• Title/Summary/Keyword: Drivers

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Correlation of Occupational Stress Index with 24-hour Urine Cortisol and Serum DHEA Sulfate among City Bus Drivers: A Cross-sectional Study

  • Du, Chung-Li;Lin, Mia Chihya;Lu, Luo;Tai, John Jen
    • Safety and Health at Work
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    • v.2 no.2
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    • pp.169-175
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    • 2011
  • Objectives: The questionnaire of occupational stress index (OSI) has been popular in the workplace, and it has been tailored for bus drivers in Taiwan. Nevertheless, its outcomes for participants are based on self-evaluations, thus validation by their physiological stress biomarker is warranted and this is the main goal of this study. Methods: A cross-sectional study of sixty-three city bus drivers and fifty-four supporting staffs for comparison was conducted. Questionnaire surveys, 24-hour urine cortisol testing, and blood draws for dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEA-S) testing were performed. The measured concentrations of these biological measures were logarithmically transformed before the statistical analysis where various scores of stressor factors, moderators, and stress effects of each OSI domain were analyzed by applying multiple linear regression models. Results: For drivers, the elevated 24-hour urine cortisol level was associated with a worker's relationship with their supervisor and any life change events in the most recent 3 months. The DHEA-S level was higher in drivers of younger age as well as drivers with more concerns relating to their salary and bonuses. Non-drivers showed no association between any stressor or satisfaction and urine cortisol and blood DHEA-S levels. Conclusion: Measurements of biomarkers may offer additional stress evaluations with OSI questionnaires for bus drivers. Increased DHEA-S and cortisol levels may result from stressors like income security. Prevention efforts towards occupational stress and life events and health promotional efforts for aged driver were important anti-stress remedies.

Characteristics of Crashes with Early and Late Elderly Drivers by Injury Severity (부상 심각도에 의한 초기 및 후기 고령 운전자 사고 특성 분석)

  • Kim, Sangsu;Choi, Borim;Chung, Younshik
    • KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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    • v.43 no.4
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    • pp.477-484
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    • 2023
  • The number and age of elderly drivers are continuously increasing according to the extension of the human lifespan. Therefore, in transportation, efforts are being made to differentiate and manage elderly drivers by age group. This study aims to identify the factors affecting the crash severity of early and late elderly drivers, compared to middle-aged drivers, and to identify the characteristics between these groups. Crash data that occurred on nationwide roads for the past 5 years (2017-2021) was applied. Unlike previous studies, this study only targeted drivers in their 40s and older, when presbyopia begins: middle-aged driver (40-64), early elderly driver (65-74), and late elderly driver (75+). As a result of logistic regression analysis, a total of 18 variables were found to affect serious injuries including fatalities in early and late elderly drivers. Most of these variables appeared to lead to severity more sensitively in the late elderly group. The results of this study are expected to be useful as basic information for establishing traffic safety policies for elderly drivers in the future.

Facilitators and barriers to achieving dietary and physical activity goals: focus group interviews with city bus drivers and counseling dietitians (식습관 및 운동 목표 달성의 촉진요인과 방해요인: 시내버스 운전자와 상담 영양사의 포커스그룹 인터뷰)

  • Yongmin Jo;Suhyeun Cho;Young-Hee Han;Taisun Hyun
    • Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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    • v.28 no.5
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    • pp.376-391
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    • 2023
  • Objectives: Our previously published study showed that a workplace nutrition intervention program with personalized goal setting and smartphone-based nutrition counseling improved dietary habits and physical activity in city bus drivers who were overweight/obese. This study explored the facilitators and barriers that participants faced in achieving their dietary and physical activity goals six months after the intervention. Methods: The study included bus drivers and dietitians who participated in the intervention program. Three focus group interviews were conducted with 10 bus drivers (divided by two groups based on their achievement of set goals) and five dietitians who had provided nutrition counseling. Results: Willpower was the most important intrapersonal facilitator for drivers to achieve their goals. Other factors that promoted behavioral changes were nutrition counseling by dietitians, trackable physical activity using smartwatches, and setting of practical and achievable goals. Meanwhile, the most important barriers identified were occupational factors such as long driving hours, short breaks, and shift work. Other barriers were environmental factors such as availability of snackable food, accessibility to convenience stores, and cold weather. Family and colleagues were perceived as both facilitators and barriers. In addition, dietitians identified a lack of knowledge about healthy diet as one of the barriers. Conclusions: Our results suggested that the workplace environment should be improved and that nutrition intervention programs at the workplace could encourage bus drivers to practice healthy eating habits. The facilitators and barriers identified in this study should be considered when planning a nutrition intervention program for bus drivers.

