Identification of Contributing Factors for Driver’s Perceptual Bias of Aggressive Driving in China

Yongfeng Ma,Xin Gu,Shuyan Chen,Aemal J. Khattakc,Ya’nan Yu,Kun Tang

doi:10.3390/su13020766

Abstract

Aggressive driving is common across the world. While most aggressive driving is conscious, some aggressive driving behavior may be unconscious on part of motor vehicle drivers. Perceptual bias of aggressive driving behavior is one of the main causes of traffic accidents. This paper focuses on identifying impact factors related to aggressive driving perceptual bias. Questionnaire data from 690 drivers, collected from a drivers’ retraining course administered by the Traffic Management Bureau in Nanjing, China, were used to collect drivers’ socioeconomic characteristics, personality traits, and external environment data. Actual penalty points were considered as an objective indicator and Gaussian mixture model (GMM) was used to cluster an objective indicator into different levels. The driving anger expression (DAX) was used to measure drivers’ self-assessment of aggressive driving behavior and then to identify perceptual biases. Then a binary logistic model was estimated to explore the influence of different factors on drivers’ perceptual bias of aggressive driving behavior. Results showed that bus drivers were less likely to have perceptual bias of aggressive driving behavior. Truck drivers, drivers with an extraversion characteristic, and drivers who have dissatisfaction with road infrastructure and actual work were likely to have a perceptual bias. The findings are potentially beneficial for proposing targeted countermeasures to identify dangerous drivers and improve drivers’ safety awareness.

Highlights

As reported by the World Health Organization [1], worldwide, 1.35 million people lost their lives on the roads in 2018
Truck drivers were more likely to have perceptual bias of aggressive driving behavior; Drivers with extroverted personalities were more likely to engage in perceptual bias; Less comfortable work or road environments promoted drivers’ involvement in a perceptual bias of aggressive driving behavior and; (d)
Effective measures include conducting “face-to-face” educational activities and broadcasting educational films on accident causes resulting from perceptual bias

Summary

Introduction

As reported by the World Health Organization [1], worldwide, 1.35 million people lost their lives on the roads in 2018. In China, the rapid growth of economy over the past few decades has significantly altered the transportation system. The number of vehicles has been increased and traffic accidents have emerged as a serious social and public management issue [2]. According to the China Statistical Yearbook, 2.06 people died per. Many previous studies used traffic accident analysis and traffic conflict analysis to explore the influencing factors of safety [4,5,6,7]. Among the various contributing factors of traffic accidents, aggressive driving has been shown to be positively related to traffic accidents [8,9,10,11]

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion