Anger between bus drivers and passengers or among passengers: Development of a bus passenger anger scale (BPAS) and a bus driver anger scale (BDAS)

In China, numerous fatal accidents have occurred due to anger caused by conflicts between the driver and passengers or among passengers on buses. Nonetheless, based on existing knowledge, there is no tool available to measure the anger experience of passengers and drivers. The existing driving anger scale (DAS) can be applied only to assess a driver's tendency to experience driving anger in driving-related scenarios, such as traffic obstruction, others' illegal driving and pedestrians illegally crossing, which often happen outside the vehicle. This study developed a bus passenger anger scale (BPAS) and a bus driver anger scale (BDAS) for measuring the anger experience of drivers and passengers in various conflict situations that occur on buses. The results of two independent surveys involving 384 passengers and 414 drivers indicate that the BPAS measures four dimensions of bus passenger anger, including drivers' or passengers' rude behavior, mutual hostility, unintentional behavior, and passengers' violations, and that the BDAS measures four dimensions of driver anger, including passengers' rude behavior, hostility between the driver and passengers, passengers' extreme behavior, and drivers' violations. Through exploratory principal component analysis (PCA) and reliability analysis, two reliable scales that can be used to measure drivers' or passengers' experiences of anger were constructed. The BPAS contains 22 items and 4 factors, and the BDAS contains 21 items and 4 factors. Data analysis revealed that, compared to the level of driving anger provoked by stimulators outside the vehicle, which has been extensively studied by previous researchers, the level of bus driver anger caused by passenger-driver conflicts was higher. Furthermore, bus passenger anger was more inclined to be triggered by mutual hostility and other persons' rude behaviors. Passengers' extreme behaviors elicited the highest driver anger rating from drivers. Finally, a correlation analysis indicated that older passengers and older drivers were less inclined to become angry when encountering anger-provoking situations.