Lars Åberg

Choice of organic foods is related to perceived consequences for human health and to environmentally friendly behaviour

We designed a questionnaire concerned with attitudes and behaviour towards organic foods, environmentally friendly behaviour (EFB), and perceived consequences of organic food choice in terms of human health, the environment and animal welfare. It was mailed in 1998 to a random nation-wide sample of 2000 Swedish citizens, ages 18-65 years, and 1154 (58%) responded. Self-reported purchase of organic foods was most strongly related to perceived benefit for human health. Performance of EFBs such as refraining from car driving was also a good predictor of purchase frequency. The results indicate that egoistic motives are better predictors of the purchase of organic foods than are altruistic motives.

Trauma exposure and post‐traumatic stress disorder in the general population

Objective:  To examine the lifetime prevalence of trauma experiences and post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Dimensions of aberrant driver behaviour

In the present paper, a study of driver errors was replicated in a survey of over 1400 drivers. New error items were added to the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ). An analysis of data based on the original DBQ confirmed the three-factor structure obtained. When new items were included in the analysis a four-factor solution was found to be more appropriate. Two of the four factors correspond to the two factors presented previously, namely violations and dangerous errors, while the third factor, harmless lapses, was split into two new factors, inattention errors and inexperience errors in the present study. Inattention errors were shown to be of special interest as the scores for this factor increased with age, thus indicating errors that might be caused by automatization of driver behaviour.

SPEED CHOICE IN RELATION TO SPEED LIMIT AND INFLUENCES FROM OTHER DRIVERS

Speeding is a general problem in traffic and exploring factors underlying the choice of speed is an important task. In the present paper, based on data from Swedish drivers on 90 km/h roads, drivers’ attitudes towards speeding and influences from other road users on the drivers’ speed choice were investigated. Unobtrusively recorded vehicle speeds were compared with drivers’ responses to questions concerning their speed choice (N=533). The present investigation replicates a previous study on 50 km/h roads, where a model including measures of attitudes and perceptions about others’ behaviour could explain about 15% of observed behaviour. In the present study, where a majority of the drivers observed exceeded the speed limit, a similar model could explain 41% of the variance in observed speed. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.

On the distinction between violations and errors: sensation seeking associations

Abstract In this study about 700 young adult Swedish drivers aged 18–27 yr responded to a questionnaire on sensation seeking, the tendency to engage in risky behaviours, four types of aberrant driving behaviour (violations, mistakes, inattention and inexperience errors), traffic offences and accident involvement. These results suggest, not unreasonably, a differential relationship between different aspects of sensation seeking and aberrant driving behaviour. Whereas sensation seeking explained a large part of the variation in the violations factor, it accounted for very little of the variance in the other aberrant driving behaviour factors. This finding corresponds reasonably well with a hypothesis calling for a distinction between violations and errors. Still after controlling for the effect of exposure the self-reported accidents was associated with self-reported violations and driving mistakes. Self-reported traffic offences was associated with violations. Consequently, the violations and mistakes factors proved to be stable predictors of offences and accidents. The hierarchical approach taken in this study also shows how the construct of sensation seeking may be associated with aberrant driving behaviour.

DRIVER BEHAVIOR AT FLASHING-LIGHT, RAIL-HIGHWAY CROSSINGS

The risk of accident at flashing-light, rail-highway crossings has been found to be ten times higher than at crossings equipped with barriers. The purpose of the present investigation was to study driver behavior in rail-highway crossings and to relate measures of driver behavior to variables believed to be associated with increased risks of accident. About 2,000 drivers were observed in 16 different crossings with driver head movements as the major dependent variable. This variable exhibits wide variability among drivers as well as satisfactory interobserver reliability. The results showed that many drivers turned their head to look for trains in rail-highway crossings although the crossings were equipped with flashing warning lights. However, fewer drivers looked when the visibility was restricted, a factor that is associated with increased risk of accident, and in crossings with few trains per day. The conclusion from the present study is that flashing-light crossings should be designed in a way that redundant information about approaching trains should be easily available to the drivers.