Driver Stress Research Articles

Stress from an administrative perspective in public transport drivers in Mexico City: Minibus and metrobus

Stress is one of the occupational diseases that affect workers worldwide, affecting their own productivity and performance (as well as that of the organizations where they work), and even their physical and mental health. According to the International Labour Organization, Mexican workers suffer from stress the most all over the world, since theirs is one of the most stressful professions. With this in mind, the aim of this research is to study the work stress in bus rapid transit drivers and minibus in Mexico City. The method used is based on an exploratory statistical factorial analysis. It is concluded that the factors which a higher influence in the onset of stress are organizational, environmental (physical/individual), inherent to the position, extra organizational and individual. Although divergent among drivers, minibus drivers are the workers who suffer the most from stress.

Psychosocial risks associated with the profession of train driver

Excellent competencies as well as a good physical and mental health are required in train drivers’ profession. Despite the changes in the structure of employment the train drivers above 46 years and job tenure longer than 30 years are the largest group. The generation gap is becoming more pronounced, and its fulfilment will not be easy. It is related not only to training of new personnel but also promotion of healthy work environment focus on reducing occupational stress. The aim of study was twofold. Firstly, identification of psychosocial risks and sources of occupational stress in relation to health of employees will be performed. Secondly, the methods of reducing with occupational stress in train drivers’ profession will be indicated. In study presented here the qualitative method was applied. We have conducted the focused group interview among train drivers and instructors. The results have shown that more important source of occupational stress were the failure of the material factor, workload, role conflict, working time and care of trainees. Results of our previous study based on the individual reviews have indicated that traumatic stress associated with fatal incidents and people under train were significant occupational risk in train drivers’ profession. Organizational resources such as competencies and knowledge of experience train drivers can be helpful in health promotion and development of methods reducing occupational risk. Safety climate, risk assessment, and the acquisition of new personnel require new actions and improvement. Management style more focused on the human factor should be preferred.

An Overview of Current Methods for Thermal Comfort Assessment in Vehicle Cabin

Thermal comfort has been studied for a long time, resulting in several indices to assess the thermal comfort today. Contrary to the case of building, assessing thermal comfort in vehicles has several particularities. The effect of solar radiation, poor interior insulation, the non-uniformity of the average radiant temperature, a very short time to ensure the comfort parameters are some of the characteristics of an automotive environment. Indoor Environmental Quality in buildings has gained importance in the last decade and now is developing a new direction of research, the environmental quality in vehicles. The ambience quality is an important criterion in marketing this type of products. It influences not only the thermal comfort inside the car, but it also reduces the risk of accidents by reducing the driver's stress and ensuring a good visibility, which leads to a safer trip. In this study, we reviewed the most popular methods for assessing thermal comfort.

Stress Events Detection of Driver by Wearable Glove System

This paper is focused to develop a wearable glove system to detect driver stress events in real time. The driver’s stress is estimated by the use of physiological signals and steering wheel motion analysis. The steering wheel motion is analyzed by driver’s hand moving characteristic. Principally, the sensors on the glove gathered the photoplethysmogram signal via fingertip, and hand motion signal via inertial motion unit. The sensor module readings are transmitted to an end terminal application via a Bluetooth low energy transmission module to compute the driver stress index. The studies are carried out in a simulated driving, which is composed of three distinct driving scenarios to study the subjects’ behaviors that correlate with stress. Twenty-eight subjects are requested to perform three different driving sessions with random scenarios generated while performing various driving maneuvers to assess the dynamic of mental workloads. The stress assessments of driving test subjects are self-reported at pre- and post-stimulus as well as observed through facial expression recorded throughout the whole experiments. Moreover, this paper also aimed to investigate the correlation of stress events with different driving tasks. Stress index is computed by a support vector machine pattern classifier with extracted features from sensors reading. Notably, stress index differences were found among three driving scenarios and driving maneuvers. Results revealed the true accuracy of stress detection is greater than 95% in average.