Personal $NO_{2}$ Exposures of Taxi Drivers (서울시 일부 택시기사의 이산화질소 개인폭로량에 관한 연구)

  • 김윤신;전후민;홍승철
    • Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.9-16
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    • 1991
  • Personal NO$_{2}$ expousre and time activity patterns were measured during March, 1991 for 46 taxi drivers in the Seoul area. Badge-type personal samplers were worn for 24 hours by taxidrivers for monitoring personal expousre to NO$_{2}$. A standard respiratory questionnaire was administered and pulmonary function test was performed using a protable spirometry. The mean concentrations of personal NO$_{2}$ expousres of taxi drivers were 0.55ppm. Personal NO$_{2}$ exposures of taxi drivers were seemed to be higher in longer period of driving, smokers, and use of LP gas in homes. Prevalence rate of respiratory symptoms and the level of pulmonary function(FEV$_{1.0}$ and FVC) seemed to be related to higher personal NO$_{2}$ concentrations. It is concluded that persoanl NO$_{2}$ expousres of taxi drivers are probably affected by indoor NO$_{2}$ levels of a tax/and their common activities.

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The Effect of Changing Driving Brightness on Older Drivers

  • Jeon, Yong-Wook;Shin, Sung-Heon
    • Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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    • v.29 no.4
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    • pp.619-624
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    • 2010
  • The traffic accidents of the aged are increasing because old people generally experience a decline of physical functions and judgment but their dependence on automobiles increases. In order to investigate the older drivers' response to traffic signs and surrounding environment according to changing driving brightness, this study measured the visual cognitive behavior, driving behavior, and subjective evaluation while the driving brightness was changed using a driving simulator. Furthermore, the drivers who recognized traffic signs and those who did not were compared. As a result, it was found that some older drivers had declined ability of cognition, some failed to adapt to rapid brightness change even if sufficient attention was given to traffic sign, and some could not safely control the vehicle when approaching intersections. Therefore, the development of support systems for aged drivers in traffic environment is necessary in the future.

A Study on In-vehicle Aggressive Driving Detection Recorder System for Monitoring on Drivers' Behavior (운전행태 감시를 위한 차량 위험운전 검지장치 연구)

  • Hong, Seung-Jun;Lim, Lyang-Keun;Oh, Ju-Taek
    • Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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    • v.19 no.3
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    • pp.16-22
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    • 2011
  • This paper presents the potential of in-vehicle data recorder system for monitoring aggressive driving patterns and providing feedback to drivers on their on road behaviour. This system can detect 10 risky types of drivers' driving patterns such as aggressive lane change, sudden brakes and turns with acceleration etc. Vehicle dynamics simulation and vehicle road test have been performed in order to develop driving pattern recognition algorithms. Recorder systems are installed to 50 buses in a single company. Drivers' driving behaviour are monitored for 1 month. The drivers' risky driving data collected by the system are analyzed. Aggressive lane change in 50km/h below is a cause in overwhelming majority of risky driving pattern.

