Talib Rothengatter

Risk and the absence of pleasure: a motivational approach to modelling road user behaviour

Motivational models of road-user behaviour are characterized by a heavy reliance on the concept of risk as the main motivating factor influencing behaviour. Using speed choice as an example of risk-taking behaviour, empirical evidence is presented that other factors, such as pleasure in driving and the behaviour of others, also play a major role. Attempts to influence speed choice through publicity measures and police enforcement activities demonstrate that speed-choice behaviour, but not the attitude towards that behaviour, can be changed without changing the perceived level of risk. It is concluded that the development of models that take account of motivating factors other than risk is necessary for accurately predicting road-user behaviour and for developing effective measures that can influence driver behaviour.

DRIVERS' ILLUSIONS: NO MORE RISK

Abstract In this invited address to the International Congress of Applied Psychology, it is argued that traffic psychology has not had a major impact on accident prevention. The factors that have determined this are discussed. A review of the theories and models pertinent to drivers’ risk taking and road user behaviour in general is presented. It is argued that both risk-homeostasis theories and task capability model are not sufficiently precise to be used as a basis for preventive measures. Attitude–behaviour models derived from social psychology have proved to be powerful in identifying motivational factors influencing road user behaviour, but the majority of empirical evidence is based on self-reported rather than observed behaviour. It is argued that individual differences can provide a basis for accident prevention, in particular driver training.

Adaptive strategy changes as a function of task demands: a study of car drivers

When drivers perform additional tasks while driving, research shows conflicting results: primary driving performance may deteriorate but adaptive changes such as reducing driving speed have also been noted. We hypothesized that the nature of the secondary task may be important: drivers may give more priority to tasks that serve goals of the driving task itself, for example route finding, than tasks not directly relevant for driving, for example tuning the radio. The main objective of the present driving simulator study was to test this hypothesis. Twenty subjects performed two different subsidiary tasks while driving through two levels of traffic density: a working memory (WM) task and a map reading (MAP) task. It was hypothesized that in high task demand situations, the WM task, irrelevant for the driving task, would be neglected more than the MAP task. The results confirmed the hypothesis: in MAP conditions, the WM task was indeed neglected, but map reading resulted in more swerving, indicating that the subjects looked at the map despite the high task demands. It is concluded that drivers will be highly motivated to get route information, and RG systems should therefore present their information in a readily understandable format.

Maintaining task set under fatigue: a study of time-on-task effects in simulated driving

An experiment was carried out in a driving simulator in order to study time-on-task effects in driving with special attention to distance keeping and hazard avoidance performance. As expected, increases of fatigue in the course of sustained performance were associated with a deterioration of perceptual-motor performance and an increase of safety margins. In general, the results indicate that performance in less central task components such as steering deteriorates in the course of time, whereas performance in high-priority sub-tasks such as hazard avoidance remains intact. Time-schedule instructions disrupted the adaptation of safety margins in prolonged driving. This study has practical implications for the design of driver impairment monitoring systems.

A behavioural approach to improving traffic behaviour of young children

Research evidence suggests that specific errors in a number of well-defined situations account for the majority of traffic accidents involving young children. The required road-crossing behaviour in those situations cannot be instilled through cognitive instruction, but needs to be trained in the traffic environment. A traffic education programme was developed that incorporated both road-crossing training to be carried out by parents and audio-visual demonstrations to be carried out by kindergarten teachers. This programme was used in an experiment in which one group of children was trained by their parents, one group was trained by experienced assistants and one group served as controls. The results of this experiment demonstrated that parents are capable of achieving improvements in the road-crossing behaviour of their children, and that these improvements were still demonstrable 4 months following the completion of the training programme. Only minor differences were found between the effects of parenta...

Task difficulty, risk, effort and comfort in a simulated driving task--Implications for Risk Allostasis Theory

Risk Allostasis Theory states that drivers seek to maintain a feeling of risk within a preferred range [Fuller, R., 2008. What drives the driver? Surface tensions and hidden consensus. In: Keynote at the 4th International Conference on Traffic and Transport Psychology, Washington, DC, August 31-September 4, 2008]. Risk Allostasis Theory is the latest version of Task-Difficulty Homeostasis theory, and is in part based on the findings of experiments where participants were asked to rate the task difficulty, feeling of risk and chance of collision of scenes shown in digitally altered video clips [Fuller, R., McHugh, C., Pender, S., 2008b. Task difficulty and risk in the determination of driver behaviour. Revue européenne de psychologie appliqée 58, 13-21]. The focus of the current research was to expand upon the previous video based experiments using a driving simulator. This allowed participants to be in control of the vehicle rather than acting as passive observers, as well as providing additional speed cues. The results support previous findings that ratings of task difficulty and feeling of risk are related, and that they are also highly related to ratings of effort and moderately related to ratings of comfort and habit. However, the linearly increasing trend for task difficulty and feeling of risk described by the previous research was not observed: instead the findings of this experiment support a threshold effect where ratings of risk (feeling of and chance of loss of control/collision), difficulty, effort, and comfort go through a period of stability and only start to increase once a certain threshold has been crossed. It is within the period of stability where subjective experience of risk and difficulty is low, or absent, that drivers generally prefer to operate.

