Driver Characteristics influencing road safety

Driver Characteristics influencing road safety

Driver characteristics play an important role in road safety. The physical, mental and psychological factors are the main characteristics that govern the safe operation of the vehicle on the road. The major driver characteristics are:

Physical characteristics

Vision characteristics

The field of vision includes acute or clear vision cone, fairly clear vision, cone and peripheral vision cone.        The acute or clear vision cone is around 3 to 10 degrees around the line of sight. The fairly clear vision zone is 10 to 12 degrees around the line of sight. A vision in this field can identify the color and shape. The peripheral vision extends upto 90 degrees to the left and right of the centerline of the pupil. A peripheral vision does not show stationary objects. It only detects movement of objects within this field.

        Hearing

 Hearing is a important characteristic for drivers as they must respond to auditory signals in order to maneuver their vehicles and arrive at their destination without any accidents.

        Strength

This characteristic is essential for parking heavy vehicles

Mental characteristics

The important mental characteristics of drivers that play an important role in influencing road safety are:

• Skill
• Intelligence
• Experience
• Knowledge and
• Literacy

Apart from  the above characteristics, the driver should also possess knowledge in the below listed fields

• Knowledge of vehicle characteristics
• Driving practices
• Rules of the road
• Traffic behaviour

Physiological factors

Physiological factors affect reaction of the road user to the traffic situations. These reactions include:

• anger
• superstition
• fear
• impatience and
• anxiety

All of the above listed factors affect traffic performance.

Environmental factors

The various environmental factors that govern the behavior of the road are:

• Atmospheric conditions
• Traffic facilities
• Traffic stream characteristics

The traffic stream can be heavy traffic or mixed traffic which might limit the ability to overtake. Hence the behavior of the driver changes with traffic streams.

The two main driver characteristics are visual activity and reaction process. Other characteristics are hearing, personality and the psychology of the drivers. With the increase in speed, the peripheral vision narrows down. If it is 100 ° at 10 kmph, the vision narrows to 40° at 35 kmph.

Field of vision (FoV) decides some traffic engineering practices and functions.

1. ANTICIPATION- DEFENSIVE DRIVING
   Anticipation is reading into things that are happening around which in turn will lead into defensive driving. ANTICIPATION enables reading the road as it is vital to constantly keep changing areas of vision between short, medium and long distances.
   Defensive driving is comprises of taking precautions before they happen. This can be done effectively by observing clues like feet under parked cars, reflections in windows, headlights coming around corners; all signs to give information to act upon.
2. SKILL
   It is important to be able to use all of the controls smoothly and efficiently.  For example, changing gears should be done without jerking passengers about in the vehicle. Similarly, when braking, accelerating and  taking a corner care should be taken to avoid swaying about all over the place. Stopping a vehicle such that the passengers do not even feel it come to rest consistently requires SKILL and CONCENTRATION.  In any accident, the vehicle is very rarely at fault.  In the majority of cases it is driver error, due to lack of SKILL, CONCENTRATION and not ANTICIPATING the situation.
3. ATTTITUDE
   Without the right attitude, nobody can become consistently good driver. By staying calm and tolerant in all situations and then anyone can acquire the right attitude essential to become a good driver. However, more realistic to say is any improvement in attitude is a bonus. 
4. KNOWLEDGE  The learner drivers and the newly qualified drivers will be quite familiar with the Highway Code because of the theory test. However, no driver keeps abreast of the latest codes, rules and regulations. According to the latest regulations, drivers are required to undergo a recurring test to update their knowledge regularly 
5. SELF-DISCIPLINE
   Strictly adhering to traffic rules like obeying traffic lights, parking in designated areas, following lane discipline are few in a long list of rules that need to be followed strictly .