Validation of the Driver Stress Inventory in China: Relationship with dangerous driving behaviors

Perceived stress while driving may affect how critical driving events are handled. The current study validates a Chinese version of the Driver Stress Inventory (DSI) and explores its correlation with dangerous driving behaviors and gender. A sample of 246 drivers completed the Chinese version of the DSI and the Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ). We also evaluated specific sociodemographic variables and traffic violations (including speeding, violating traffic signs or markings, driving while intoxicated, running a red light, and incurring penalty points). A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) verified the DSI's internal structure. The DSI was also validated using questionnaires related to the DBQ, self-reported traffic accidents and violations, and sociodemographic characteristics. First, all of the DSI dimensions were moderately or weakly correlated with the DBQ subscales. Second, aggression, hazard monitoring and fatigue were weakly correlated with minor accidents. Third, drivers who had sped and violated traffic signs during the previous three years reported higher aggression and thrill seeking, while drivers who had violated traffic signs or markings during the previous three years reported decreased hazard monitoring compared with non-offenders. Finally, there were significant gender differences in driver stress. The Chinese version of the DSI will be useful for classifying and diagnosing drivers who may be at an increased risk for stress reactions.

Traffic medicine in Saudi Arabia, from prevention to rehabilitation

Saudi Arabia is a vast country of 2,149,690 km2, and is the largest Arab state in Western Asia. The Kingdom has been categorized as a high-income nation, and is part of the “Group of Twenty” (G-20) of major economies. It has a total population of approximately 27 million, one-fourth of whom are expatriates, with the highest population density (per km2) of 101 in Jizan, and 38 in Makkah, and the lowest of 2.8 in Najran, and 3.6 in Al Jawf. In KSA, motor vehicles are the main means of transportation within, and in-between cities. According to a recent estimate, more than 6 million cars are found on the roads of KSA. According to the morbidity and mortality records in the Ministry of Health (MOH) hospitals, 20% of beds are occupied by RTA victims, and 81% of deaths in the hospitals are due to RTIs. Over the past 2 decades, KSA has recorded 86,000 deaths, and 611,000 injuries in RTAs with 7% resulting in permanent disabilities. Road traffic accidents are a major health hazard with 19 killed daily, and 4 injured every hour in KSA. Al Naami et al, in his article mentioned the common reasons behind the soaring numbers of road traffic accidents in Saudi Arabia, which included the human factor, the vehicle, and the road/environment (2). Among the human factor, Driver errors account for about 80% of all RTAs in Saudi Arabia. Overspeeding is responsible for 65% of all traffic accidents (3.5 times the incidence in the USA). Violation of traffic signals at urban intersections is responsible for about 50% of accidents (4.5 times more common than in the USA). Vehicles and road layouts contribute to accidents and account for 20% of RTAs in Saudi Arabia, Tire blowouts and poor roads are very “hot” safety issues in Saudi Arabia, particularly in rural areas. Environmental factors such as rain, fog, and dust have minimal effects on RTAs in Saudi Arabia. However, extreme heat is responsible for 39% of all accidents due to tire blowouts. Heat also contributes to driver stress levels, leading to reduced mental capacity. Traffic medicine in Saudi Arabia has focused more on the prevention approach rather than the rehabilitation, The evidence sufficiently supports that the action plans in KSA so far have mostly focused on the prevention of RTIs rather than RTAs, including seat belt laws, Saher system, emergency medical rescue services, and the role of the police in the documentation of RTAs. While the international recommendations emphasize on developing institutional framework, safer roads and vehicles, proper surveillance or data system, safer road users, and post-crash care. The MOH in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior launched a road safety program called Saher in 2009. It is an automated system that was developed to manage traffic via electronic systems in major cities in Saudi Arabia, this newly established system uses a digital camera network connected to the national information center to track any violations and to control traffic. However, data on its long term effects on accidents and death are not yet available(3). Another important aspect of traffic medicine is the implementation of Trauma Registry as part of the national trauma system project, trauma registries can provide information on injury pattern and allow statistical modeling of trauma related variables to identify public health threats and prioritize interventions. Additionally registries can help monitor the epidemiology of serious injuries, track hospital performance overtime, and benchmark outcomes between hospitals and regions(4). Education and training of Trauma Human resources is another important aspect, King Abdulaziz Medical City has took the lead in a lot of medical fields disciplinary including medical education and has given trauma a major importance were KAMC has the largest ER outside North America and the 4th largest in the world. KAMC has the lead nationally if not in the region in regard to trauma courses where the main office to those courses is in King Abdulaziz Medical City.

