Knowledge and attitudes of driver license applicants and instructors about driving of patients with epilepsy in Burkina Faso

Background Epilepsy is the most common neurological disease in the world. The objective of the study was to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice of driver’s license applicants and instructors in driving schools on epilepsy in Burkina Faso. Method This cross-sectional study was carried out from January 7th to March 7th 2020 in 21 driving schools approved by the National Driver License Authority in the city of Ouagadougou. Fifteen driver applicants and one instructor were selected in each driving school, resulting in a total of 315 driver applicants and 21 instructors in the study. Results The mean age of participants was 29.91 ± 7.63 years. One of the driver applicants included in the study was once experienced a seizure attack. All respondents had heard of epilepsy. The main source of epilepsy information was from family (42.5%). Two hundred and twenty-six respondents (67.3%) had witnessed an epileptic seizure. A majority of participants (55.9%) believed that persons with epilepsy be not permitted to drive a motor vehicle. About 44.0% of participants thought that people with epilepsy should be permitted to drive under certain conditions. One hundred and four (30.9%) participants suggested that people with epilepsy be permitted to drive a light vehicle. One hundred and forty-one (42.0%) suggest to withdraw the driving license for lifetime if a driver had an epileptic seizure attack; while twenty-three (6.8%) participants recommended suspension of driver license for 12 months. Conclusion Efforts should be made to improve awareness and education among license applicants and instructors on the driving by people with epilepsy.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRAFFIC SIGN COMPREHENSION AND RISKY TRAFFIC BEHAVIORS

The current study investigates the relationship between risky traffic behaviors and traffic sign comprehension (TSC). It is hypothesized that, as traffic sign comprehension increases, unsafe traffic behaviors decrease. The data were collected online through Qualtrics from 275 participants, 177 of whom were drivers. The questionnaire package included 25 open-ended traffic sign questions, Pedestrian Behavior Scale, Mini-Driver Behavior Questionnaire with 3 additional aggressive violation items, and a demographic information form. The results indicated that TSC was significantly related to reported driver errors and lapses after controlling for age and gender. In addition, pedestrian-related TSC was significantly related to reported pedestrian transgressions, lapses, aggressive behaviors, and positive behaviors after controlling for age, gender, driver's license, and driving experience. Generally, the results were consistent with the expectations: the better that road users (drivers and pedestrians) understand traffic signs, the fewer drivers and pedestrians reported unsafe behaviors (errors and lapses for drivers; transgressions, aggressive behaviors, and lapses for pedestrians), and the more pedestrians reported positive behaviors. This finding can be explained by the fact that as the need of people to understand traffic signs increases, they avoid behaviors that will lead to accidents in traffic. For this reason, it can be predicted that comprehensively introducing children to traffic signs from an early age will contribute positively to road safety.

The Contribution of Socio-Demographic Factors to Walking Behavior Considering Destination Types; Case Study: Temuco, Chile

The improvement of walking contributes to maintain the minimum rate of physical activity and therefore the residents’ public health. This is while the amount of walking in daily transport of inhabitants has significantly decreased during the last decades in Temuco, Chile. In addition, the impact of socio-demographic as well as social factors on the improvement of walking behavior has been paid less attention in previous studies. This study aims to examine the contribution of socio-demographic factors and the active family environment to walking behavior as well as walking level based on three types of destinations in Temuco. The results of “Encuesta Origin Destino” (EOD) in Temuco were used to examine the objectives. It was found that a high percentage of people who walk in Temuco belong to low-income families. Moreover, most of the people who walk, do not have a driver’s license nor private cars in their household. Certain socio-demographic factors such as age, gender, driver’s license, private cars, and access to TV were found to have associations with overall walking behavior as well as walking level depending on three different destination types. Furthermore, the correlation was found between walking behavior and active family environment. These findings were discussed and their implications were addressed as well.

The Neighborhood Effect on Keeping Non-Commuting Journeys within Compact and Sprawled Districts

The neighborhood effect on keeping non-commuting trips inside neighborhoods has not yet been investigated in developing countries. The modeling of non-commuting trips inside neighborhoods helps understand how to avoid unnecessary journeys by car into different parts of the city. This paper, therefore, attempts to clarify (1) the similarities and differences in the socioeconomic characteristics and the perceptions of people in sprawled and compact neighborhoods, (2) correlations between, on the one hand, the choice of destinations of non-commuting trips for shopping and entertainment activities and, on the other, the socioeconomic features, travel behavior, and perceptions of residents in the two large Pakistani cities of Lahore and Rawalpindi, (3) the similarities and differences in the determinants of non-commuting destinations inside neighborhoods in compact and sprawled districts. The paper develops four Binary Logistic (BL) regression models, with two models for each type of neighborhood. The findings show that trips to shopping areas inside compact districts are correlated with a sense of belonging to the neighborhood, frequency of public transport use, residential location, and mode choice of non-commuting trips to destinations both inside and outside the neighborhood. On the other hand, the number of non-commuting trips, mode choice for non-commuting trips outside the neighborhood, frequency of public transport use, the attractiveness of shops, and monthly income (please see the Note) are significant determinants for trips to the shopping area in sprawled districts. Age, gender, possession of a driver’s license, income, number of non-commuting trips, mode choice for non-commuting trips outside of the neighborhood, car ownership, and attractiveness of shops in a neighborhood are correlated with trips to entertainment locations inside the neighborhood in compact districts. Finally, the attractiveness of shops, quality of social and recreational facilities, a sense of belonging to a neighborhood, choice of residential location, gender, age, possession of a driver’s license, number of cars in the household, and income are determinants of trips to entertainment locations in sprawled districts. A chi-square test confirms the differences across gender, daily activity, monthly income, frequency of public transport use, residential location choice, and the quality of social and recreational facilities for sprawled and compact districts in Pakistan.

