Personality of young drivers in Oman: Relationship to risky driving behaviors and crash involvement among Sultan Qaboos University students

The influence of middle-aged male driver profile on driving performance and the effects of three perceptual countermeasures: A simulator study

The human-environment-vehicle triad and how it relates to crashes has long been a topic of discussion, in which the human factor is consistently seen as the leading cause. Recently, more sophisticated approaches to Road Safety have advocated for a road-driver interaction view, in which human characteristics influence road perception and road environment affects driver behavior. This study focuses on road-driver interaction by using a driving simulator. The objective is to investigate how the driver profile influences driving performance and the effects of three countermeasures (peripheral transverse lines before and after the beginning of the curves and roadside poles in the curves). Fifty-six middle-aged male participants drove a non-challenging rural highway simulated scenario based on a real road where many single-vehicle crashes occurred. The drivers' profiles were assessed through their behavioral history measured by a validated version of the Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) comprising three dimensions: Errors (E), Ordinary Violations (OV), and Aggressive Violations (AV). The relationship between speed and trajectory measures and drivers' profiles was investigated using random-parameter models with heterogeneity in the means. The models' results showed that the DBQ subscale scores in OV explained a considerable part of the heterogeneity found in drivers' performance. Furthermore, the heterogeneity in the means caused by the DBQ subscale scores in OV and E in the presence of peripheral transverse lines indicates a difference in how drivers react to the countermeasures. The peripheral lines were more efficient than roadside poles to moderate speed but did not positively influence all drivers' trajectories. Although the peripheral lines could be seen as an alternative to change driver behavior in a non-challenging or monotonous road environment, the design used in this study should be reviewed.

Need Safer Taxi Drivers? Use Psychological Characteristics to Find or Train!

Professional drivers play a key role in urban road network safety. It is therefore important to employ safer drivers, also find the problem, and train the existing ones. However, a direct driving test may not be very useful solely because of drivers’ consciousness. This study introduces a latent predictor to expect driving behaviors, by finding the relation between taxi drivers’ psychological characteristics and their driving behaviors. A self-report questionnaire was collected from 245 taxi drivers by which their demographic characteristics, psychological characteristics, and driving behaviors were obtained. The psychological characteristics include instrumental attitude, subjective norm, sensation seeking, aggressive mode, conscientiousness, life satisfaction, premeditation, urgency, and selfishness. Driving behaviors questionnaire (DBQ) provides information regarding drivers’ violations, aggressive violations, errors, and lapses. The standard linear regression model is used to determine the relationship between driving behavior and psychological characteristics of drivers. The findings show that social anxiety and selfishness are the best predictors of the violations; aggressive mode is a significant predictor of the aggressive violations; urgency has a perfect impact on the errors; and finally, life satisfaction, sensation seeking, conscientiousness, age, and urgency are the best predictors of the lapses.

Significance of attitudes, passion and cultural factors in driver's speeding behavior in Oman: application of theory of planned behavior

Traffic accidents and related fatalities have become a major public health problem in the world. This study aims to identify the significant factors that play an important role in the speeding behavior of drivers. A comprehensive questionnaire was designed and conducted with the students and employees of the University of Nizwa. The questionnaire items were designed considering the theoretical background of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and local socio-cultural aspects of the driving environment. A total of 303 usable samples were obtained. The collected data were analyzed using factor analysis and structural equation modelling technique. The extracted factors of speeding passion and culture, speeding attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control are significant determinants of drivers speeding behavior in Oman. The driver's speeding attitudes, speeding culture, and passion have positive association with the drivers' speeding intentions and behavior, and driver's perceived behavioral control forms negative relationship with the speeding behavior. This study confirms the application of the TPB in predicting the drivers' speeding behavior in the context of Oman.

Relationship Between the Incidence of Road Traffic Accidents, Psychological Characteristics, and Genotype in Bus Drivers in a Chinese Population

Background

The aim of this study was to determine the association between the incidence of road traffic accidents, psychological characteristics, and genotype in bus drivers in a Chinese population.

Material/Methods

Bus drivers who had been involved in road traffic accidents (n=106) (the study group), and bus drivers with no history of road traffic accidents (n=106) (the control group) completed demographic questionnaires, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and the Type-A behavior pattern (TABP) evaluation. Serum 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) (serotonin), and 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) levels were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography-fluorescent detection (HPLC-FLD). Serotonin transporter promoter-linked polymorphism region (5-HTTLPR) and the 521 C/T single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the regulatory region of the dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4-521 C/T) were measured using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP).