Stress in police work dogs with suspected infection Ehrlichia sp

Much is known about dogs athletes, many works and books with dogs discuss canine behavior. However, all cover personal dogs. Little is known about the police working dogs. Private live dogs in the group. Have the freedom to express themselves with people and other animals. Police working dogs living in stressful environments. His boxing is individual, the contact with humans and animals is restricted and many only go out of boxing for approximately 5 square feet to work. The daily period of freedom without work, when there is around twenty minutes a day for each one. Even already in chronic stress during the police dogs have acute stress. To be in contention, in speech, patrolling or faro, the dogs perceive the stress of your driver and other persons involved in police occurrences. These conflict situations increase even more the hormonal changes of animals. The raças employed in this Kennel are German Shepherd, Belgian Shepherd malinois and rottweiller. Serum for the dosage of antibodies and hormones is being mounted to future work in the area of acute stress in dogs for police work. Ticks also are being mounted to future Erlichia DNA identification.

Biosignal analysis to assess mental stress in automatic driving of trucks: palmar perspiration and masseter electromyography.

Nowadays insight into human-machine interaction is a critical topic with the large-scale development of intelligent vehicles. Biosignal analysis can provide a deeper understanding of driver behaviors that may indicate rationally practical use of the automatic technology. Therefore, this study concentrates on biosignal analysis to quantitatively evaluate mental stress of drivers during automatic driving of trucks, with vehicles set at a closed gap distance apart to reduce air resistance to save energy consumption. By application of two wearable sensor systems, a continuous measurement was realized for palmar perspiration and masseter electromyography, and a biosignal processing method was proposed to assess mental stress levels. In a driving simulator experiment, ten participants completed automatic driving with 4, 8, and 12 m gap distances from the preceding vehicle, and manual driving with about 25 m gap distance as a reference. It was found that mental stress significantly increased when the gap distances decreased, and an abrupt increase in mental stress of drivers was also observed accompanying a sudden change of the gap distance during automatic driving, which corresponded to significantly higher ride discomfort according to subjective reports.

Detecting Drivers’ Stress in Emergency Using Physiological Sensors

This paper presented methods for collecting and analyzing heart rate data during virtual-world driving task in emergency to distinguish and assess a driver’s stress state. The primer study had developed the driver stress training system loaded on driving simulator to display 14 typical emergency scenarios in different road environment. Electrocardiogram was recorded continuously by Physiological Sensors while drivers followed a random simulated driving on the driving simulator. Data from 30 drivers of at least 10 times per scenario were collected for analysis. The data were analyzed in two ways of HRV (Heart Rate Variability) analysis. Analysis I used time domain indexes of data during the driving in the whole training to distinguish the stress occur during the time frame of the scenario with an accuracy of over 98% across multiple drivers and driving days. Analysis II compared frequency indexes of data in stress state in emergency and in clam, with a metric of observable stressors created by the scenarios. The results showed that heart rate metrics is most closely correlated with driver stress level for most drivers studied. These findings confirmed that heart rate signals can provide a metric of driver stress in future cars capable of physiological monitoring. Such measurement could be used to help manage non-critical and critical in-vehicle information systems and could also provide a continuous measure of how different road and traffic conditions affect drivers. Physiological sensors can be used in driving assistance system in future.

In Situ Methodology for Studying State Driver Stress: A Between‐Subjects Design Replication

Previous studies of driver stress have utilized in‐vehicle in situ questionnaires to measure driver stress during the actual commute. These studies demonstrated several important findings, but all adopted a repeated‐measures research design where each participant was exposed to counterbalanced high and low congestion conditions. This approach reduced between‐subjects variability but increased the possibility of demand characteristics. The current study replicated the findings of the in situ methodology using a between‐subjects research design. State stress was greater in heavy traffic. Time urgency, lack of perceived control, and trait susceptibility to perceiving driving as stressful contributed to higher levels of state driver stress. No gender differences in state driver stress were found. Implications of the results and future research directions are discussed.

