Psychology of Driving Lecture 9 PDF

02/10/2023 Why did I become interested in the the psychology of driver behaviour? PSYU3399 – Psychology of Driving DR JULIA IRWIN • My research background has been in associative learning, - or how rewards and punishments determine behaviours and one behaviour that interested me was why do people...

02/10/2023 Why did I become interested in the the psychology of driver behaviour? PSYU3399 – Psychology of Driving DR JULIA IRWIN • My research background has been in associative learning, - or how rewards and punishments determine behaviours and one behaviour that interested me was why do people take risks? Honorary Associate – High payoff sometimes, punishment other times – We weigh up the pros and cons of our actions and generally we are optimists so tend to veer toward risky behaviour as opposed to playing safe and missing out! – E.g. Judging a safe gap distance when entering traffic at an intersection, or changing lanes… • Risk takers accept a smaller gap and: • Save time…or • Crash! And all these areas of psychology are needed for understanding driving behaviour as well! 1 2 So the challenge for road safety psychologists… Lecture Overview • Psychology of driving à Traffic Psychology • Why should psychologists study driving? • Is to try and increase the perception that risks don’t pay-off! • The road safety problem • Safe Systems • Factors contributing to road crashes • Every police car is a mobile RBT! Challenging when most of our experiences tend to dispute that! • Role of human factors contributing to road crashes • And the challenge for traffic engineers is to design roads to accommodate risky behaviour – but I’ll come to that later. 3 4 Psychologists have been interested in driver behaviour for a long time! And writing about it since 1938! Take driver distraction for example! 1913 1930 Windshield Wipers Radios 1954 Power Windows 1983 Mobile Phones 1996 2000 Email, Telematics Devices* Internet, etc. * A device that records how you drive – speed, brake speed, distance used by insurance companies 5 6 1 02/10/2023 traffic psychology - the study of the behaviour of road users and the psychological processes underlying that behaviour And defined the field in 1997 Where does traffic psychology ‘fit’ within the various fields/areas of psychology? Psychology of Driving, is a topic in applied cognition or human factors – it is the interplay between pure and applied psychology. Since Rothengatter’s definition it now goes under the title of Traffic Psychology. While Traffic psychology is primarily related to “the study of the behaviour of road users and the psychological processes underlying that behaviour” (Rothengatter, 1997, 223) it is also about the relationship between behaviour and accidents. So this lecture will cover a lot of statistics concerning accidents! 26 years later we are now tackling these environmental issues 7 8 Traffic Psychology Traffic psychology aims to apply theoretical aspects of psychology in order to improve traffic mobility by helping to develop and apply accident countermeasures, as well as by guiding desired behaviours through education and the motivation of road users. Those theoretical aspects include: • Cognition – Attention – Memory – Visual Search…. • Decision making • Learning • Perception • Human Factors – organisational psychology • Personality • Social Psychology • Developmental psychology • Motivation • Biopsychology - pharmacology • Health psychology • Forensic psychology – legal aspects of driving, traffic law, enforcement of traffic laws etc. Conceptual framework of safe driving behaviour illustrating the multifaceted nature of traffic psychology! Framework – a means of illustrating the connectivity amongst factors their interconnectedness From: Strecher, V.J. et al. (2007) Road Safety Research Report No. 70 Review of Judgement and Decision-making Literature Pertinent to the Development of Traffic Offender Training/ Improvement Programmes (S301Q) Technical Report Department for Transport: London Page 18 9 10 Putting some numbers to the problem for NSW up to 28th September 2023 (i.e. negative outcome of risky behaviours) NB increase in fatalities So how much of a problem is driver behaviour in Australia and NSW in particular? increased increased # of road users who have died or sustained life-long serious injuries in NSW. https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/roadsafety/statistics 11 12 2 02/10/2023 Reversing the positive trend started in 1970 when wearing seat belts became mandatory 😩 These figures incorporate all classes of road users for 2023 Fatal crashes 2023 Fatalities Drivers 129 Motorcyclists 37 Pedestrians 43 Passengers 48 Pedal cyclists Total killed 30% increase on last year’s figures!! 