THE INFLUENCE OF AGGRESSIVE AND NON AGGRESSIVE VIDEOS EXPOSURE TO DRIVING RISK CHOICE

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1 International Journal of Traffic and Transportation Psychology Volume 2, ISSUE 1 / THE INFLUENCE OF AGGRESSIVE AND NON AGGRESSIVE VIDEOS EXPOSURE TO DRIVING RISK CHOICE SUDITU ALINA *, NAIMAN ALEXANDRA, SFETCU VIOLETA, NAE ANA MARIA Bucharest University, Bld. M. Kogălniceanu nr , , Romania Abstract The research aims to study risk taking in traffic in Romania with the Schufried - Vienna Risk choice test battery. In this study results from students of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences in Bucharest were used. Subjects were asked to watch short films of possible traffic situations, some with positive results, others with negative results.after watching the short films they were tested using the Schufried - Vienna Risk choice test battery. The battery above mentioned shows situations encountered in trafficking, and subjects had to analyze and decide how to resolve the situation. The study was conducted on two random samples of 16 subjects between the ages of 19 and 30. A sample watched a short film containing footage of a professional driver, with a high level of risk, yet controlled, the other sample watched a short film showing the dramatic effects of risk taking in traffic. The data resulting from the test were statistically analyzed with SPSS, looking for the preference for risk in traffic. The result from processing the data reveals that there is no significant difference between the two samples, so the research hypothesis is rejected. Cuvinte cheie: risc de conducere, stimuli vizuali, situatie cu stimuli agresivi. Keywords: driving risk choice, visual stimuli, agressively stimuli situations. 1. INTRODUCTION An important component of the causes of road accidents is aggressiveness in traffic. In the U.S., over 15,000 accidents occur due to traffic aggressiveness, aggression being, in over 55% of cases, the main causes of road accidents (Foundation for Traffic Safety, 2009). In the EU, 2012 had the greatest reduction in fatalities (9%), but nationwide Romania had a 1% increase in 2013 as opposed to Thus, Romania has become the country with the smallest decrease in accidents, representing the European country with the most accidents at an international level (European Comission, 2012). A European Commission study, in 2014, shows that Romania is the country with the largest increase in road accidents between 1991 and 2014, * Corresponding author:

2 being the country that has adopted the fewest measures against accidents. Risktaking in traffic is a component of aggressiveness in traffic, being a significant factor in road accidents (Sansone, Leung, & Wiederman, 2012). Aggression in traffic is a big problem for all countries. This concept is not very well defined in literature. In the literature, aggression in traffic is associated with high risk behaviors in traffic, anger, physical and verbal aggression (Foundation for Traffic Safety, 2009; Ozkan, Lajunen, Parker, Sumer, & Summit, 2011). Defining aggressiveness in traffic has raised a question mark regarding the specialists who study this phenomenon, getting mixed opinions. Some studies have focused on traffic violation, speeding fines, defining aggression in traffic as an intentional behavior of the driver. Other studies have focused on dangerous driving which is not necessarily aggressive because of drivers but more because of external causes (Foundation for Traffic Safety, 2009). Risk taking in traffic has a higher prevalence among young drivers because they tend to break the rules by drinking alcohol, defiance, immaturity and drugs (Fergusson, Swain-Campbell & Horwood, 2002). A pilot study conducted by Anitei & Dumitrache (2013) shows that personality is an important predictor of driving aggression, many studies showing that aggression in traffic is greatly influenced by the personality of the driver (Deffenbacher, 2008; Loo, 1979; Winfred, & Doverspike, 2001). Chraif & Stefan (2013) show that advertising campaigns that show safe driving, have a significant effect on drivers and their aggressiveness in traffic. Fatal accidents are a problem for every society and prevention of such accidents through campaigns that promote traffic safety is paramount (Rosenbloom, & ELDR, 2013). The risk in traffic has been shown to be influenced by the personality of the driver, which conjures the fact that the personality of the driver cane be intervened on by promoting traffic safety as having an effect too small to stop traffic accidents (Zhang, Yau, & Chen, 2013). 2. OBJECTIVE The objective is focused on highlighting the driving behaviour in traffic using a driving behaviour questionnaire in a pilot study. 3. METHOD 3.1. PARTICIPANTS For the experiment we randomly selected two samples of 16 subjects each. Both samples are composed of students from the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Bucharest aged between 18 and 30 years. Both groups were tested to establish risk-taking in traffic. (M = 32.5, SD = 1.36) INSTRUMENTS 63

