Exploring the relationship between work shift and demographic variables with driving behaviour among intercity bus drivers

Introduction: Examining the effect of bus drivers' demographic characteristics as well as workplace conditions on their traffic behavior and performance is important not only for drivers' health and safety, but also for the safety of bus passengers. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between demographic variables and work shift schedule on the behaviors pertaining to "hazard monitoring", "relax driving", "fatigue proneness", and "thrill seeking" among intercity bus drivers. Material and Method: In this cross-sectional study a sample of 321 bus drivers were randomly selected from Tehran intercity bus terminals. The BDRI questionnaire was used to collect data. The Pearson's correlation coefficient and the ANOVA and Tukey's HSD tests were used to analyze the data. Result: In general, the findings showed that age, driving experience and rest time period positively correlate to lower fatigue, lower thrill seeking and more relaxed driving. Drivers with higher vehicle age were found to perform worse than others in hazard monitoring and to be more prone to the stress and fatigue. Also, fatigue and relaxed driving were significantly related to the marital status and cigarette usage. In addition, drivers who were college graduate or above were found to perform worse than other drivers considering all of the four factors. Furthermore, those who drive in mountainous routes were found to perform worse than other drivers in hazard monitoring and fatigue proneness. Conclusion: Since the age and driving experience were found to influence fatigue proneness, hazard monitoring and relaxed driving, thus, setting up specific training courses for different driver age groups aiming to enhance their awareness concerning on managing these factors might help drivers improve their performance in these factors. Furthermore, regarding the effect of rest period and route type on the drivers' fatigue and hazard monitoring ability, appropriate regulations are needed to mitigate the effect of these factors on the performance of drivers.