BACKGROUND: Road traffic injury is one of the persistent public health challenges in most regions of the world, representing substantial human and economic losses. Annually, about 1.25 million lives are lost, whereas 50 million suffer from road traffic injuries globally. It has been shown that over 60% of the reasons for traffic injuries are a risky driving behavior (RDB). Despite the problem's pervasiveness, there is a paucity of information about level and factors influencing RDB among professional car drivers in Bahirdar city, northwest Ethiopia. METHODS: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from February to March 2016. A systematic random sampling technique was used to select 376 participants. A self-administered driver behavior questionnaire (DBQ) was used for data collection. We performed a binary logistic regression analysis to investigate the associations of variables. Potential confounders were controlled using a multivariable logistic regression model. We ascertained the significance at < 0.05 p value and evaluated strength of associations using crude odds ratios (COR) and adjusted odds ratios (AOR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). RESULTS: A total of 361 drivers participated (response rate, 96%). The mean age was 34 (standard deviations ± 7.97) years. The majority, 98.9% (N = 357), were males. The level of risky driving behavior and road traffic crashes were 79.4% (95% CI 75.92, 83.97) and 16.3% (95% CI 15.91, 24.84), respectively. Average monthly salary [AOR 2.04; 95% CI (1.23, 2.74)], driving experience [AOR 2.72; 95% CI (1.07, 6.89)], distance driven per year [AOR 2.06; 95% CI (1.13, 4.10)], and previous history of involvement in traffic crashes [AOR 2.30; 95% CI (1.15, 7.35)] were significantly associated with risky driving behavior. CONCLUSIONS The study shows that risky driving behavior is common among professional car drivers in the study setting. Therefore, it is strongly advisable for policy makers and other stake holders to devise strategies that consider working conditions, like monthly salary and driving experiences. The study also suggests that it is often advisable to reduce the distance driven per year and learn from implications of previous history of involvement in traffic crashes.
Accidents, Occupational ; statistics & numerical data ; Accidents, Traffic ; statistics & numerical data ; Adult ; Automobile Driving ; psychology ; statistics & numerical data ; Cities ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Ethiopia ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Odds Ratio ; Risk Factors ; Risk-Taking ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Workplace violence is related to various health effects including mental illness such as anxiety or depression. In this study, the relationship between the experience of workplace violence and depression in substitute drivers in Korea, namely, daeri drivers, was investigated. To assess workplace violence, questions regarding types and frequency of the experience of violence over the past year were asked to the daeri drivers. In order to assess the risk of depression, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale was used. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals of depression were estimated using multiple logistic regression analysis. All of the daeri drivers had experienced instance of verbal violence while driving and 66 of the drivers (34.1%) had been in such a situation more than once in the past quarter of a year. Sixty-eight daeri drivers (42.2%) had experienced certain type of physical violence over the past year. Compared to daeri drivers who had experienced workplace verbal violence less than 4 times and who had not experienced workplace physical violence over the past year, higher odds ratio was observed in daeri drivers who had experienced workplace verbal violence or physical violence, more than 4 times and more than one time respectively, after adjustment. Experience of verbal or physical type of workplace violence over the past year increased the risk of depression in the daeri drivers. Because violence against drivers can compromise the safety of the driver, the customer, and all the passengers, it is imperative that the safety and health of daeri drivers be highlighted.
Adult ; Aged ; *Automobile Driving/psychology ; Depression/epidemiology/*etiology ; Driving Under the Influence/prevention & control/psychology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Occupational Health ; Odds Ratio ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; *Workplace Violence

OBJECTIVE: Based on a retrospective analysis of the drunk driving cases, to explore the drunk drivers' personnel composition, occurrence time and psychology. METHODS: As a result of punishment of the drunk driving by criminal law for one year from May 1st, 2011 to April 30th, 2012, 91 drunk driving cases were statistically analyzed the easy-happening time of drunk driving, the drunk drivers' age, gender, occupational characteristics, domicile and psychological factors. RESULTS: In 97 drunk driving cases, 26-40 years old, non-local domiciled and non-professional male drivers were prone to drunk driving at night from 22:00 to 5:00. CONCLUSION The behavior of drunk driving is relevant to time, age, genders and occupation. The psychological characteristics of most drivers are fluky, making-life-easy, competitive and peacockish.
Accidents, Traffic/statistics & numerical data* ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Age Distribution ; Alcohol Drinking ; Alcoholic Intoxication/psychology* ; Automobile Driving/psychology* ; China/epidemiology* ; Female ; Forensic Medicine ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Risk Factors ; Sex Distribution ; Social Behavior ; Time Factors ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to examine effects of a small group-based cardiocerebrovascular disease (CVD) prevention education program on knowledge, stage of change and health behavior among male bus drivers with CVD risk factors. METHODS: A non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used. Participants were 68 male bus drivers recruited from two urban bus companies. Participants from the two groups were selected by matching age, education and risk factors. Experimental group (n=34) received a small group-based CVD prevention education program 8 times over 6 weeks and 3 times through telephone interviews at 2-week intervals. Data were collected between December, 2010 and March, 2011, and were analyzed using chi-square test, t-test, and repeated measure analysis of variance with SPSS/Win18.0. RESULTS: Experimental group showed significantly higher scores in CVD prevention knowledge (p<.001) and health behavior (p<.001) at 6 and 12 weeks after intervention. Participants in pre-contemplation and contemplation stages made progress to contemplation and action. This was significantly better at 6 and 12 weeks after intervention (p<.001). CONCLUSION: Results suggest that small group-based education programs for CVD prevention are effective in increasing knowledge, stage of change, and health behavior to prevent CVD among male bus drivers with CVD risk.
Adaptation, Psychological ; Adult ; Aged ; Alcohol Drinking ; Automobile Driving/*psychology ; Cardiovascular Diseases/*prevention & control ; Dietary Fats ; Exercise ; Health Behavior ; *Health Education ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Interviews as Topic ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Program Development ; *Program Evaluation ; Risk Factors ; Smoking ; Time Factors