9 266 13 15 What’s changed this year, why the increase? Whatever the measure, rate per population, kilometres travelled and number of vehicles on the road – all UP! Road toll has gone up/increased • Type of vehicles being bought and their size • SUVs and utes account for 76.8 per cent of total sales this year so far 16 17 Canstar – top selling vehicles in Australia 05/08/2023. Utes and SUVs! Utes and SUVs design features are problematic for ‘vulnerable road users’ • There is an increase in aggressivity in their design 1. Toyota Hilux - Ute 2. Ford Ranger - Ute 3. Toyota RAV4 - SUV 4. Isuzu UTE D-Max - Ute 5. MG ZS – Crossover SUV 6. Toyota Corolla – Car 7. Tesla Model Y electric crossover SUV 8. Hyundai Tucson crossover SUV 9. Mitsubishi Outlander - crossover SUV 10.Toyota Prado - SUV 18 • What does aggressivity mean? – Aggressivity is a measure of the serious injury risk vehicles pose to other road users (i.e. other drivers, pedestrians, cyclists …. with which they collide). • On the other hand: – Crashworthiness ratings measure the relative safety of vehicles in preventing severe injury to their own drivers in crashes. 19 3 02/10/2023 The increase in agresssivity.. • The high fronts on SUVs and large utes could cause blind spots of up to four metres in front of the driver, making them particularly dangerous for children. • The higher point of impact meant struck pedestrians were more likely to suffer head or neck injuries rather than leg injuries, and were also more likely to be knocked down and run over rather than flip onto the bonnet. • Australasian College of Road Safety chief executive Ingrid Johnston Pedestrians even less visible to drivers of large vehicles while turning 20 21 Why is everyone buying truckzillas that are too big for our streets? Aggressivity of popular vehicles “It feels like it’s an arms race – people buy bigger vehicles because it makes them feel safe, but it makes it unsafe for others” Ben Rossiter Director of Victoria Walks – advocate for pedestrian safety 22 23 The upsizing of the humble ute over 20 years Don’t fit into ‘normal’ parking spaces! A federal pandemic support measure had allowed small business owners to claim an instant asset write-off when they bought utes worth up to $150,000. 24 25 4 02/10/2023 These figures incorporate all classes of road users for 2023 Why focus on fatalities? They tell us who are making mistakes, where & when they are making them. Traffic Psychology is about the relationship between behaviour and accidents. Fatal crashes 2023 Fatalities Drivers Motorcyclists 37 Pedestrians 43 Passengers 48 Pedal cyclists Total killed Fatalities are the most reliable and detailed source of stats. Increase in fatalities for vulnerable road users 129 Because these accidents will incur consequences due to insurance, litigation, etc. The statistics à modelling à allow an understanding of the forces underlying the fatality and injury rates and also allow forecasts of future trends in road safety – or its opposite, death and injury. i.e. pedestrians, cyclists and motor bike riders 9 266 Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE), (2014). Road Safety – Modelling a Global Phenomenon, Report 141, Canberra ACT. 26 28 The fatality data allows us to see: Who are the road users dying in Australia? • Who are most at risk of dying on the roads? • What was the immediate cause of the crash? – i.e. what behaviour led to the crash? ≥ 65 Men • Where do crashes tend to occur? • What can we do about it? Same % in 2023! 30 men, young people (17-25), older people (65+) and 29 vulnerable road users (e.g., cyclists, pedestrians, etc.) Age/Inexperience as a Risk Factor: Young drivers Why are young drivers so vulnerable? Lack of experience à poor decision making: 31 1. Headway time/distance between vehicles too short (<2 sec). 2. Too fast for the conditions. 3. Not looking far enough ahead when driving. 4. Gap selection too small when making turns, crossing intersections or overtaking. 5. 40% of crashes occur at night Crashes per 10,000 learner/novice drivers Number of drivers involved in recorded crashes • Young drivers are particularly at risk during the provisional licence stages and there is an aged-based effect separate to experience. Number of months since licensing 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Months of Licensure 32 5 02/10/2023 Why are older drivers so vulnerable? Older drivers are fragile - therefore more likely to suffer a fatal injury in the event of a crash. There can be impairments in a number functions important for driving: Who are the road users dying in Australia? Vulnerable road users • Vision - visual acuity and field of vision decline • Cognition - memory, visual processing, attention, and executive skills • Motor functions - such as muscle strength, endurance, flexibility decline with age (e.g. arthritis) • Declines in these functions make older drivers vulnerable to crashes in complex situations that require good visual perception, attention, and rapid response. – E.g. older drivers are more likely to experience crashes at intersections especially when a right hand turn is involved 33 Same percentages in 2023! 