Strategic changes in task performance in simulated car driving as an adaptive response to task demands

Abstract Car drivers appear to reduce their driving speed in high task demand situations. Summalas [Safety Sci. 22 (1996) 103–117]; [in: J.A. Rothengatter, & E. Carbonell Vaya (Eds.), Traffic and Transport Psychology: Theory and Application, Pergamon, Oxford, 1997, pp. 41–52] model of behavioural adaptation (MBA) also assumes that drivers increase speed in low task demand situations or attend to additional tasks more. The present study investigated the relation between driving speed and task demands in simulated driving. Participants were observed under three speed conditions, driving fast, driving as if taking a driving test, and following a fast-driving car. The same route was driven twice under each of these speed conditions: once with and once without the concurrent performance of an auditory short-term memory task. All other things being equal, driving fast required more effort than driving more slowly, which was not compensated for by better memory performance. This refutes one assumption of the MBA. When following a fast-driving car, participants invested less effort than when driving fast. As auditory route guidance messages were embedded within the memory task, participants were forced to attend the memory task in all rides of the Fast and Accurate conditions, but not in the Car Following conditions. This can also explain why the memory task had no effect on cognitive effort. It is concluded that car drivers prioritise their task goals.

Strategic adaptations to lack of preview in driving

Two experiments were carried out in a driving simulator in order to study driving behaviour in reduced visibility conditions. Both studies show that drivers maintain larger time headways when preview is limited. The results suggest that the adaptation of time headway was related to difficulty of anticipation rather than perceptual degradation due to reduced visibility. Drivers who were instructed to drive on a fixed time schedule did not increase their time headway in adverse visibility circumstances. However, they reacted very accurately to decelerations of lead cars, which prevented the occurrence of critical situations. In general, the results indicate that drivers apply a hierarchy of adaptive strategies which are aimed at the control of time pressure in driving. In normal visibility conditions, drivers adopt an anticipatory driving strategy. When the possibilities for anticipation are reduced, drivers compensate by means of speed reductions and increases in time headway, in order to increase the time available to react to potential threats. When this compensatory strategy is impossible or undesirable, drivers have to maintain high alertness in order to react accurately to unpredictable hazardous events. This strategy imposes a high time pressure on the driver. Presumably, drivers try to restrict time pressure and therefore the effort costs of driving when they have the opportunity to do so.

The effects of police surveillance and law enforcement on driver behaviour

Police surveillance and enforcement activities can have a significant effect on the compliance of traffic rules and regulations. The extent to which road users are influenced by traffic law enforcement depends on the strategies used in police surveillance and on the efficiency of the punitive system. Although police surveillance can have limited and transient effects, the punitive system does not seem able to cope with the demands of the traffic system. Alternative approaches to traffic behaviour control are suggested that could have far greater impact on the behaviour of road users.

Objectives, Topics and Methods

Traffic and transport sciences in a general sense concern the analysis, explanation and prediction of all manifestations which are related to the mobility of people and goods (Michon, 1989b). The transport system has many components (rail, road and air infrastructure vehicles) in which many actors (haulage companies, public transport providers, infrastructure planners, transport consumers) can act within certain limits of freedom (economics, traffic law and transport regulations). Psychology can contribute to the interdisciplinary traffic and transport sciences with its specific models, metaphors and methodolologies which are specific to its disciplinary approach. It can determine and predict what effects the possibilities and constraints of the transport system will have on the decision making processes of the actors, and, reversely, it can determine and predict what demands the actors will pose on the transport system components. Also it can determine and predict the consequences of the decisions made by these actors. For example, it may determine the effects of transport mode characteristics (e.g., time required to travel from A to B) on transport mode choice of the individual transport users or, alternatively, may determine the effects of transport mode choice on safety and environmental pollution. The psychological approach is in that respect complementary to the other traffic and transport sciences, such as engineering, planning and economics, and it shares their objectives, that is, to optimize the transport system in the sense of fulfilling transport demand with minimum damage to the environment and human life.