Title
An empirical study of subjective road categorization
Author
Riemersma, J.B.J.
Instituut voor Zintuigfysiologie TNO
Publication year
1988
Abstract
Driver behaviour will partially be a function of the cognitive schemata by which drivers represent features, functions and operations of traffic system components. This paper uses the Repertory Grid Technique to address the questions: (1) How do drivers internally represent different categories of road? (2) How are those representations mapped on to 'official' road categories? A factor analysis of data obtained from 40 subjects revealed, in answer to question (1), that four factors, namely, 'safety'; 'urban/rural'; 'road boundaries/slip-roads'; and 'markings'; accounted for 82.3% of the variance. Multidimensional scaling and clustering analyses showed that subjective categorizations of roads are closely related to their objective physical characteristics, but less-well determined by 'official' road categories. Certain features (e.g. slip-roads, markings, obstacle-free boundaries) appear to contribute little to the subjective safety of roads. This suggests that the potential benefits of these safety features may be fully achieved since risk compensation mechanisms will not operate.
Subject
behavior
cognition
controlled study
driver
human
human factors research
nonbiological model
psychological aspect
risk assessment
road safety
safety
theoretical study
traffic accident
To reference this document use:
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:24966649-cd9e-4b17-951f-b22a0abfe164
TNO identifier
6599
Source
Ergonomics, 31 (4), 621-630
Document type
article