Research on driver braking behavior under emergency situations and relation between driver personalities and driving violations

Problem: Reduction of traffic violations and improvement of traffic safety level have become increasingly important issues during recent years with the advance of the automobile society. in China, there is a lack of scientific evidence on the relationships between sensation seeking, aggressive behavior and young drivers' involvement in violations. And whether driver can give precise and accurate braking operations under emergency situations is closely associated with the traffic safety. This research was divided into two sections and each of them was examined. Methods: Firstly, the samples randomly selected of 314 young drivers (18-28 years old) were interviewed through questionnaires of revised Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking (AISS), Aggressive Behavior Questionnaire and Driving Violation Questionnaire, which mainly focused on their behavior on the road and the number of violations in which they had been involved. The statistical methods were principal components analysis (PCA). The structural equation modeling was established and the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was applied to evaluate the internal consistency of these variables and various fit indices were used to assess the fit of the model. Secondly, this research obtained data on drivers' physiological responses and braking behavior to three kinds of dangerous scenes in which 40 drivers were selected randomly. Based on the driver behavior & reaction research platform and clustering analysis method, the drivers were classified and the traits of drivers' physiological reactions and braking behavior in the same group under emergency situations were analyzed. The relationships between physiological reactions and the braking parameters, which include braking force and braking time, were also discussed. Results: The structural equation model suggested that driving just for sensation seeking and aggressive were predictors Of young drivers' involvement in traffic violations and accidents and various fit indices indicated that this model fitted the data well. It was found that younger age was associated with young drivers' involvement in violations. The second section results showed that most of drivers could take proper evasive action, but the average braking time was longer than those for simpler scenario tests. Different emergency situations and drivers would have different physiological indices changing values, but all of them could be classed into three groups and the drivers in the same group have close characteristics. Application: The findings of this study can contribute in the formation of public policies aiming to prevent young drivers' driving violations and could also be used to establish a fuzzy control system to optimize the driver behavior. These findings can also be the starting point of some health promotion interventions trying to reduce traffic accidents and casualties on the road.