Understanding drivers' awareness, habits and intentions inside road tunnels for effective safety policies

Jaeyoung Lee; Konstantinos Kirytopoulos; Amjad Pervez; Helai Huang

doi:10.1016/j.aap.2022.106690

Understanding drivers' awareness, habits and intentions inside road tunnels for effective safety policies

Accid Anal Prev. 2022 Jul:172:106690. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2022.106690. Epub 2022 May 6.

Authors

Jaeyoung Lee¹, Konstantinos Kirytopoulos², Amjad Pervez³, Helai Huang⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, China; Department of Civil, Environmental & Construction Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA. Electronic address: lizaining@csu.edu.cn.
² School of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece. Electronic address: kkir@mail.ntua.gr.
³ School of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, China. Electronic address: amjadpervez04@csu.edu.cn.
⁴ School of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, China. Electronic address: huanghelai@csu.edu.cn.

PMID: 35533421
DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2022.106690

Abstract

Tunnels have a unique driving environment; thus, a small incident in a tunnel may result in severe consequences and a high probability of secondary crashes. Fortunately, studies have found that adopting safe driving behavior in a tunnel minimizes the severe outcomes of an incident. Therefore, implementing driver-oriented safety policies and conducting public awareness campaigns that emphasize safe behavior when driving through tunnels are essential. However, before devising policies and campaigns on the right issues, it is necessary to understand drivers' current level of knowledge regarding tunnel safety, their habits, behavioral intentions, and psychological condition while driving through tunnels. To achieve this objective, a sample of 841 responses was collected from China using a questionnaire survey consisting of fifty-two items. The results showed that several gaps exist in drivers' knowledge regarding tunnel safety and equipment. Drivers often adopt inappropriate habits and behaviors while driving through tunnels. Also, the tunnel environment has a significant influence on the psychological condition of the drivers. Moreover, drivers' demographic characteristics significantly affect their knowledge, reported habits and behavioral intentions, and psychological condition. The authorities and safety analysts could employ the suggestions highlighted in the present study for improving tunnel safety.

Keywords: Drivers’ behavior; Questionnaire survey; Road Tunnels; Safety policies; Tunnel safety.

MeSH terms

Accidents, Traffic* / prevention & control
Automobile Driving* / psychology
Habits
Humans
Intention
Policy
Safety