Comparative Assessment of Aggressiveness at Signalized Intersections Using Driving Simulators: An Exploratory Case Study

The objective of this paper is to investigate the differences in drivers' aggressiveness at signalized intersections among drivers in two countries: Lebanon and the United States of America. To realize the stated objective, two driving simulators were utilized. The first simulator is located at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. The second simulator is located at the George Washington University, U.S.A. An elaborate experimental scheme was designed taking into consideration the driving simulators' capabilities and specifications. Twenty-six subjects from the George Washington University – GWU – and 81 subjects from the American University of Beirut – AUB – participated in the driving experiments. Detailed trajectory data was collected and processed to investigate any statistically significant differences in behaviors. Specific surrogate measures for aggressiveness were used including number of violations, time-to-junction, average and maximum velocities. These measures were linked to signalized intersections' situational characteristics. The results indicate that anger and aggressive behavior are incrementally intensified for both the AUB sample and the GWU sample. AUB students considered themselves as more aggressive than GWU students. However, GWU students showed more red-light violations; frustrating events instigated more aggressive behavior for GWU students, apparently because of the rare occurrence of such events in the driving context where these students belong. AUB students were not as sensitive to other drivers' violations or blocked intersections possibly due to the frequent occurrence of such events on the roads of Beirut.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AND10 Vehicle User Characteristics. Alternate title: Comparative Assessment of Aggressiveness at Signalized Intersections Using Driving Simulators: Exploratory Case Study.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Danaf, Mazen
  • Hamdar, Samer H
  • Abou-Zeid, Maya
  • Kaysi, Isam
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC
  • Date: 2014-1-12 to 2014-1-16
• Date: 2014

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 22p
• Monograph Title: TRB 93rd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aggression; Anger; Behavior; Case studies; Culture (Social sciences); Drivers; Road rage; Signalized intersections
• Geographic Terms: Lebanon; United States
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Society; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01518684
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 14-3862
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 20 2014 1:39PM