34 Deaths in regional and remote Australia – big problem Deaths in regional and remote Australia – big problem Australian Road Research Board drawing attention to the problem of local regional roads: “Imagine what the response would be if a jumbo jet was to crash in NSW. It's parallel to the number of people killed on our roads last year (2019).” September 11th 2020 newsletter. – Road quality – Unpaved shoulders? – Wildlife – Speed https://bitre.gov.au/publications/ongoing/files/Road_Safety_Australia_1117%20INFOGRAPHIC%202%20March%202018.pdf 35 36 Deaths in regional and remote Australia – Speed & run-offs What are the risky behaviours? Aka the fatal five Known to be major behavioural contributory factors to road trauma. 1. Speeding à 41% of road fatalities and 24% of serious injuries 2. Alcohol and drug driving – drugs prescribed or recreational 3. Failure to wear a seat belt 4. Fatigue 5. Distraction and inattention 37 38 6 02/10/2023 1. Speed: “In road injury epidemiology, kinetic energy is the pathogen.”* How speeding affects driving ability • Vision When you speed your field of vision is reduced. This affects your ability to react clearly to hazards approaching the vehicle from the side or rear. • High speed roads – responsible for most fatal crashes. – Leading behavioural factor in death and injuries on roads – ~45% of all fatal crashes occur in posted speed zones of 100 km/hour or over, – Only 12% in speed zones of 50 km/hour or under. • ~50% road deaths result from head-on crashes or single vehicle runoff-road crashes. – These proportions have not changed over the years. high impact *Robertson Drivers just focus on road ahead when driving at high speed Same thing happens when talking on phone L.S. (1992) Injury epidemiology. Oxford: Oxford University Press 39 40 Problem: our brains are wired for linear thinking not exponential How speeding affects driving ability • Impact speed The faster a vehicle is travelling, the harder the impact the vehicle will have with a hazard. • So we underestimate the distance needed to stop. – impact of a collision of a vehicle crashing at: • 50km/hr is vehicle = dropping from a 3 storey building. • 100km/hr vehicle = dropping from 12 storeys. A car travelling at 60km/h in dry conditions takes about 38 metres to stop. A car travelling at 80km/h needs an extra 20 metres. Speed – km/h – i.e. not 2 x 3 stories • Stopping distances The faster you’re travelling the more distance vehicle needs to stop. 65 – Stopping distances increase exponentially the faster you go. – In an emergency, the average driver takes about 1.5 seconds to react. Risk relative to 60 km/h X2 70 X4 75 X 11 80 X 32 The force of the crash varies with the square of the impact speed. For example, a 70 km/h collision has about twice the force of a 50 km/h collision. 41 42 What are the risky behaviours? Aka the fatal five Known to be major behavioural contributory factors to road trauma. 1. Speeding à 41% of road fatalities and 24% of serious injuries 2. Alcohol and drug driving – drugs prescribed or recreational 3. Failure to wear a seat belt 4. Fatigue 5. Distraction and inattention 43 44 7 02/10/2023 Alcohol also exponentially increases the risk of a crash and the severity of the crash outcome 2. Alcohol as a risk factor (Grand Rapids Study – Borkenstein 1964) A BAC level (0.05-0.1) à twice the risk of crash as a sober driver Landmark Study done by Borkenstein Borkenstein, R. F., Crowther, R. F., Shumate, R. P., Ziel, W. B., & Zylman, R. (1964). The Role of the Drinking Driver in Traffic Accidents. Bloomington, Indiana: Department of Police Administration, Indiana University. 45 45 46 What are the risky behaviours? Aka the fatal five • Alcohol and drug related crashes account for around 40% of road fatalities annually • Of which 24% is said to be due to illicit drugs Known to be major behavioural contributory factors to road trauma. 1. Speeding à 41% of road fatalities and 24% of serious injuries 2. Alcohol and drug driving – drugs prescribed or Transport for NSW roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au recreational 3. Failure to wear a seat belt 4. Fatigue 5. Distraction and inattention 47 48 3. Seat belts - best safety intervention Three-point seat belt - greatest safety invention of all time Seat belt wearing vs fatality rate for Australia & NSW Zero to 90% Seatbelt wearing ↑ Australia In 1959, the Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin developed the modern three-point seat belt. Although the design was patented, the company decided the patent was to be left open, making it available to all vehicle manufacturers to use for free. Fatality rate ↓ Wearing a seat-belt reduces the risk of death among front-seat passengers by 40–65% Seatbelt wearing ↑ NSW Seat-belts compulsory NSW (Vic 1970) Fatality rate ↓ 49 50 8 02/10/2023 What are the risky behaviours? Aka the fatal five Seat Belt usage – Mandatory for 50 years in NSW since November 1971 number of road vehicle fatalities for 12 months ending August 2023 NSW Known to be major behavioural contributory factors to road trauma. 