Results

After accounting for potential confounders, extroversion, psychopathy, neuroticism and time hurrying (impatience) were significant factors associated with road traffic accidents in bus drivers (adjusted OR: 1.268, 95% CI: 1.133–1.419; adjusted OR: 1.177, 95% CI: 1.028–1.347; adjusted OR: 1.092, 95% CI: 1.005–1.187; adjusted OR: 1.123, 95% CI: 1.025–1.230, respectively). Reduced serum levels of 5-HT and 5-HTP were significantly associated with the incidence of road traffic accidents (adjusted OR: 0.985, 95% CI: 0.973–0.997; adjusted OR: 0.982, 95% CI: 0.969–0.994, respectively).

Conclusions

Psychological characteristics associated with the 5-HTTLPR and DRD4-521 C/T genotypes, including extroversion, psychopathy, neuroticism, and time hurrying (impatience), and low serum levels of 5-HT and 5-HTP in bus drivers were associated with an increased risk of road traffic accidents.

Ecological study of road traffic injuries in the eastern Mediterranean region: country economic level, road user category and gender perspectives

BACKGROUND

The Eastern Mediterranean region has the second highest number of road traffic injury mortality rates after the African region based on 2013 data, with road traffic injuries accounting for 27% of the total injury mortality in the region. Globally the number of road traffic deaths has plateaued despite an increase in motorization, but it is uncertain whether this applies to the Region. This study investigated the regional trends in both road traffic injury mortality and morbidity and examined country-based differences considering on income level, categories of road users, and gender distribution.

METHODS

Register-based ecological study linking data from Global Burden of Disease Study with the United Nations Statistics Division for population and World Bank definition for country income level. Road traffic injury mortality rates and disability-adjusted life years were compiled for all ages at country level in 1995, 2005, 2015 and combined for a regional average (n = 22) and a global average (n = 122). The data were stratified by country economic level, road user category and gender.

RESULTS

Road traffic injury mortality rates in the Region were higher than the global average for all three reference years but suggest a downward trend. In 2015 mortality rates were more than twice as high in low and high income countries compared to global income averages and motor vehicle occupants had a 3-fold greater mortality than the global average. Severe injuries decreased by more than half for high/middle income countries but remained high for low income countries; three times higher for males than females.

CONCLUSION

Despite a potential downward trend, inequalities in road traffic injury mortality and morbidity burden remain high in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Action needs to be intensified and targeted to implement and enforce safety measures that prevent and mitigate severe motor vehicle crashes in high income countries especially and invest in efforts to promote public, active transport for vulnerable road users in the resource poor countries of the Region.

Disentangling age-gender interactions associated with risks of fatal and non-fatal road traffic injuries in the Sultanate of Oman

Objective

Road traffic injuries (RTIs) are the leading cause of disability-adjusted life years lost in Oman, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. Injury prevention strategies often overlook the interaction of individual and behavioural risk factors in assessing the severity of RTI outcomes. We conducted a systematic investigation of the underlying interactive effects of age and gender on the severity of fatal and non-fatal RTI outcomes in the Sultanate of Oman.

Methods

We used the Royal Oman Police national database of road traffic crashes for the period 2010–2014. Our study was based on 35 785 registered incidents: of these, 10.2% fatal injuries, 6.2% serious, 27.3% moderate, 37.3% mild injuries and 19% only vehicle damage but no human injuries. We applied a generalised ordered logit regression to estimate the effect of age and gender on RTI severity, controlling for risk behaviours, personal characteristics, vehicle, road, traffic, environment conditions and geographical location.

Results

The most dominant group at risk of all types of RTIs was young male drivers. The probability of severe incapacitating injuries was the highest for drivers aged 25–29 (26.6%) years, whereas the probability of fatal injuries was the highest for those aged 20–24 (26.9%) years. Analysis of three-way interactions of age, gender and causes of crash show that overspeeding was the primary cause of different types of RTIs. In particular, the probability of fatal injuries among male drivers attributed to overspeeding ranged from 3%–6% for those aged 35 years and above to 13.4% and 17.7% for those aged 25–29 years and 20–24 years, respectively.

Conclusions

The high burden of severe and fatal RTIs in Oman was primarily attributed to overspeed driving behaviour of young male drivers in the 20–29 years age range. Our findings highlight the critical need for designing early gender-sensitive road safety interventions targeting young male and female drivers.