Driver Behavior in Road Tunnels: Association with Driver Stress and Performance

Complex traffic environments can affect driver stress and driving performance negatively. Driving through tunnels can be particularly stressful, and these segments have been associated with higher crash rates. However, the constraints of the natural environment (e.g., mountains, waterways) often restrict the flexibility to make major modifications in tunnels. The purpose of this study was to evaluate stress as drivers traversed along an interstate route that included tunnel and nontunnel segments, as well as a 75-m transition period before the tunnels. Data from 50 drivers, including information from electrocardiogram recordings such as heart rate and standard deviation of interbeat intervals (SDNN), were collected. Driving performance measures included vehicle speed and braking. Multivariate and univariate analyses of variance were used to identify increases in drivers' stress during several road segments: the transition to a tunnel entrance, within a tunnel, and open road segments. The largest variations in performance measures were observed in tunnels, followed by the periods in transition segments. Evaluation of continuous speed profiles along the route showed that drivers tended to decrease their speed before entering a tunnel and increase speed just before exiting a tunnel. The highest level of stress (denoted by the largest positive change in heart rate and lowest variability in SDNN) was observed along the transition segments, followed by the tunnel segments. Identifying situations in which drivers may experience higher levels of stress and the corresponding impact on driving performance is important for future road and tunnel designs.

Evaluation of driver's stress using the Vital signs

Evaluation of driver's stress using the Vital signs

Personality predictors of driver vengeance.

The purpose of this study was to identify personality and individual difference measures related to driver vengeance, as measured by the Driver Vengeance Questionnaire (DVQ; Wiesenthal, Hennessy, & Gibson, 2000). There were 170 undergraduate students who completed paper-and-pencil questionnaires including the DVQ and measures of narcissism, impulsivity, and trait driver stress. A hierarchical linear regressidn predicting DVQ score revealed that being male (β = .25), narcissism (β = .19), and trait driver stress (β = .41) were significantly associated with vengeance. Impulsivity was significant in the third block of the regression but was not a significant predictor of vengeance in the final block. Interactions between gender and the individual difference measures were not significant. The final model accounted for 34% of the variance. Implications of the results and directions for future research are discussed.

Sleep quality, posttraumatic stress, depression, and human errors in train drivers: a population-based nationwide study in South Korea.

Human error is defined as an unintended error that is attributable to humans rather than machines, and that is important to avoid to prevent accidents. We aimed to investigate the association between sleep quality and human errors among train drivers. Cross-sectional. Population-based. A sample of 5,480 subjects who were actively working as train drivers were recruited in South Korea. The participants were 4,634 drivers who completed all questionnaires (response rate 84.6%). None. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the Korean Occupational Stress Scale (KOSS). Of 4,634 train drivers, 349 (7.5%) showed more than one human error per 5 y. Human errors were associated with poor sleep quality, higher PSQI total scores, short sleep duration at night, and longer sleep latency. Among train drivers with poor sleep quality, those who experienced severe posttraumatic stress showed a significantly higher number of human errors than those without. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that human errors were significantly associated with poor sleep quality and posttraumatic stress, whereas there were no significant associations with depression, trait and state anxiety, and work stress after adjusting for age, sex, education years, marital status, and career duration. Poor sleep quality was found to be associated with more human errors in train drivers, especially in those who experienced severe posttraumatic stress.

P.1.k.023 Sleep quality, posttraumatic stress, depression, and human errors in train drivers: a population-based nationwide study in South Korea

P.1.k.023 Sleep quality, posttraumatic stress, depression, and human errors in train drivers: a population-based nationwide study in South Korea

Estimating Drivers' Stress from GPS Traces.

Driving is known to be a daily stressor. Measurement of driver's stress in real-time can enable better stress management by increasing self-awareness. Recent advances in sensing technology has made it feasible to continuously assess driver's stress in real-time, but it requires equipping the driver with these sensors and/or instrumenting the car. In this paper, we present "GStress", a model to estimate driver's stress using only smartphone GPS traces. The GStress model is developed and evaluated from data collected in a mobile health user study where 10 participants wore physiological sensors for 7 days ( for an average of 10.45 hours/day) in their natural environment. Each participant engaged in 10 or more driving episodes, resulting in a total of 37 hours of driving data. We find that major driving events such as stops, turns, and braking increase stress of the driver. We quantify their impact on stress and thus construct our GStress model by training a Generalized Linear Mixed Model (GLMM) on our data. We evaluate the applicability of GStress in predicting stress from GPS traces, and obtain a correlation of 0.72. By obviating any burden on the driver or the car, we believe, GStress can make driver's stress assessment ubiquitous.

