Fear and anxiety while driving: Differential impact of task demands, speed and motivation

Abstract

In many motivational models of driving behaviour, threat-related feelings and arousal play a key role in inducing drivers to opt for lower driving speeds. The present paper proposes that these emotional symptoms can be ascribed to different underlying processes, namely fear and anxiety. Fear arises if the current task demands exceed the driver's perceived capabilities, whereas anxiety increases with the strength of the driver's goal conflict between safety and velocity. Therefore, it is predicted that choosing a lower driving speed compensates for an increase in fear but does not decrease anxiety. A driving simulator study confirmed this prediction. Both an increase in task demands due to lower visibility of the road and an increase in goal conflict due to higher motivational incentives for fast and safe driving led participants to choose a lower speed during self-paced driving. Higher task demands increased self-reported anxiety and physiological arousal in runs with prescribed velocities. However, during self-paced runs in which participants adapted their speed to the viewing condition, symptoms of a threat-related emotion only occurred if the goal conflict increased. Effects of prescribed velocities suggest that lower driving speeds annihilated the emotional effects of task demands but not the effects of goal conflict. The amplitude of electrodermal responses to a deer on the road indicated that this difference also applies to drivers' immediate responses to an acute danger. It is concluded that cautious driving behaviour can be guided either by fear or anxiety. Understanding the difference between these emotional processes might help to develop road safety measures that are particularly adapted to specific requirements.