Analyzing the impact of time pressure on drivers’ safety by assessing gap-acceptance behavior at un-signalized intersections

Abstract

Time pressure is a driving condition experienced by drivers in day-to-day life. However, limited studies are conducted on assessing the effects of time pressure on driving performance, particularly in Low-and-Middle Income Countries. Further, the majority of road safety research in Low-and-Middle Income Countries is based on the assumption of consistency and homogeneity of driving condition without taking into account the risk tolerance of the drivers which highly governs the driving performance and decision making while driving. Thus, the current study was conducted to overcome this particular aspect by examining the gap-acceptance decision of the drivers and its implication on safety at un-signalized intersections under time pressure driving conditions. Ninety-four participants’ data were collected on the driving simulator located at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in three different time pressure conditions: No Time Pressure (NTP), Low Time Pressure (LTP), and High Time Pressure (HTP). The accepted gaps were analyzed using a decision tree which revealed that merge distance of oncoming vehicles, speed reduction, gender, regular exercise, and driving profession along with time pressure significantly influenced the gap-acceptance decisions. Compared to NTP driving condition, the accident probability was observed to increase by 127% and 181% in LTP and HTP driving conditions, respectively. The overall findings from the current study aids in understanding the effect of time pressure on drivers’ decision making and safety as well as highlight the role of human factors that needs to be specifically incorporated in the road safety research conducted in Low-and-Middle Income Countries to avoid safety–critical situations.