Understanding Traffic Accidents among Young Drivers in Qatar

Young drivers are generally associated with risky driving behaviors that can lead to crash involvement. Many self-report measurement scales are used to assess such risky behaviors. This study is aimed to understand the risky driving behaviors of young adults in Qatar and how such behaviors are associated with crash involvement. This was achieved through the usage of validated self-report measurement scales adopted for the Arabic context. A nationwide cross-sectional and exploratory study was conducted in Qatar from January to April 2021. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the survey was conducted online. Therefore, respondents were selected conveniently. Hence, the study adopted a non-probability sampling method in which convenience and snowball sampling were used. A total of 253 completed questionnaires were received, of which 57.3% were female, and 42.7% were male. Approximately 55.8% of these young drivers were involved in traffic accidents after obtaining their driving license. On average, most young drivers do have some risky driving behavior accompanied by a low tendency to violate traffic laws, and their driving style is not significantly controlled by their personality on the road. The older young drivers are more involved in traffic accidents than the younger drivers, i.e., around 1.5 times more likely. Moreover, a young male driver is 3.2 times less likely to be involved in traffic accidents than a female driver. In addition, males are only 0.309 times as likely as females to be involved in an accident and have approximately a 70% lower likelihood of having an accident versus females. The analysis is complemented with the association between young drivers’ demographic background and psychosocial-behavioral parameters (linking risky driving behavior, personality, and obligation effects on crash involvement). Some interventions are required to improve driving behavior, such as driving apps that are able to monitor and provide corrective feedback.

Exploration of the Relationships between Hazard Perception and Eye Movement for Young Drivers

Aiming at young drivers’ hazard perception (HP) and eye movement, a cross-sectional study was conducted in the city of Xi’an, China. 46 participants were recruited, and 35 traffic scenes were used to test drivers’ hazard perception and eye movement. The difference analysis and correlation analysis were carried out for the acquired data. The results suggest that some indices of hazard perception and eye movement are significantly correlated. A higher saccade speed is in the direction of higher hazardous scenes. Higher complex scenes result in smaller saccade angle. The number of hazards unidentified is negatively influenced by complexity degree and hazardous degree of traffic scenes, and similar associations are found between hazard identification time, complexity degree, and hazardous degree. The hazard identification time and the number of hazards slowly identified are positively affected by the number of fixations and the number of saccades. Meanwhile, differences in the hazardous degree evaluation, hazard identification time, number of hazards unidentified, number of fixations, and number of saccades are found in different types of traffic scenes. The results help us to improve the design of road and vehicle devices, as well as the assessment and enhancement of young drivers’ hazard perception skills.

ABOUT SOME FEATURES OF EDUCATION AND SEQUENTIAL STEPS IN EXAMINITIONS FOR THE DRIVING LICENCE

В статье представлены динамика аварийности вследствие нарушения правил дорожного движения водителями в возрастной группе 16-19 лет, включая относительные показатели, а также краткий анализ программ профессиональной подготовки водителей транспортных средств в контексте выделения особенностей обучения несовершеннолетних кандидатов, рассмотрен зарубежный опыт подготовки несовершеннолетних водителей на примере Норвегии. The article presents the dynamics of accidents due to violations of traffic rules by drivers in the age group of 16-19 years old, including the relative indicators, presents a brief analysis of vocational training programs for drivers of vehicles in context of the features of training young drivers, including Norway experience.

Study on Risk Tolerance of Passenger Car Drivers Aged 18–25

A universal problem of the impact of behaviour of less experienced young drivers on the rate of road accidents referring to the Russian Federation in comparison to other countries.In the Russian Federation, in recent years, there has been a decrease in the total number of road accidents and in the number of deaths in them. This speaks of the effective preventive work of the traffic police and other related services, but at the same time, a fairly large number of car accidents persists.One problem is the high incidence of accidents among inexperienced young drivers. According to research conducted in different countries, the likelihood of road accidents is especially high during the first year after obtaining a driver’s license. The overwhelming majority of drivers responsible for road accidents with less than six months of driving experience belong to the age category of 18–25 years. One of the main reasons for the increased likelihood of road accidents is their excessive risk inclination.It is obvious that risky driving is common in young people, which also affects the operation of the car. Risk inclination is directly related to the number of errors made, which significantly increases the likelihood of an accident.Objective of the work was to assess the risk tolerance among drivers aged 18–25 years. Research methods comprise a survey of young people of the indicated age and the analysis of the results obtained. The figures obtained during the survey indicate that the majority of respondents (82 %) have a «mean level of risk tolerance». But there are also quite a few «risky drivers» (15 %). Moreover, these 15 % are in the youngest age group from 18 to 21 years old. Based on the results of the work, it is proposed: during training at a driving school, the future driver should receive not only theoretical knowledge and practical driving lessons, but also undergo a psychological analysis to determine his fitness to participate in road traffic; introduce certain restrictions «for young and novice drivers» into the Road Traffic Regulations. It is necessary to limit the permitted power of the car and the permissible speed (adoption of a multiplying coefficient for fines for speeding), prohibit the use of the car in the dark and in difficult road conditions, as well as passenger transportation.