English

INTRODUCTION: Bangalore is one of the most sought-after cities in the country with rapid growth in IT industry and rise in the number of job opportunities which has led to increase in vehicular population to about 1.5 million, with an annual growth rate of 7 - 10%. Traffic congestion has been found to disturb mood, lead to frustration and work absences. Hence the present study was undertaken to know the emotional states of stress, anxiety and depression in city bus drivers and compare the results with non-drivers of similar working environment. OBJECTIVES: To measure stress, anxiety and depression in city bus drivers. And, to compare the results with non-drivers of similar working environment. METHODOLOGY: Comparative parallel study done with 30 male city bus drivers as cases and 30 male bus conductors as controls in the age group of 20-60 years. The study group was matched for working hours and socio economic status. Appropriate inclusion and exclusion criteria were excised and informed consent was taken. Depression, anxiety and stress scale (DASS), a 42 item questionnaire evaluating depression, anxiety and stress was administered to all subjects. RESULTS: compiled and statistically analyzed. Drivers were more stressed compared to non-drivers which was statistically significant (p<0.01), whereas anxiety and depression scores showed a similar trend though without a statistical significance. CONCLUSION: Results highlight that city bus drivers are more stressed compared to non-drivers working in the same environment. Therefore measures to combat the stress need to be emphasized.

Route Search and Evaluation Method Including Charging Plan for Electric Vehicles

Electric vehicles (EVs) have numerous inherent challenges, including running out of power frequently and taking a long time to charge. To make matters worse, current automotive navigation systems cannot provide proper route searches that include charging plans. One way to tackle these challenging problems is to propose several route plans and select one which meets the driver’s needs. In this paper, the following three evaluation criteria are proposed: shortening travel time by predicting charging queues, maintaining high residual capacity of the battery, and utilizing charging time. The proposed method is applied to Okinawa, Japan as a case study. The simulation results using this evaluation method in Okinawa demonstrate its potential utility and open the way for future work on relieving the stress of EV drivers.

Postdeployment driving stress and related occupational limitations among veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

Difficulty in driving after deployment has emerged as an impediment for servicemembers returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (OIF-OEF). This study explored postdeployment driving stress and related occupational limitations using two self-report instruments: the Driver's Stress Profile and the Driving and Occupational Limitations questionnaire. Data gathered from 103 OIF-OEF returnees confirmed that driving and related occupational issues occur postdeployment. Significant low to moderate correlations were found between postdeployment driving stress and limitations in community mobility, leisure, and social participation. The returnees who drove off base more frequently during deployment showed significantly higher levels of postdeployment driving stress than the returnees who drove off base less frequently. Moreover, the returnees who demonstrated higher levels of driving stress and occupational limitations required more time to resume normal driving postdeployment. Findings raise awareness about the need to design effective driver rehabilitation and community reintegration programs for this population.

Estimation of a driver's stress based on steering admittance measurement

In recent years, an increasing amount of research on advanced driver assistant system (ADAS) has been reported. To improve the performance of ADAS, the system should be adaptive to the change of conditions of drivers and there is a need to be able to get accurate, non-evasive estimates of driver neuromuscular admittance. From previous researches, correlation between grip strength and driver’s stress is shown. Also, correlation between human admittance and grip strength is shown. From these two facts, estimation of admittance can be used for non-evasive estimation of driver’s stress. Steering admittance somehow reflects driver’s intention, while a driver holds the steering wheel. In this research a method of admittance measurement using sensors of power steering system is proposed and its performance is examined through an experiment using a driving simulator. Admittance is estimated from measured feedback torque of power steering and steering wheel angle, and its feasibility is shown in a case of highway entrance and passing situations.