Using the Theory of Planned Behavior to Understand Traffic Violation Behaviors in E-Bike Couriers in China

This paper identifies salient beliefs that influence e-bike couriers’ traffic violation behavior based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Two surveys were conducted in Nanjing, China, in 2018. The first survey extracted the key psychological beliefs, which were used to design a questionnaire. The second survey assessed TPB components and reported e-bike couriers’ traffic violation behavior. A structural equation model was adopted to analyze the data. The results revealed that attitudes, descriptive norms, and perceived behavioral control explained 55.7% of the variance in intention to perform traffic violation behavior, and intentions together with perceived behavior control accounted for 28.5% of the variance in self-reported violation riding behavior. All of the belief composites had strong direct impacts on their respective TPB constructs. Salient beliefs were applied to develop effective intervention strategies. Age, education level, whether one possessed a driver’s license, and past traffic violation behaviors had significant effects on belief composites and behavior. The quantitative analysis results obtained in the study can provide theoretical support for designing more effective interventions for reducing the traffic violation rate of e-bike couriers.

Model-Based Prediction of Operation Consequences When Driving a Car to Compensate for a Partially Restricted Visual Field by A-Pillars

The partial restriction of a driver’s visual field by the physical structure of the car (e.g., the A-pillar) can lead to unsafe situations where steering performance is degraded. Drivers require both environmental information and visual feedback regarding operation consequences. When driving with a partially restricted visual field, and thus restricted visual feedback, drivers may predict operation consequences using a previously acquired internal model of a car. To investigate this hypothesis, we conducted a tracking and driving task in which visual information was restricted to varying degrees. In the tracking task, participants tracked a moving target on a computer screen with visible and invisible cursors. In the driving task, they drove a real car with or without the ability to see the distant parts of a visual field. Consequently, we found that the decrease in tracking performance induced by visual feedback restriction predicted the decrease in steering smoothness induced by visual field restriction, suggesting that model-based prediction was used in both tasks. These findings indicate that laboratory-based task performance can be used to identify drivers with low model-based prediction ability whose driving behavior is less optimal in restricted vision scenarios, even before they obtain a driver’s license. However, further studies are required to examine the underlying neural mechanisms and to establish the generalizability of these findings to more realistic settings.

IMPLEMENTASI BLOCKCHAIN UNTUK OPTIMALISASI SISTEM KEAMANAN DOKUMEN TRANSPORTASI PADA SIM DAN STNK

Data security is very important today, because the amount of big data is increasing day by day, forcing every sector to review its security system. The security of SIM and STNK documents is always associated with the authorities. This authority can be public or private. In this country, in the transportation sector, the security of driver's license and vehicle registration documents are given to two private company authorities. Among them are Presprint PI for SIM and High Tech Telesoft for STNK card. Its purpose is to prove the authenticity, availability, and confidentiality of the SIM or STNK holder. However, until now, the security of these documents is still facing obstacles, such as the presence of several individuals who have fake driver's licenses or fake STNKs. Sometimes with the involvement of a particular system manager, the time it takes for the applicant to get a driver's license or STNK card, data management must be secured by one authority. Faced with this situation, to ensure that only qualified people who have the appropriate driving training certificate and have the original driver's license can be allowed to drive the vehicle. System security is optimized through the use of blockchain technology, in data management transparently and without central authority.

Determining the Factors That Influence Electric Vehicle Adoption: A Stated Preference Survey Study in Beijing, China

The transition from conventional vehicles (CVs) to electric vehicles (EVs) could be promising in tackling environmental challenges in China. Using a sample of 1216 respondents in Beijing, China, our study intends to understand the underlying factors that drive the decision to purchase an EV among potential Chinese vehicle purchasers. We built two choice models to estimate vehicle purchase behavior and fuel choice. We found that males and having higher household income are associated with greater intention to purchase EVs (both plug-in and battery electric vehicles). However, a previous inclination to choose CV negatively impacted willingness to buy EVs. Between specific EV types, we found that Plug-in Hybrid EV (PHEV) purchase was negatively associated with plans to obtain a driver’s license within three years and longer durations of having owned a motorized vehicle first. Yet, the number of electric bicycles in the household was positively associated with PHEV-purchase likelihood. For Battery EVs (BEV), we found that respondents who had previous experience with an EV (either as a driver or passenger) were more likely to purchase a BEV while existing ownership of a driver’s license and a higher purchase budget reduced such possibility. Based on our findings, we recommend authorities continue to, or increasingly, provide direct monetary incentives to purchase EVs, and to provide EV driving and riding experience to customers, especially who are in the middle- and low-income vehicle purchasing groups, to improve the Chinese EV market relative to CVs.