The Role of Gender and Age on Risk Perception of Drivers while Driving on Familiar and Unfamiliar Roads (original) (raw)
Related papers
Methods for assessing drivers' perception of specific hazards on the road
Accident Analysis & Prevention, 1989
The purpose of this research was to test a number of techniques for assessing drivers' perception of hazards. The techniques included three types of interview methods, the Q-sort method, and several variants of the repertory grid method. The techniques were judged largely on their ability to differentiate between old and young drivers, two groups with known differences in accident frequency. None of the interview techniques produced useful information regarding drivers' perception of hazards, and neither these techniques nor the Q-sort discriminated between old and young drivers. All the variants of the repertory grid differentiated between old and young drivers, in the sense that old drivers used extremes of the rating scale more often than young drivers. This phenomenon was most apparent with the fixed repertory grid. Further work on this technique revealed further differences between the age groups in terms of the correlational structure of the responses, which point to a number of hypotheses about risk perception in old and young drivers.
What's the risk? A comparison of actual and perceived driving risk
2014
It has long been presumed that drivers' perceptions of risk play an important role in guiding on-road behaviour. The answer to how accurately drivers perceive the momentary risk of a driving situation, however, is unknown. This research compared drivers' perceptions of the momentary risk for a range of roads to the objective risk associated with those roads. Videos of rural roads, filmed from the drivers' perspective, were presented to 69 participants seated in a driving simulator while they indicated the momentary levels of risk they were experiencing by moving a risk meter mounted on the steering wheel. Estimates of the objective levels of risk for the roads were calculated using road protection scores from the KiwiRAP database (part of the International Road Assessment Programme). Subsequently, the participants also provided risk estimates for still photos taken from the videos. Another group of 10 participants viewed the videos and photos while their eye movements and fixations were recorded. In a third experiment, 14 participants drove a subset of the roads in a car while providing risk ratings at selected points of interest. Results showed a high degree of consistency across the different methods. Certain road situations were rated as being riskier than the objective risk, and perhaps more importantly, the risk of other situations was significantly underrated. Horizontal curves and narrow lanes were associated with overrated risk estimates, while intersections and roadside hazards such as narrow road shoulders, power poles and ditches were significantly underrated. Analysis of eye movements indicated that drivers did not fixate these features and that the spread of fixations, pupil size and eye blinks were significantly correlated with the risk ratings. An analysis of the road design elements at 77 locations in the video revealed five road characteristics that predicted nearly 80% of the variance in drivers' risk perceptions; horizontal curvature, lane and shoulder width, gradient, and the presence of median barriers.
Gender Effects in Young Road Users on Road Safety Attitudes, Behaviors and Risk Perception
Frontiers in Psychology, 2016
In the present study, we investigated gender-related effects on road safety attitudes in 2681 young drivers (1458 males, 54.4%; aged 18-22) who filled out several scales assessing attitudes toward road safety issues, driving behavior in specific hypothetical situations, accident risk perception, and concerns about such a risk. We focused only on young drivers to better understand the role of gender in road safety attitudes in a period of life in which risky behaviors are widespread for males and females. Indeed, there is still no agreement as to the nature of these gender differences. According to some authors, the effects of gender on being involved in a crash due to driving skills are either non-existent or largely explained by differences in alcohol consumption. In our study, we found gender differences in road safety attitudes (i.e., "negative attitude toward traffic rules and risky driving"; "negative attitude toward drugs and alcohol" and "tolerance toward speeding") and in driver behavior (i.e., "errors in inattentive driving" and "driving violations"). This result is consistent in all drivers coming from nine different European countries. Our analyses yielded an important finding concerning risk perception. The results indicate that the level of risk perception during driving is the same for males and females. However, these two groups differ in the level of concern about this risk, with males being less concerned about the risk of a road accident. This suggests that the main difference between these two groups is not strictly related to judgment of the perceived risk probability but rather to the level of concern experienced about the consequences of the risk. This difference between risk perception and worry could explain differences in the frequency of car accidents in the two groups. The present findings may provide new insights for the development of gender-based prevention programs.
Age and Gender Differences in Perceived Accident Likelihood and Driver Competences
Risk Analysis, 1996
Road traffic accident involvement rates show clear age and gender differences which may in part be accounted for by differences in risk perception and perceptions of driving competence. The present study extends and replicates that of . Young (18-30 years) and older ( 4 5 4 0 years) male and female drivers responded to a questionnaire on perceived accident risk and driving competence (judgment and skill) with respect to themselves and four target groups, and also rated a series of videotaped driving sequences with respect to likelihood of accident occurrence and perceived driving competence. Results showed that effects of rater characteristics were generally confined to the questionnaire. Younger males were perceived as most likely to experience an accident and were judged to be lower than other groups in driving competence. Younger groups showed little bias against older groups and vice versa, but gender-related bias was apparent. The findings of Matthews and Moran were generally confirmed. The results are discussed with reference to four main issues: (1) demographic bias effects-which are generally weak; (2) stereotyping on the basis of gender and/or age of driver; (3) group-specific bias; (4) self-appraisal bias.