3 The instrument: Vienna Risk-Taking Test Traffic (Arendasy, Hergovich, Sommer & Bognar, 2005) measuring the risk choise in traffic. The tests presents a number of 24 traffic risk taking situation in driving. Schuster (2000) considers that risk is both a potential and a loss. The Vienna Risk-Taking Test Traffic is based on the theoretical model based on the risk homeostasis theory by Wilde (Wilde 1978) cited in Vienna Risk-Taking Test Manual Test Traffic (Vienna Test System, 2011). Figure 1 Stimuli situation from WRBTV risk choice test (Vienna Tests System, 2011) The test comprises a total of 24 cases and specific visual stimuli of video traffic recorded area Europe and in Romania, with all four seasons PROCEDURE Subjects performed the test at about the same hours 8:00 AM - 5:00 p.m. PM, because timing of the test has a very high importance on concentration and attention. Training Phase: The experimenter will give a briefing which ensures that subjects know what to do. Training given to the subject being: "You will watch for five minutes a short film, then sit in front of the screen and follow the instructions displayed on the screen, press the green button to submit the test and to decide when it you would not feel safe to start in order to avoid any accidents. " 64

4 3.4. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Experimental group 1 30 participants 5 minutes exposure to aggressively video A Data collection with Wienna Risk Test System (Vienna Test System) Experimental group 1 Experimental group 2 30 participants 5 minutes exposure to comedy video B Data collection with Wienna Risk Test System (Vienna Test System) Experimental group 2 Figure 2 Flow chart highliting the effects of independent variable videos exposure on Risk Choise The flow chart in Figure 2 shows the experimental research design involving an independent variable and a dependent variable. As independent variable the factorial plan is represented as in Figure 3. Level 1 Level 2 Exposure to 5 minutes agressively videos Exposure to 5 minutes comedy videos Figura 3 Independent variable represented as unifactorial design with two levels 65

5 4. RESULTS Data were collected and processed in SPSS 15. Figure 2 The histograms for the two experimental groups: exposure to aggressively and comedy videos. Table 1 Test Statisticsa Risk choice percentile Risk choice T Most Extreme Differences Absolute Positive Negative Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) a. Grouping Variable: nrcr In figure 2 and table we can see that the data by gender distributions are normally distributed for the whole group of 32 participants but taken as separate groups (of 16 participants) they are not normally distributed. Thus, we will apply the Maan Whitney test of mean difference. 66

6 In table 2 can be seen the descriptive statistics for the risk choise dependent variable in percentiles and T standardized. Table 2 Descriptive Statistics Risk choice percentile N Mean Std. Deviation Minimum Maximum Risk choice T Table 3 Ranks according Risk choice dependent variable Risk choice percentile nrcrt N Mean Rank Sum of Ranks Total 32 Risk choice T Total 32 In Table 3 we can see the average and sum of ranks for dependent variable "risk choice" measured for the two experimental groups exposed to aggressive situations and comedy video. Table 4 Test Statisticsb centile notet Mann-Whitney U Wilcoxon W Z Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) Exact Sig. [2*(1-tailed Sig.)].381 a.361 a a. Not corrected for ties. b. Grouping Variable: nrcrt In Table 4 we can observe the values for the Maan Whitney test applied to the two experimental groups and the statistical significance after application both for percentiles and T scores values. Thus it can be said that the research hypothesis was not confirmed regarding statistically significant differences on the effects of exposure to aggressive and comedy videos on risk taking in traffic situations. 67

