Analysis of safety climate and individual factors affecting bus drivers’ crash involvement using a two-level logit model

Authors

Xuesong Wang
Yujun Jiao
Junyu Huo
Ruirui Li
Chu Zhou
Hanzhong Pan
Chen Chai

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2021

Subject Area

mode - bus, place - asia, planning - methods, planning - safety/accidents, planning - surveys, ridership - behaviour, ridership - drivers

Keywords

Bus driver, Crash involvement, Safety climate, Fleet-level, Individual characteristics, Random-effects two-level logit model

Abstract

Although traffic crashes involving buses are less frequent than those involving other vehicle types, the consequences of bus crashes are high due to the potential for multiple injuries and casualties. As driver error is a primary factor affecting bus crashes, driver safety education is one of the main countermeasures used to mitigate crash risk. In China, however, safety education is not as focused as it should be, largely due to the limited research identifying the specific driver behaviors, and potential influences on those behaviors, that are correlated with crashes. The aim of this study is, therefore, to explore the fleet- and driver-level risk factors underlying bus drivers’ self-reported crash involvement, including analyzing the effect of psychological distress on the most influential driver-level factors. A survey was conducted of 725 drivers from a large Shanghai bus company, and a random-effects two-level logit model was developed to integrate fleet and individual variables. Results showed that: 1) the fleet-level safety climate explained about 8.5% of the model’s variance, indicating it was a valid predictor of self-reported crash involvement; 2) the driver-level factors of drivers’ age, seniority, marital status, positive behavior, and driving anger influenced drivers’ self-reported crash involvement, but ordinary violations, lapses, aggressive violations, and insomnia were the most influential variables; 3) psychological distress appeared to associate with the high frequency of risky driving behavior and the high severity of driving anger. This study’s findings will help bus companies to give more attention to their safety climate and implement more targeted improvements to their driver safety education programs.

Rights

Permission to publish the abstract has been given by Elsevier, copyright remains with them.

Comments

Accident Analysis and Prevention Home Page:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00014575

Recommended Citation

Wang, X., Jiao, Y., Huo, J., Li, R., Zhou, C., Pan, H., & Chai, C. (2021). Analysis of safety climate and individual factors affecting bus drivers’ crash involvement using a two-level logit model. Accident Analysis and Prevention, Vol. 154, 106087.