Based on the fact that the signals of electroencephalogram (EEG) possess non-linear and non-stationary properties, Hilbert-Huang Transform (HHT) was proposed for the EEG analysis of driving fatigue. Firstly, C4-lead EEG was selected, and the data of normal driving state and fatigue driving state was analyzed by HHT to explore the differences. Then O2-lead EEG was chosen for contrastive analysis of differences between the different leads. It was found through the analysis that the EEG signals had different Hilbert marginal spectrums for different states, and there were also some differences at the same state for the two leads. It can be certain that HHT can well distinguish different states of drivers as a novel approach for driving fatigue detection, and the selected lead may affect detectable results to some extent.
Automobile Driving ; psychology ; Electroencephalography ; methods ; Humans ; Mental Fatigue ; physiopathology ; prevention & control ; psychology ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted

OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence of traffic law violations among middle school students of Hunan province and to identify the influencing factors. METHODS: Stratified sampling and cluster sampling were used to randomly select students from 96 classes of 16 middle schools. Road traffic law violations were measured through recalling the occurrence of 5 common violations in the prior year. Most of influencing factors were collected by self-designed questionnaire except for family support function and parenting that were measured by the family assessment device (FAD) and the parenting locus of control scale (PLOC), respectively. Kruskal Wallis H test and multinomial logistic regression were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: The overall incidence rate of five common traffic law violations among middle school students in Hunan province fell between 16.6%-43.3%. Except for running against traffic light or not using pedestrian crossings (8.2%), students with the other 4 traffic law violations merely accounted for less 4%. The rates of students with 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 kinds of traffic law violations were 25.3%, 17.8%, 10.2%, 6.2% and 3.4%, respectively. Logistic regression showed that there were 3 factors (area, junior or senior high school, and single child or not), 5 factors (area, junior or senior high school, sex, single child or not, and class leader or not) and 6 factors (type of school, junior or senior high school, sex, class leader or not, family support function, and type of family education) significantly associating with the occurrence of 1, 2, and 3 or more traffic law violations, respectively. CONCLUSION Only a small proportion of students often or almost always break traffic law or break several traffic laws at the same time. Students with serious traffic law violations should be targeted by school safety education and intervention.
Accidents, Traffic ; prevention & control ; Adolescent ; Automobile Driving ; legislation & jurisprudence ; Dangerous Behavior ; Female ; Humans ; Law Enforcement ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Risk Factors ; Safety ; legislation & jurisprudence ; Sampling Studies ; Students ; psychology ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Grey system theory was applied in analysis of Electroencephalogram (EEG) to extract features of driving fatigue in this study. Model GM(1,1) was built for EEG collected during simulative driving experiments. At the same time, the data of steering wheel movements and subjective fatigue level were analyzed as reference. The results of experiments reveal that the co-deviation of Model GM(1,1) parameter a and b, cov(a,b), coincides with the standard deviation of steering wheel movements. This indicates that Grey system theory is effective for EEG analysis and the parameters of GM(1,1) can well reflect the change of driving fatigue.
Adult ; Automobile Driving ; psychology ; Computer Simulation ; Electroencephalography ; methods ; Fatigue ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Male ; Models, Theoretical

In recent years, the traffic accidents increased gradually, especially those caused by the drivers daily emotional abnormality and in which the drivers were liable. This article reviewed the traffic accidents caused by divorced driver's emotional abnormality, illustrated the features of those accidents from the gender, age, occupation and mileage of drivers. It was considered that the major cause of those accidents was excessive drinking due to drivers' emotional stress. Suggestions about preventing the traffic accidents caused by emotional abnormality were put forward so as to make the corresponding rules and finally decrease the emotional abnormality traffic accidents.
Accidents, Traffic/prevention & control* ; Alcohol Drinking/psychology* ; Automobile Driving/psychology* ; Divorce/psychology* ; Female ; Forensic Medicine ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Stress, Psychological/psychology*

Automobile Driving ; psychology ; Burnout, Professional ; prevention & control ; Emotions ; Humans ; Railroads

Driving mental fatigue is a substantial problem and threatens people's health and life. This investigation was made to evaluate the driving mental fatigue based on power spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) and blood pressure variability (BPV) synthetically. Twenty health male subjects (28.8 +/- 4.3 years) were required to perform the simulated driving for 90 min. The frequency domain indices of HRV such as low frequency (0.04-0.15 Hz, LF), high frequency (0.15-0.4 Hz, HF), LF/HF together with the indices of hemodynamics such as blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) of the subjects were calculated and anlyzed after the simulated driving. The results showed that sympathetic activity of the subjects enhanced after the simulated driving while parasympathetic activities decreased. The sympathovagal balance was also improved. Remarkable linear correlations were observed between all the corresponding indices of HRV and BPV (P<0.05). The findings suggested that the evaluation of autonomic activities by means of multi-variable synthetic effect analysis is scientific and objective.
Adult ; Automobile Driving ; psychology ; Autonomic Nervous System ; physiology ; Blood Pressure ; physiology ; Heart Rate ; physiology ; Humans ; Male ; Mental Fatigue ; physiopathology