1. Speeding à 41% of road fatalities and 24% of serious injuries 2. Alcohol and drug driving – drugs prescribed or recreational 3. Failure to wear a seat belt 4. Fatigue Now down to just 26 in NSW in past year On average around 150 people die nationally per year from this cause. Wearing a properly adjusted seat belt reduces the risk of fatal or serious injury by up to 50%. 51 5. Distraction and inattention 52 What are the risky behaviours? Aka the fatal five 4. Fatigue (very difficult to measure) Known to be major behavioural contributory factors to road trauma. 1. Speeding à 41% of road fatalities and 24% of serious injuries 2. Alcohol and drug driving – drugs prescribed or recreational Older drivers ‘fatigue cycle’ starts about 10pm! 53 3. Failure to wear a seat belt 4. Fatigue 5. Distraction and inattention 54 Distraction – It is eyes, hands and /or 5. Distraction and Inattention Attention as capacity or resource mind off the road – that is the problem There are 3 major notions or types of attention to consider under the multifaceted nature of attention: 1. arousal - the general state of excitability / stress / fatigue of a person 2. capacity or resources - for information processing 3. selective attention - i.e. allocation of attention ( to road / passenger/map/ mobile) Difficult to listen to news + read news ticker at bottom of screen at same time! 55 56 9 02/10/2023 not observing periphery views (pedestrians, oncoming cars) Distraction à tunnel vision Insurance data reveals that: • Most common types of collisions: • 23% of collisions – Rear-end Random distraction fact! • 21% of collisions – When a car is parked More than 300,000 drivers were caught using their mobile phones during a month-long trial of hi-tech detection cameras in October 2018 - New South Wales. 57 58 So what can we do about the road toll? Set new goal of reaching Zero deaths Vision Zero • In 1997, the Swedish Parliament adopted a new long-term goal and strategy for road safety, Vision Zero. The goal is that no one should be killed or seriously injured through a road accident. • Vision Zero is an ethical stance stating that it is not acceptable for human mistakes to have fatal consequences. https://www.roadsafetysweden.com/ 59 60 Vision Zero is based on … • Humans make mistakes • Traditional view was that most accidents are caused by roadusers. – Logically humans should always do the right thing in all situations. – So if an accident happens, then it was the fault of the the road-user. – Punish them to change their behaviour. • Vision Zero challenges this approach. • Humans make mistakes, but they should not cost a person's life or health. • So we must create a system that can mitigate mistakes • The focus is now on the roads, the vehicles and those who use the road transport system, rather than on the behaviour of the individual road-user. 61 The Safe System approach: accommodating human error This approach aims to ensure a safe transport system for all road users. Such an approach takes into account people’s vulnerability to serious injuries in road traffic crashes and recognises that the system should be designed to be forgiving of human error. The cornerstones of this approach are: • safe roads and roadsides • safe speeds • safe vehicles • safe road users All of which must be addressed in order to eliminate fatal crashes and reduce serious injuries 62 10 02/10/2023 Steps taken à 0 deaths GDL (safer drivers) • People are human and sometimes make mistakes – a simple mistake shouldn’t cost anyone their life. • Roads, roadsides and vehicles need to be designed to minimise crashes or reduce forces if a crash happens. • Road safety is a shared responsibility – everyone needs to make safe decisions on and around the road to prioritise safety. Why psychologists are needed J ANCAP ratings e.g. wire barriers speed cameras https://towardszero.nsw.gov.au/safesystem 63 64 So what causes us to commit unsafe acts? James Reason’s Taxonomy of Errors or ‘human malfunctions’! Unsafe driving behaviours can occur at different levels of ‘severity’ “ToHuman err is human……” Factors • Human error is both universal and inevitable. Attentional Failures Distraction: oops, I swerved out of my lane whilst talking • Errors are not intrinsically bad and they should be viewed as consequences rather than causes. Memory Failures Omitting planned action e.g. forgetting that you’re still in a school zone when taking off from traffic lights • We cannot change the human condition, but the conditions in which humans perform their tasks can be changed. Rule & Knowledge Based Mistakes Misapplication of a rule e.g. Being in wrong lane on roundabout for exit you want to take • The best people can make the worst mistakes • People cannot easily avoid those actions they did not intend to control • Errors are consequences, rather than causes Reason, 1990 Reason, J. (1990). Human Error, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Reason J . (1990). Human error. New York: Cambridge University Press 