratory analyses also found differences with regard to retrospective and prospective data collection and between college and non-college participants on many variables

Adaptive electronic throttle control of road vehicles

Previous work at Loughborough University has clearly demonstrated the gains that can be made in overall performance feel through the manipulation of the engine demand map. In particular the studies have shown the importance of the throttle progression, and the relationship between throttle pedal progression and wide-open throttle performance. These studies concluded with a clear set of design guidelines for the initial set up of a vehicle to achieve optimal performance feel for a population of drivers. These studies also highlighted the wide variation in response from different subjects indicating that further gains in satisfaction could be achieved if the demand map were optimised for each driver. Failing to provide optimum performance feel for the driver can result in reduced satisfaction, in turn making vehicles less saleable and more difficult to drive through the increased concentration needed to drive the vehicle. This thesis attempts to solve the problem of demographic and driver preference variation, by developing an electronic throttle system that adapts to driver preference. [Continues.

The Adaption Test: The Development of a Method to Measure Speed Adaption to Traffic Complexity

To monitor novice driver performance in the first years of solo driving, a test aimed at assessing speed adaptation to the traffic situation was developed and evaluated. The Adaptation Test consisted of 18 traffic scenes presented in two (almost) identical photographs, which differed in one single detail, increasing the situation’s complexity. The difference in reported speed between the two pictures was used as an indication of drivers’ adaptation of speed to the complexity of the traffic situation. A previous study showed that novice, unsafe and overconfident drivers, as identified in an on-road driving assessment, performed worse on the Adaptation Test (i.e. less often reported a lower speed in the more complex situation). The analysis of new data in this paper shows no correlation between performance on the Adaptation Test and self-reported crashes, and that after two years, experienced drivers had improved their performance on the Adaptation Test just as much as novice drivers