Title:	The Psychology of Driving on Rural Roads
Authors:	Gert Weller
Keywords:	Driving
Issue Date:	2009
Publisher:	VS RESEARCH
Description:	This thesis was written as a contribution to increasing traffic safety on rural roads. These roads constitute themost dangerous road categorywhen the number of fatal accidents is taken into account (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2009). Their dangerous naturecanbeattributed to theirinherentpropertiesincombinationwith thedriving behaviour thatoccurson them (OECD,1999).Thus,increasing trafficsafetyon these roads requires not only taking into account the characteristics of the road and the situationbutalsotheireffectonhumanbehaviour. The starting point of the work was the synopsis of existing research and the subsequent development of a psychological model for driving on rural roads. The validationofthismodelwasconductedinthreeempiricalstepsbasedonhypotheses derivedfromthemodel. In the first step, theinfluence of various rural roads and perception thereof on perceivedappropriatespeedwasanalysed.Fortysixparticipantsrated21picturesof ruralroadsalongvariousdimensions.Fortheratings,aGermanversionoftheRoad Environment Construct List (RECL) developed by Steyvers (Steyvers, 1993, 1998; Steyversetal.,1994)wasused. For a reliable assessment of the road characteristicsitwasimportant to ensure thatthefactorstructureoftheoriginalRECLandoftheGermanversionoftheRECL corresponded. However, this preliminary assessment yielded several differences. Potential reasons for this finding are discussed in the text whereby the statistical background of factor analysis is taken into account. Subsequent to the results a decisionwasmadetolimitfurtheranalysestotwomarkeritems.Theselectionofthe items “dangerous” and “monotonous” was based on theoretical and statistical indicators. A regression of the ratings of these two marker items on rated speed revealedahighlysignificantinfluence.Theexplainedvarianceof thisregressionwas comparabletotheoriginalcalculationwhichencompassedallitems(Weller,Schlaget al.,2008).
URI:	http://10.6.20.12:80/handle/123456789/57580
ISBN:	978-3-531-17529-4
Appears in Collections:	Rural Development Studies

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