Psychologically Profiling Drivers: A Questionnaire

Authors

  • Julijana Djordjević University of Ljubljana

Abstract

Analysing driver behaviour can contribute to the larger scheme of improving road safety and reducing the number of accidents due to uneducated or reckless driving [1]. The term “driver’s behaviour” refers to features and activities that a driver exhibits when operating a vehicle. Therefore, we can classify drivers according to their behaviour.

Our goal in this study was to design a questionnaire with a similar objective as the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ), the most popular instrument to measure driver behaviour [1], while also providing a psychological analysis of the questionnaire partaker. Another aim was to make our questionnaire recognise the driver’s intention to operate a vehicle (e.g., as a taxi driver, you intend to drive customers from one location to another). Finally, we wanted to classify the drivers with the data coming in from the questionnaire answers. To classify means recognising different types of drivers (e.g., reckless drivers). Then, using the data from the questionnaire, we offer participants pointers on how to improve their driving capability (e.g., how to avoid being a reckless driver).

To achieve the set goal, it was essential to analyse the currently standing surveys for measuring driver behaviour; the DBQ, the Freight Driving Behaviour Questionnaire (F- DBQ), and the Danish DBQ. We then utilised the strengths of the currently standing surveys to our advantage. By extracting and adapting the questions, we want to identify the psychological profiles of drivers. Driver’s psychological profiling is a method for determining a driver’s mental, emotional, and personality characteristics. We structured the questionnaire into different sections. The polar section and the non-polar section questions were based on a real-life situation on the road to contribute to the subject’s psychological profile.

The questionnaire, classifications and constructive feedback have been created but not yet tested. However, we plan to use it alongside driving simulators to provide the subject with informative classification supported by strong and valid evidence from the questionnaire and the driving simulator (e.g., eye-tracking to measure awareness).

We expect subjects to take the feedback constructively and improve their driving behaviour. The result was to create a questionnaire for the researchers of the driving simulator study. In addition, we wanted to help them identify driver psychological profiles.

With further research, our goal is to develop an algorithm that will automatically classify the driver based on the analysis of the gathered data (from the questionnaire and the driving simulator).

References

[1] S. A. Useche, B. Cendales, I. Lijarcio and F. J. Llamazaresd, “Validation of the F-DBQ: A short (and accurate) risky driving behavior questionnaire for long-haul professional drivers”, Elesevier, vol. 82, no. 1369–8478, pp. 190–201,2021.

Published

2022-06-23