The use of a driving simulator to determine how time pressures impact driver aggressiveness.

Details

• Creators:
  Knodler, Michael A. ; Samuel, Siby ; Fitzpatrick, Cole
• Corporate Creators:
  University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering ; University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Dept. of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
• Corporate Contributors:
  Safety Research Using Simulation (SAFER-SIM) University Transportation Center
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Aggression Drivers Driving Simulators Speeding Time Traffic Crashes Traffic Safety Time Pressure
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  Safety Research Using Simulation (SAFER-SIM) University Transportation Center
• Abstract:
  Speeding greatly contributes to traffic safety with approximately a third of fatal crashes in the United
  
  States being speeding-related. Previous research has identified being late as a primary cause of
  
  speeding. In this driving simulator study, a virtual drive was constructed to evaluate how time pressures,
  
  or hurried driving, affected driver speed choice and driver behavior. In particular, acceleration profiles,
  
  gap acceptance, willingness to pass, and dilemma zone behavior were used, in addition to speed, as
  
  measures to evaluate whether being late increased risky and aggressive driving behaviors. Thirty-six
  
  drivers were recruited with an equal male/female split and a broad distribution of ages. Financial
  
  incentives and completion time goals calibrated from a control group were used to generate a Hurried
  
  and Very Hurried experimental group. As compared to the control group, Very Hurried drivers selected
  
  higher speeds, accelerated faster after red lights, accepted smaller gaps on left turns, were more likely
  
  to pass a slow vehicle, and were more likely to run a yellow light in a dilemma zone situation. These
  
  trends were statistically significant and were also evident with the Hurried group, but a larger sample
  
  would be needed to show statistical significance. The findings from this study provide evidence that
  
  hurried drivers select higher speeds and exhibit riskier driving behaviors. These conclusive results have
  
  possible implications in areas such as transportation funding and commercial motor vehicle safety.
  
  
• Format:
  PDF
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:2cb3c652244ccaa25c134417ced5635ef1615bd0557d7e0062db6b167d2141c82fc2025d7c10e6a52ab19e2a5200b0dd6a1830f6d434710796c5eaee5363230c
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/32619/dot_32619_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.08 MB ]