Differential Impact of Customer Equity Drivers on Satisfaction: The Case of China's Telecommunications Industry

  • HaeJin Seo;Linlin Fu;Tae Ho Song
    • Asia Marketing Journal
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    • v.24 no.4
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    • pp.178-189
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    • 2023
  • As the necessity of customer relationship management (CRM) increases, measuring the performance of CRM have been actively discussed. Customer equity (CE) is regarded as an appropriate indicator for evaluating the outcomes of marketing activities. There are three drivers of CE: brand, value, and relationship equity. This study aims to investigate the impact of three drivers on customer satisfaction. Market competition is an environmental factor that affects the effectiveness of CRM. This study divides target firms into leaders and followers. This study found that the differential impact of CE drivers on customer satisfaction depends on the firm's status (leader or follower). Specifically, the brand equity driver significantly impacts the leader firm. However, the impacts of value and relationship equity drivers are bigger for follower firms. The above results suggest that firms need to build CRM strategies that consider the competitive situation of the market and their position.

Effects of Augmented-Reality Head-up Display System Use on Risk Perception and Psychological Changes of Drivers

  • Hwang, Yoonsook;Park, Byoung-Jun;Kim, Kyong-Ho
    • ETRI Journal
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    • v.38 no.4
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    • pp.757-766
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    • 2016
  • This study was conducted to examine the usage effects of an augmented reality head-up display (AR-HUD) system on the risk perception and psychological changes of drivers. To do so, we conducted an experiment to collect the driver response times for vehicles and pedestrians as their risk perception behavior, and used a driving behavior determinants questionnaire consisting of Problem Evading, Benefits/Sensation Seeking, Anti-Personal Anxiety, Anti-Personal Angry, and Aggression factors for collecting the psychological characteristics of the drivers. Thirty drivers were randomly assigned into an in-vehicle AR-HUD using group and a control group. As a result, the Anti-Personal Anxiety and Anti-Personal Angry factors were negatively correlated with the response time for the control group. In contrast, these results were not shown for the in-vehicle AR-HUD system using group. These results indicate that the in-vehicle AR-HUD system may partially induce a relaxation of tension or stress for drivers with a high level of interpersonal anxiety. Therefore, the in-vehicle AR-HUD system might contribute to not only the visual safety driving behaviors of drivers, but also to their psychological driving safety with specific characteristics.

Drivers' Rational Belief Formation under Bounded Traffic Environments (한정된 교통환경하에서 운전자의 합리적 신념형성에 관한 연구)

  • Do, Myeong-Sik
    • Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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    • v.25 no.3
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    • pp.87-97
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    • 2007
  • This paper proposes drivers' rational belief formation under a bounded traffic environment. This is to escape the criticism that excessive rationality (e.g., a driver's calculating ability and memory capacity) is required of drivers. Under bounded traffic environments. drivers do not have structural knowledge of traffic conditions and others' decisions. Simulations are carried out using a program coded in C. Consequently, the author found the learning process of drivers and the value of information can be differentiated by route conditions and the characteristics of driver groups. Also, it was found that rational drivers form different beliefs about traffic conditions even though they have the same traffic environment in a bounded traffic environment.

Vehicle Instrument Cluster Layout Differentiation for Elderly Drivers

  • Kim, Sang-Hwan
    • Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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    • v.35 no.5
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    • pp.449-464
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    • 2016
  • Objective: The objective of this study is to identify essential requirements of the instrument cluster's features and layout for elderly drivers through interview and paper prototyping. Background: Recent updates implemented in passenger vehicles require more complex information to be processed by drivers. Concurrently, a large portion of the US population, the baby boomer generation has aged, causing their physical and cognitive abilities to deter. Thus it is crucial that new methods be implemented into vehicle design in order to accommodate for the deterioration of mental and physical abilities. Method: Forty elderly drivers and twenty young drivers participated in this study. The test included three sessions including: 1) location value assessment to identify the priority of areas within the instrument cluster; 2) component value assessment to capture rankings of the degree of importance and frequency of use for possible instrument cluster components; and 3) paper prototyping to collect self-designed cluster with selection of designs for each component and location of features from each participant. Results: Results revealed differences in the area priority of the instrument cluster as well as the shape and location of component features for age and gender groups. Conclusion: The study provided insights on instrument cluster layout guidelines by proving elderly driver's mental model and preferred cluster design configurations to improve driving safety. Application: LCD-based vehicle instrument cluster design, with an adaptable feature configuration for cluster components and layouts.