The Relationship Between Driving Aberrant Behavior and Self-Reported Accidents Involvement Amongst Professional Bus Drivers in the Public Transportation Company

Abstract

Background:The most accidents can be directly attributed to human factors. Hence, more traffic crashes result from driver malfunctioning which from among them, the driver behavior is a proximal factor in the road traffic injuries causation chain. Objectives: This study aims to investigate relationship between aberrant driving behaviors questionnaire (DBQ factors) and self-report crashes involvement amongst professional bus drivers of public transportation system. Materials and Methods: This analytical descriptive study was performed on 161 urban bus drivers in Tehran. Proportional sampling method was used to select drivers from nine systems or areas. Data were collected through questionnaire including driver's behavior and their demographic information. Validity and reliability of the driver's behavior questionnaire for bus drivers had been confirmed in a previous study. Data collection was analyzed by Pearson correlation and regression logistic of in SPSS 16 of software. Results: Drivers reported accident involvement during the past three years with mean and standard deviation 2.4 ± 3.2, so that 31.1% had been involved in three or more accidents. There was a negative significant correlation between age and risky violation (P = 0.01). Furthermore, accidents involvement in the last three years was positively correlated with working hours per week (P = 0.003) and traffic offences (P = 0.005). Mistake as a driving aberrant behavior had a direct significant relationship with annual mileage (P = 0.020) and accidents involvement in last three years (P = 0.025). Conclusions: Bus driver's crashes can be reduced by less driving time and mistakes which is dependent on mileage they drive.

Dimensions of aberrant driving behaviors and their association with road traffic injuries among drivers

“…The frequency of abnormal driving behaviors was related to unintentional violations, deliberate violations, slip errors and lapse errors, respectively. The frequency order of DBQ dimensions in the present study differs from similar studies [ 30 , 31 ]. Driving behavior is very complicated and part of the cultural behavior of individuals in societies because it is related to values, habits, attitudes and other factors [ 22 , 29 , 32 – 34 ].…”

“…The abnormal driving behaviors in this study, which had the highest frequency among drivers, were similar to those of other studies [30,31,36,39,40], but it was different from the…”

“…and external (social context) factors shape the driving style of individuals [21,35]. In addition, social environment, including other road users, public social norms and formal and informal traffic laws, affects every driver; these differences in traffic culture levels are reflected in driving behaviors [29,31,36,37]. Therefore, the differences in age, gender, socioeconomic and cultural contexts between the present study and similar studies may be the reason why the results of this study are inconsistent with other similar studies.…”

“…On average, among Iranian drivers with respect to other Asian drivers, deliberate violations are more frequent than other violations [38]. The cultural context and formal and informal traffic laws are influential in creating an appropriate driving style and additional researches are required in this line of studies [29,31,36,37].…”

“…Regarding the correlation between background variables and DBQ dimensions in several studies [ 29 – 31 ], four linear regression models were used to determine the correlation between scores of DBQ dimensions and background variables (socio-demographic and driving variables).…”