7 5. DISCUSSION The main objective of this study is to test risk-taking in traffic by applying two videos that presented risky traffic situations in which some consequences were positive and other negative. The first movie showed that even though a professional driver driving dangerously is sure on what he is doing, and the second movie showed the dramatic effects of risk taking in traffic. The research results show that there are no differences between students who saw the first movie and the second movie, assuming the risk in traffic is unaffected by these videos. One possible explanation for these findings is that the videos did not have a strong influence on participants, and future application of videos should describe more violent effects of risk taking in traffic. The study results can not be confirmed by other studies in the literature although Chraif & Stefan (2013) applied a movie against accidents in traffic, showing significant effects of these campaigns. Being only a begining study, future research could be to apply this methodology to drivers which are diagnosed as being aggressive in traffic. A limit of this study would be that the group of participants consists of students, being a group of convenience, the results of the study not being nationally significant. REFERENCES Fergusson, D., Swain-Campbell, Horwood, J., (2002). Risky driving behaviour in young people: prevalence, personal characteristics and traffic accidents.australian and New Zeeland Journal of Public Health, 27:3. European Comission (2012). Road safety trends, statistics and challenges in the EU European Comission (2014). Road safety evolution in EU. Foundation for Traffic Safety (2009). Aggressive Driving: Research Update. Sansone, R.A., Leung, J.S., Wiederman, M.W., (2012). Driving Citations and Aggressive Behavior. Traffic Injury Prevention,13:3, Ozkan,T., Lajunen, T., Parker, D., Sumer, N., Sumala, H., (2010). Symmetric Relationship Between Self and Others in Aggressive Driving Across Gender and Countries. Traffic Injury Prevention, 11:3, Anitei, M., & Dumitrache, A., (2013). Correlative study between personality traits and aggression at young driver-a pilot study. International Journal of Traffic and Transportation Psychology, 1(2), Chraif, M., & Stefan, A., (2013). The effects of exposure to advertising campaign stop accidents on drivers personality traits. International Journal of Traffic and Transportation Psychology, 1(1), Rosenbloom, T., Eldror, E., (2013). Vehicle impoundment regulations as a means for reducing traffic-violations and road accident in Israel. Accidents Analysis and Prevention, 50,

8 Zhang, G., Yau, K.K.W.,Chen, G., (2013). Risk factors associated with traffic violations and accident severity in China. Accidents Analysis and Prevention,59, Arendasy, M.F., Hergovich, A., Sommer, M., & Bognar, B., (2005). Dimensionality and Construct validity of a video-based, objective personality test for the assessment of willingness to take risk in road traffic. Psychological Report, 97, Schuster, B., (2000). Development of test to assess the willingness to take risks. Unpublished diploma thesis, Universitatea din Viena. Wilde,G.J.S.,(1978). Theorie der Risikokompensation der Un-fallverursachung und praktische Folgerungen für die Unfall-verhütung [Theory of risk-compensation of accident causes and practical consequences for the prevention of accidents]., Vienna Test System (2011). Psychological assessment manual. SUMMARY Cercetarea de fata isi propune studierea asumarii riscului in trafic in Romania cu ajutorul bateriei de testare Schufried Vienna Risk choice. In acest studiu au fost utilizate rezultatele provenind de la studentii Facultatii de Psihologie si Stiintele Educatiei din Bucuresti. Subiectilor li s-a cerut sa vizioneze scurt-metraje cu situatii posibile in trafic, unele avand rezultate pozitive, altele negative.dupa urmarirea scurt-metrajelor au fost testati cu ajutorul bateriei de testare Schufried Vienna Risk choice.bateria mai sus mentionata prezenta situatii intalnite in trafic, iar subiectii trebuiau sa analizeze si sa decida rezolvarea situatiei. Studiul a fost realizat pe doua esantioane alese aleatoriu de cate 16 subiecti cu varste cuprinse intre 19 si 30 de ani.un esantioan a urmarit un scurt-metraj continand demonstratia unui sofer profesionist, cu un nivel al riscului ridicat, dar totusi controlat,celalalt esantion urmarind un scurt-metraj prezentand efectele dramatice ale asumarii riscului in trafic. Datele rezultate in urma testarii au fost prelucrate statistic in programul SPSS, cautandu-se nivelul preferintei pentru riscul in trafic. Rezultatul obtinut in urma prelucrarii datelor releva faptul ca nu exista o diferenta semnificativa intre cele doua grupuri experimentale cu expunere la situaţii video agresive şi de comedie, deci, ipoteza cercetarii este respinsa. 69