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Abstract
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Background and objectives: The detection of effective factors of accidents is a major step in enhancing the level of road safety and decreasing the casualties, particularly in developing countries. The subject has been noticed from the view of the police or road authorities in previous studies, but mental patterns have not been considered in regard to the cause of accidents; however, the detection of these patterns can provide useful information for the identification of cause of road crashes. This study mainly aims to recognize the mental patterns of drivers about the causes of accidents.
Method and Materials: The factor analysis is applied to detect mental patterns of drivers in this study. The Q methodology is a technique which enables the researcher, firstly, to detect and classify perceptions and attitudes and, secondly, to categorize people based on their perceptions. According to previous studies and research discourse space, 30 factors and propositions are extracted for accidents on inter-city roads and these factors are scored by 30 professional drivers in accordance with the Q methodology. A variety of mental patterns of drivers are identified about the cause of road crashes based on the scoring, prioritization and variance ratio criterion (VRC). In this study, the research objective is explained to the drivers and their satisfaction is taken. The authors are also committed to treat the personal information as confidential.
Results: Given the factor analysis, 7 mental patterns are detected for drivers in regard to the cause of road crashes, which include 80% of the total variance. Useful information is collected in this regard through the investigation of these patterns. Overtaking, deviation to the left and talking on cellphone are detected as the main causes of accidents, while the drivers unexpectedly ignore the uncontrolled passage of pedestrians across inter-city roads.
Conclusion: The drivers' image of effective factors of car crashes is not the same as the results of safety monitoring. The detection of these patterns helps the experts to modify their opinions and it is possible to correct misguided mental patterns of drivers about the cause of accidents by encouraging the educational processes.
Language: en |