66 67 Unintentional unsafe actions Unintentional unsafe actions What can lead to ‘unintentional’ errors: slips, lapses, and mistakes? • Cognitive factors - memory, visual processing, What can lead to ‘unintentional’ errors: slips, lapses, and mistakes? • Cognitive factors • Perceptual errors attention, and executive skills • Perceptual errors 68 Intentional non-compliance Routine violations: deliberately not following the laid down procedure. • I drove holding my phone – even though it’s illegal. • Driving knowing BAC >.05 69 11 02/10/2023 Perceptual factors - rain Headlight beams reflect off the rain (or snow, or fog). The reflected light heads back to the driver's eyes, not to the obstacles on the road known as backscatter. Driving in rain: Rain makes light sources less effective by filtering away some of their light output and reducing illumination on the road ahead. When light strikes the raindrops, only a portion passes through while the rest scatters. The rain therefore blocks some of the light reflected by objects - so less reaches the driver's eye. Contrast is reduced, making objects more difficult to discern – especially pedestrians in dark clothes! 70 71 Especially bad at night – road markings can’t reflect light Rain Reduces Contrast This effect increases with distance because of the increased number of water drops between the object and the camera. Some of the light becomes g “backscatter” g veil g i contrast 72 73 Perceptual factors - fog Perceptual factors- Driving in fog • In fog we judge motion to be slower than it really is and have a harder time discriminating between motion and motionless objects. • Fog can also cause a driver to underestimate his/her own speed o Drivers have expectation that cars don’t stop on a motorway – so assume it’s moving – join the pile-up! o Drivers approaching a stopped car will judge it to be further away than it is and will therefore approach it much too quickly. Driving in fog: lowered contrast makes objects appear to be moving more slowly than they really are 74 75 12 02/10/2023 Perceptual factors - Size Speed Illusion Trains appear to be travelling more slowly than their actual speed because of their size and mass; much like a jet looks like it is almost hanging in mid air even though its final approach speed is over 240 km/h Can use perceptual errors for good – create illusion of speed as a countermeasure Can make roads appear narrower and corners sharper forces you to slow down larger objects appear to move more slowly 76 77 To make drivers safe we need to make them feel unsafe Risk – Biased decision making - we underestimate our risk – It is other drivers who are at risk à invulnerable Individual road users tend to under-estimate or ignore many of the risks. • Need to increase the perception that risks don’t pay-off! Other drivers have crashes – 3rd person effect Although serious crashes happen every day on our roads, (and reported daily in the media) they are rare in the experience of individual road users. • Every police car is a mobile RBT! • Should speed cameras be hidden? Based on personal experience, most road users conclude that whatever they have been doing is ‘safe’, and that their own risk is negligible when they use the road. For road safety professionals, communicating an understanding of this issue to road users presents a major challenge! Typical Driver: over 55 year driving history will experience: 1 casualty accident and 4 PDO crashes 78 79 How do we change driver behaviour? Risk factors such as speed and BAC increase exponentially, but we tend to think linearly! 3'E' approach, Enforcement, Education and Engineering We don’t realise what a difference a small change in speed, BAC can make to our risk exposure – just one more won’t matter Enforcement: Even number of passengers follows an exponential function! Education: (social marketing) Engineering: Perceptual countermeasures 80 Illusion of lane narrowing/ speeding 81 13 02/10/2023 Making a safer road system But what if we can’t change behaviour? What if drivers still won’t wear their seat belt, drive while drunk, tired, distracted…… …… and remember James Reason: “to err is human…” “We cannot change the human condition, but we can change the conditions under which humans work.” (Reason, 2000) So how do we reduce the road toll? We adopt the Safe Systems Approach Reason J. (2000). Human error: models and management, British Medical Journal, 320, 768-770. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.320.7237.768 82 Safer Roads Can we make Safer Road Users? • Safe infrastructure • Divided motorways • Lower speed Safer Vehicles limits • ANCAP ratings • Improvements in Airbags road markings • ABS brakes • ESC Electronic Stability ControI, • ISA, Intelligent speed adaptation • Alcohol interlock That’s up to us: • • • • 100% speed compliance 100% seat belt use 100% sober/drug free 100% distraction free Take the driver out altogether 84 Take as much responsibility away from the driver to ensure safer systems 14