Activating a safety message from truck drivers' memory: an experiment in a work zone
✍ Scribed by H. Summala; M. Pihlman
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1993
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 583 KB
- Volume
- 16
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0925-7535
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
In late June 1988, The Swedish Road Administration sent each of Sweden's 30,000 truck drivers a music tape "Easy trucker" with information concerning driving in work zones ; it mainly emphasized the fact that road workers are stressed and afraid of large vehicles that pass them too fast and too close in maintenance and construction zones . In this study, truck driver behavior was measured, once before and three times after the release of the tape, in a selected work zone which was kept approximately the same for four months . No change in truck speeds in the work zone was found to result from the campaign either during or after work hours . However, the campaign consistently increased truck drivers' lateral safety margins with respect to a worker standing at the edgeline about 100 m from the beginning of the work area, in comparison to car drivers . In the presence of oncoming vehicles neither lateral shift nor compensatory speed decrement occurred . This study demonstrates that it is not easy to show measurable effects of a campaign in driver behavior ; that for any effects to occur, the association between safety message and the proper situation should be clear enough and that drivers prefer safety responses with no costs, such as lateral shift, rather than those with even a small subjective cost such as speed decrement .
Resume
A la fin du mois de join 1988, le Ministere de Is Securite Routiere en Suede a adresse a chacun des 30 .000 chauffeurs routiers su€dois une cassette de musique intitulee "Le routier relax" contenant des informations sur la conduits a observer dans des zones oii des travaux etaient en tours .
Ces informations mettaient tout specialement l'accent sur le fait que ceux qui travaillent sur les routes sont stresses et ont pear des gros camions qui les frolent a une vitesse tres elevee . On a examine dans cette etude, le comportement du chauffeur routier, une foil avant et . trois fois apres la remise de la cassette, dans une zone de travaux selectionnee qui a et€ maintenue dans le meme etat a cet effet pendant environ quatre mois . On n'a constate aucune modification de In vitesse des camions dens ces zones de travaux a la suite de la campagne que ce soit au cours des heures de travail on apres. Neanmoins, la campagne a considerablement augmente les marges de securite Iaterales respectees par lea chauffeurs tourists par rapport a on ouvrier pose a environ 100 metres de I'endroit ou debutent lea travaux par rapport aux conducteurs de voitures ordinaires . Lorsque des vehicules venaient en seas inverse on n'a constate ni de deplacement lateral, ni de reduction de vitesse . Cette etude montre qu'il n'est pas facile de demontrer lea effets mesurables d'une cam-