Public transport is an effective and sustainable alternative to private vehicle usage, also helping to reduce the environmental impact of driving. However, the work environment of public transport operators is full of adverse conditions, which, together with their high mileage, may increase the occurrence of negative safety outcomes such as traffic accidents, often preceded by risky road behaviors enhanced by stress, anger, and difficult operating conditions. The aims of this study were, first, to determine the association between work-related psychosocial factors and individual characteristics of public transport drivers and the rate of traffic sanctions they are subject to; and second, to assess the mediation of driving anger in this relationship. A sample of professional drivers (57.4% city bus, 17.6% taxi, and 25% inter-urban bus male operators) was used for this cross-sectional study, responding to a five-section survey including demographic data and driving-related factors, psychosocial work factors including job stress, driving stress, risk predisposition, and driving anger. The results of this study showed significant associations between work-related factors: measures of stress and self-reported rates of traffic fines. Second, it was found that driving anger mediates the associations between driving stress, risk predisposition, and traffic sanctions; and partially mediates the association between driving experience, hourly intensity, and job stress. This study supports the idea that traffic penalties reported by public transport rates are preceded by work-related, personality, and other individual factors that, when combined with driving anger, enhance the occurrence of road misbehavior that may affect overall road safety.

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BackgroundWorking conditions and psychosocial work factors have acquired an important role explaining the well-being and performance of professional drivers, including those working in the field of public transport. This study aimed to examine the association between job strain and the operational performance of public transport drivers and to compare the expositions with psychosocial risk at work of three different types of transport workers: taxi drivers, city bus drivers, and interurban bus drivers.MethodA sample of 780 professional drivers was drawn from three transport companies in Bogota (Colombia). The participants answered the Job Content Questionnaire and a set of sociodemographic and driving performance questions, including age, professional driving experience, work schedules, and accidents and penalties suffered in the last 2 years.ResultsAnalyses showed significant associations between measures of socio-labor variables and key performance indicators such road traffic accidents and penalties. Furthermore, multiple linear regression analysis contributed to explain significantly suffered accidents from key variables of the Job Demand-Control model, essentially from job strain. In addition, throughout post-hoc analyses, significant differences were found in terms of perceived social support, job strain, and job insecurity.ConclusionWork stress is an issue that compromises the safety of professional drivers. This research provides evidence supporting a significant effect of job strain on the professional driver's performance. Moreover, the statistically significant differences between taxi drivers, city bus drivers, and interurban bus drivers in their expositions to work-related stress suggest the need for tailored occupational safety interventions on each occupational group.

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Background: Road Safety Education (RSE) is widely known as a reliable determinant of the future results for what concerns health and welfare and as an undisputable factor which contributes to the social behavior of individuals and to their mid- and long-term road safety outcomes. However, its development has been relatively scarce in most countries, a fact which has contributed to letting matters as delicate as traffic crashes, largely explained by road misbehaviors, continue to be a prevalent problem, thus affecting the health of the community. Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the relationship between demographic and RSE-related variables and the self-reported road risky behavior of Spanish students. Methods: For this cross-sectional study, a representative sample of 4062 (51.5% males and 48.5% females) participants attending primary (47.5%), secondary (40.7%), and high school (11.7%) was gathered through a national survey on RSE and road behaviors. Results: A set of significant associations between demographic factors, RSE variables, and self-reported road behaviors was found. Furthermore, Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) allowed us to establish that age and observed misbehaviors (positively), and attitudes towards road safety and risk perception (negatively), have a direct link with the road risky behavior of children and young people. The knowledge of traffic rules was not a significant predictor of road behavior. Conclusions: The results of this study show that, together with demographic factors such as age, RSE-related variables have an effect on the road behavior of children and young people. They also suggest the need for strengthening actions to be implemented in road safety (Road Safety Education) at scholar and community levels.

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Introduction Psychosocial work environment has been related to many negative health outcomes in different workforces. However, evidence in this regard is still limited in the case of transport workers, and most of the tools used in research, often excessively generic, do not fully consider the specific key stressors, and adverse issues present in the psychosocial environment of professional driving. Objective Thus, the purpose of this study was to obtain a complete description of the validation of measurement applied to psychosocial factors at work in professional drivers, using the Enterprise version (2018) of COPSOQ-III. Methods The data was collected from 726 Spanish professional drivers, and the analyses were conducted using the competitive Confirmatory Factor Analysis or CFA, obtaining basic psychometric properties and an optimized structure for the instrument applied to active transport workers. Results The results suggest a clear factorial structure, high factorial weights, internal consistency, and an improved adjustment to the psychosocial conditions of this group, excluding a set of items with low psychometrical adjustment and keeping the five-factor structure of the questionnaire: demands, influence and development, interpersonal relationships and leadership, job insecurity, and strain-effects and outcomes. Conclusion Overall, what was found in this study supports the hypothesis that the validated version of COPSOQ in professional drivers, together with complementary information sources specific for their work environment, may have a relevant research value and some important practical implications for the improvement of the occupational safety, and health within the typically vulnerable industry of transportation.

Abstract:The increasing number of registered road crashes involving cyclists during the last decade and the high proportion of road crashes resulting in severe injuries and fatalities among cyclists constitutes a global issue for community health, urban development and sustainability. Nowadays, the incidence of many risk factors for road crashes of cyclists remains largely unexplained. Given the importance of this issue, the present study has been conducted with the aim of determining relationships between infrastructural, human factors and safety outcomes of cyclists. Objectives: This study aimed, first, to examine the relationship between key infrastructural and human factors present in cycling, bicycle-user characteristics and their self-reported experience with road crashes. And second, to determine whether a set of key infrastructural and human factors may predict their self-reported road crashes. Methods: For this cross-sectional study, a total of 1064 cyclists (38.8% women, 61.2% men; M = 32.8 years of age) from 20 different countries across Europe, South America and North America, participated in an online survey composed of four sections: demographic data and cycling-related factors, human factors, perceptions on infrastructural factors and road crashes suffered. Results: The results of this study showed significant associations between human factors, infrastructural conditions and self-reported road crashes. Also, a logistic regression model found that self-reported road crashes of cyclists could be predicted through variables such as age, riding intensity, risky behaviours and problematic user/infrastructure interactions. Conclusions:The results of this study suggest that self-reported road crashes of cyclists are influenced by features related to the user and their interaction with infrastructural characteristics of the road.