page_title: Traffic psychology
section_title: Behavior Research
hierarchical_section_title: Traffic psychology / Behavior Research
caption_attribution_description: Yield sign
context_page_description: Traffic psychology is a discipline of psychology that studies the relationship between psychological processes and the behavior of road users. In general, traffic psychology aims to apply theoretical aspects of psychology in order to improve traffic mobility by helping to develop and apply crash countermeasures, as well as by guiding desired behaviors through education and the motivation of road users.
  Behavior is frequently studied in conjunction with crash research in order to assess causes and differences in crash involvement. Traffic psychologists distinguish three motivations of driver behavior: reasoned or planned behavior, impulsive or emotional behavior, and habitual behavior. Additionally, social and cognitive applications of psychology are used, such as enforcement, road safety education campaigns, and also therapeutic and rehabilitation programs.
  Broad theories of cognition, sensory-motor and neurological aspects psychology are also applied to the field of traffic psychology.
context_section_description: Behavior research in traffic psychology often deals with subjects like motivation, personality and gender differences, habits, overconfidence, age and skill differences, attention, and violation of traffic rules.
  A classification of behavioral factors into those that reduce driving capability and those that promote risky behavior with further division into those with short- and long-term impact helps the conceptualization of the problems and may contribute to the prioritization of behavior modification.
  Traffic and transport sciences concern themselves with the study, comprehension, explanation and prediction of everything related to the mobility of people and products. It incorporates several aspects of the transportation systems along with multiple techniques. This process attempts to develop valid and reliable methods to better understand and predict the effects of human variability with its environmental interactions on safety.
  The transportation system consists of road, rail, sea and air infrastructures. It includes the possibilities and limitations of its economics, laws and regulations, which sets barriers to the capabilities of an individual and mass motorist. For instance, speed can be influenced by method of travel (vehicle, airplane, train or ship), by financial capabilities for the type of vehicle (jet versus commercial, speed boat against sail boat and sedan compared to a luxury sports car), or by regulations such as speed limits in rural areas versus city driving.
  The traffic environment takes into account location, time constraints, population and dangers that are exposed to motorist. These environmental factors pose danger and risk to motorists that may be fatal. Driving in wet, narrow, and dark conditions exposes drivers to far greater risk than driving on a sunny day on an open road. This is just one type of road factor for crashes that Sullman goes on to explain in further detail:
  …crashes include lack of visibility or obstructions, unclean road or loose material, poor road conditions or road markings, and the horizontal curvature of the road. Environmental influences such as cold or hot weather, noise and vibration are all more likely to impact on stress and fatigue states 
  Variability of the driver's age, personality, temperament, stress and expertise affect speed, control and decisions. Drivers generally use some degree of risk compensation to assess driving decisions and it is skewed by varying levels of intoxication. Alcohol and drug usage, alertness and fatigue, distraction and focus are a few of the main factors attributed to driver error and crashes.
caption: Yield sign
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XS", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2011:11:15 14:45:03", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "192", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "9090", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3944", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "11", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:11:12 17:02:15", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:11:12 17:02:15", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "7", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "29", "EXIF SubSecTime": "86", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "86", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "86", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3888", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "8966", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "324000/73", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "2592000/583", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}