Interactions between Driving Skills on Aggressive Driving: Study among Chinese Drivers

Abstract

Aggressive driving has attracted significant attention recently with the increase in related road traffic collisions occurring in China. This study aims to investigate the effect of driving skills on aggressive driving behaviors and traffic accidents to find implications for traffic safety improvement in China. A total of 735 Chinese drivers were recruited to complete a self-reported survey including demographic information, the translated Driver Skill Inventory (DSI), and Driver Aggression Indicator Scale (DAIS). Exploratory factor analysis was first conducted to investigate the factor structures of DSI and DAIS among Chinese drivers. Unlike the two-factor solution (i.e., perceptual-motor and safety skills) found in other studies, the current study result revealed a three-factor solution (i.e., perceptual-motor, safety, and emotional control skills) of DSI. Then, the interaction between DSI factors on DAIS factors, demographic variables, and the number of self-reported traffic accidents and offenses was tested by using moderated regression methods. The results revealed the interaction between perceptual-motor skills and safety skills on aggressive warnings committed by drivers themselves. The interactive effect between safety skills and emotional control skills on perceived aggressive warnings was also found. The results suggested that higher ratings of safety skills are essential for buffering the effect of high-level perceptual-motor skills and emotional control skills on aggressive driving in China. In conclusion, policy makers should be interested in understanding the effect of Chinese drivers’ skills on the aggression drivers committed and conceived in traffic. Successful intervention strategies should include all skill factors in the driver training contents.

MAD-DAX: Anger and driver behaviours on the road

“…For drivers with high perceptual-motor skills and low safety skills, anger due to travel delays was negatively associated with positive behaviours. Similarly, Wu et al (2018) found that drivers with high perceptual-motor skills and low safety skills showed more aggressive warning behaviours, which may indicate a tendency to show aggressive behaviours. It is not surprising that increased anger due to travel delays had a negative effect on the likelihood of showing positive behaviours.…”

“…Increased anger due to aggression from others was positively related to positive driver behaviours, and finally, increased anger due to travel delays was linked to increased errors. Previous studies focusing on interactions between perceptual-motor skills and safety skills (e.g., Sümer et al, 2006;Wu et al, 2018) have emphasised the buffering effect of safety skills on perceptual-motor skills, and undesired outcome relations, positive behaviours and personal physical aggressive expression might indicate the contextual effect of this relationship. In other words, the three-way interactions for highly skilled drivers may not always balance each other, and depending on the other motivations of drivers, certain behaviours, either positive or negative, might be expressed more frequently.…”

Classification of Inter-Urban Highway Drivers’ Resting Behavior for Advanced Driver-Assistance System Technologies using Vehicle Trajectory Data from Car Navigation Systems

“…Various survey methods have been proposed in the literature. The most common method is a personal interview survey [4][5][6]8,[18][19][20][21][22][23]. The second approach is to utilize a driving simulator [2,10,24,25].…”

Investigating the Significant Individual Historical Factors of Driving Risk Using Hierarchical Clustering Analysis and Quasi-Poisson Regression Model

“…Drivers may particularly be at high risk of being involved in a crash if they frequently adopt ill-suited behaviors when they are driving. In addition, risky driving behaviors have been considered as part of a method for characterizing driving style [3][4][5]. Much research and various methods have been proposed for investigating risky driving behaviors to prevent and reduce road crashes and accidents.…”