Longitudinal jerk and celeration as measures of safety in bus rapid transit drivers in Tehran

Abstract

Traditionally, analysis of individual differences in road traffic crash risk has relied on after the fact crash data. Nowadays with the help of technologies like GPS, new measures are developed to assess driving risk, inferred from naturalistic driving behaviour of drivers. In this study, two main ways of modelling driver behaviour in naturalistic driving research were discussed and compared to each other. For this purpose, 176 Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) drivers were investigated during their normal driving on Tehran BRT routes. Their speed was continuously recorded by a smart phone app from which was derived deceleration, jerk and celeration measures. Analysis showed that all of the proposed measures had positive correlations with culpable crashes and that one of the jerk variables yielded the highest correlation. Measurements of speed derivatives like jerk and celeration can help to identify dangerous driving styles in public transportation and reduce the number of crashes. Although the results of this study are encouraging, further studies for longer periods are needed to improve the reliability of the measures.

Keywords:

• Driver behaviour
• acceleration measures
• bus safety
• crash
• naturalistic driving study

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 In the Tehran Bus Company, drivers are instructed to report crashes to the supervisor of the route and also to the Police. The crash descriptions are then manually entered into a computer system by an agent responsible for the crash records in the bus company.

2 Global Navigation Satellite System.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bahram Khorram

Bahram Khorram has a B.S. in civil engineering from Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman and M.Sc of Transportation Engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology. He’s interested in traffic safety and driver’s behavior.

A. E. af Wåhlberg

Anders af Wåhlberg has four degrees from Uppsala University (Sweden; B.A., M.A., PhD and Associate professor of Psychology) and is currently a Research Fellow at Cranfield University (UK). His research interests are mainly in traffic behavior theory and research methodology, individual differences in safety, meta-analytic techniques and social change.

Ali Tavakoli Kashani

Ali Tavakoli Kashani earned his B.S. in Civil Engineering from Isfahan University of Technology. He received his M.S. and PhD in Transportation Engineering from Iran University of Science & Technology. He has been Assistant Professor in the transportation department of Iran University of Science & Technology since 2011. He has also been the Associate Dean of the School of Civil Engineering and training manager of the Road Safety Applied Research Center in Iran University of Science & Technology. His main research interests are road safety analysis, road safety audit, and human factors.