Accident Analysis & Prevention, 2008
The present study examined in 224 individuals whether an advanced driving training aimed at recognizing, avoiding and handling risks in demanding driving situations, affected perceived risk of driving situations (measured by a questionnaire). The training, which involved both experience and feedback on real performance, specifically intended to emphasize the dangers in loss of control of a vehicle. With that emphasis, it was hypothesized that perceived risk would increase after as compared to before the training. In addition, this study examined whether risk perception was dependent on gender or on age. A mixed ANOVA performed on mean scores on the questionnaire yielded significant main effects for training (before/after), gender, and age. Higher levels of perceived risk were reported after the training as compared to before it, by females than by males, and by older adult drivers than by younger adult drivers. An analysis of the data of a smaller sample showed that the increment in perceived risk was still present 2 months after the training, and that it did not decrease significantly as compared to immediately after the training. These results are discussed in relation to relevant methodological issues and future research.
Studying driving behavior and risk perception: a road safety perspective in Egypt
Journal of Engineering and Applied Science, 2022
Roadway safety research indicates a correlation between drivers’ behavior, the demographics, and the local environment affecting the risk perception and roadway crashes. This research examines these issues in an Egyptian context by addressing three groups: private cars drivers, truck drivers, and public transportation drivers. A Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) was developed to capture information about drivers’ behavior, personal characteristics, risk perception, and involvement in crashes. The risk perception was captured subjectively by exposing participants to various visual scenarios representing specific local conditions to rank their perception of the situation from a safety perspective.Results indicated that the human factor, in particular, failure of keeping a safe following distance, was a major cause of crashes. The analyzed data was used to predict expected crash frequency based on personal attributes, such as age, driving experience, personality traits, and driving b...
Road risk behaviors: Pedestrian experiences
Traffic Injury Prevention, 2019
Objective: The objective of this study was to identify pedestrian risk behaviors that result in traffic accidents and characterization of the accidents experienced by participants in this study to provide information for the generation of integral preventive strategies. Methods: The study was correlational, descriptive, and transversal and followed a quantitative approach divided into 2 stages. In the first stage, an observational study was performed to identify the manifested risk behaviors of pedestrians, which served as a basis for the construction and design of a questionnaire. In the second stage, the questionnaire was applied to a group of 1,536 participants. Pearson's correlation coefficient was applied to establish associations between gender and age with respect to risk behaviors. Results: The 3 behaviors that participants reported performing always or very often include using electronic gadgets (except mobile phones), not using a pedestrian crosswalk, and using a mobile phone. In addition, 18.5% were involved in at least one road accident as a pedestrian in the last 5 years. Of the total number of registered accidents, 21% resulted in pedestrian injuries, 48.3% of which were serious. These were due to external causes not related to human factors or unidentified (58.5%) and behavior factors as a whole (41.4%, 31.5% of which were caused by pedestrians). Pearson's correlation coefficient showed evidence of a correlation between age and risk behaviors. Conclusions: All subjects in this study performed several risky actions as pedestrians, at least occasionally, and at least one fifth had been involved in a road accident as a pedestrian. It is known that the surroundings can positively or negatively influence individuals' behaviors; therefore, once prevention measures are identified, it is possible to influence risk behaviors. Therefore, road safety education and the physical environment must be considered together, and efforts focused on optimum infrastructure also need to consider road safety education.
Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing
The demand for understanding the functional relationship between changes in traffic safety level and human-related factors has increased remarkably due to a steady increase in population and traffic volume. Motor vehicle crashes can cause a serious impact on the victims, families, and the community resulting in instability of family and large socioeconomic costs to society and healthcare service. Statistical studies of drivers' behavior as a function of some of the human characteristics, in particular, have become increasingly important for establishing an evidence-based framework through which transportation and healthcare authorities can develop innovative solutions to mitigate serious consequences of risky driving. This paper uses a real-world dataset to analyze the relationship between the human characteristics and both the behavior and risk-level. In addition to that, this paper conducts several analytical studies to investigate the extent to which the risky driving behavior may affect the severity of the crash and human injury.
1 an Investigation of Older Driver Road Safety Perceptions and Driving Performance on Freeways
2015
Research on all aspects of road safety for older drivers is becoming increasingly important as a result of both higher population age and increased crash exposure for older drivers. In this paper we investigate two important, yet largely under-researched issues regarding older drivers; first, we examine perceptions regarding road safety issues and, second, we relate perceptions to driving assessment and self-assessment. Data were collected through a questionnaire that was administered to forty active male drivers between 65 and 74 years old regarding their perceptions of road safety issues; the driving performance of the same drivers was later assessed and selfassessed through an on-road experiment along an urban freeway. Results suggest that drivers may be aware of their reduced driving skills and recognize the need to improve their performance. We note that, as expected, drivers more familiar with the freeway perform better yet experience some discomfort during exiting maneuvers. Our findings may be of particular importance in older driver education, assessment, freeway design and safety inspections.