| Summary |
Yong-Siang Cai, 2008.06
Department of Transportation Technology and Management National Chiao Tung University
The occurrence of traffic accidents is greatly influenced by inappropriate driving behaviors. Therefore, traffic accidents may be prevented in advance if these abnormal driving behaviors could be identified, and furthermore, avoided. Digital tachograph can be utilized to enhance driving safety by providing information of driving behavior, such as over-speed, instant acceleration and braking. The driving records of 337 bus drivers between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2007 were collected from an inter-city passenger transport service provider, which had equipped digital tachograph in its fleet. Three thresholds of the driving records in terms of frequency were used to cluster bus drivers, i.e. 50th percentile, 75th percentile and 88th percentile in normal distribution. Cluster analysis was used to classify the frequency of drivers’ abnormal driving behavior into six categories with the value of R2 reaching 0.771. The risky factors which could significantly influence the occurrence of traffic accidents were identified in Cox regression analysis, namely abrupt emergency braking, medium emergency braking, medium turning without deceleration, turning on left signal, over-heat of cooling system, over-running of engine RPM, mis-engagement of 7th gear, and electro-magnet braking. The risky factors for mechanical failures were identified as over-heat of cooling system, free-run by disengagement of clutch, and mis-engagement of 7th gear. |
