This study aimed to evaluate the driving behavior of taxi drivers in Isfahan, Iran, and assess the probability of a driver being among the high-risk taxi drivers. To identify risky driving behaviors among taxi drivers, the Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) was used. By collecting data from 548 taxi drivers, exploratory factor analysis identified the significant components of DBQ including “Inattention errors,” “Inexperience errors,” “Lapses,” “Ordinary violations,” and “Aggressive violations.” K-means clustering was conducted to cluster taxi drivers into three risk groups of low-risk, medium-risk, and high-risk taxi drivers based on their self-reported annual traffic crashes and fines. In addition, logistic regressions identified the extent to which drivers’ crashes and traffic fines are related to their driving behavior, and therefore, what aberrant driving behaviors are more important in explaining the presence of taxi drivers in the high-risk cluster. The results revealed that the majority of participants (66.78%) were low-risk taxi drivers. Aggressive violations and ordinary violations were significant predictors of taxi drivers being in the high-risk group, while inattention errors and aggressive violations were significant predictors of being in the medium/high-risk cluster. The findings from this study are valuable resources for developing safety measures and training for new drivers in the taxi industry.
Taxi drivers face many problems every day including safety issues. The tendency to quickly transport passengers to their destinations for more income has resulted in dangerous driving behaviors leading to traffic violations. So, taxi drivers need appropriate support and training programs to improve safety and reduce the risk of crashes. Implementing different support and safety training programs requires an effective management system. There is a dearth of research on the safety issues of taxis from the perspective of taxi organization managers. This study aims to evaluate the safety issues of taxi transport management through a case study of the Tehran Taxi Organization. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 22 regional managers and 20 transportation specialists of the Tehran Taxi Organization. Issues related to taxi drivers, roads and road users, vehicles, and management systems were evaluated in the questionnaire. Participants determined the relevance level and priority ranking of each question. The level of agreement was then tested using the Kendall concordance test. According to the results, the use of GPS was selected as the best in-vehicle monitoring system that can be used to evaluate drivers in the fleet. Participants believed that passengers’ loading and unloading had the most risk for taxi users. The start-inhibit technology to detect open doors was unanimously evaluated as an efficient technology for taxi safety. With respect to educating taxi users, starting education in schools had the most relevance and priority. Recommendations for increasing the safety of taxis include the use of GPS in taxis to monitor and evaluate drivers, receiving crash reports from police and submitting monthly safety assessment reports, flexibility in drivers’ working hours’ schedule, providing training on drivers fatigue management, and evaluating drivers’ health.
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