EMOTIONAL STRESS AND DRIVING PERFORMANCE: THE EFFECT OF DIVORCE

THE DRIVING RECORDS OF 410 PERSONS INVOLVED IN DIVORCE PROCEEDINGS (FEMALE AND MALE PLAINTIFFS AND DEFENDANTS) WERE ANALYZED FOR THE PURPOSE OF DESCRIBING DRIVING PERFORMANCE UNDER EMOTIONAL STRESS. THE SEVEN YEAR DRIVING RECORD OF EACH OF THE GROUPS WAS STATISTICALLY HIGHER THAN AVERAGE. DURING THE YEAR OF STRESS - SIX MONTHS BEFORE AND SIX MONTHS AFTER FILING OF DIVORCE PETITION - SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER THAN AVERAGE ACCIDENT AND VIOLATION RATES WERE FOUND IN ALL CASES EXCEPT ACCIDENTS OF MALE PLAINTIFFS AND VIOLATIONS OF FEMALE DEFENDANTS. THE FIRST THREE MONTHS AFTER FILING PROVED TO BE THE TIME OF GREATEST ACCIDENT AND VIOLATION ACTIVITY FOR ALL GROUPS. ALL GROUPS EXCEPT MALE PLAINTIFFS HAD A HIGHER RATIO OF ACCIDENTS TO VIOLATIONS THAT YEAR THAN THEY HAD FOR THE TOTAL SEVEN YEARS. THOSE PERSONS WHO HAD ACCIDENTS THAT YEAR, HOWEVER, HAD HIGHER THAN AVERAGE VIOLATION RATES. THE TYPES OF VIOLATIONS THAT ARE MORE COMMON THAN AVERAGE DURING STRESS ARE SPEEDING, FAILURE TO YIELD, AND OTHER VIOLATIONS SUCH AS PROHIBITED TURN AND FOLLOWING TOO CLOSELY. THERE WAS A SMALLER THAN AVERAGE PROPORTION OF MANDATORY LICENSE SUSPENSION VIOLATIONS DURING THE YEAR OF STRESS. /AUTHOR/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Vol 1, No 2, PP 100-114
• Corporate Authors:

  Behavioral Publications

  2852 Broadway
  New York, NY  United States  10025
• Authors:
  • McMurray, L
• Publication Date: 1970

Media Info

• Serial:
  • Behavioral Research in Highway Safety
  • Volume: 1
  • Issue Number: 3
  • Publisher: Behavioral Publications

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Behavior; Crash rates; Crashes; Driver performance; Drivers; Emotions; Failure; Personnel performance; Speed; Stresses; Traffic citations
• Uncontrolled Terms: Violations
• Old TRIS Terms: Yield
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00223355
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-010 033
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 18 1971 12:00AM