Determinants of risky driving behaviors in professional bus drivers: A questionnaire investigation

OBJECTIVE: Bus drivers operate under demanding and challenging conditions, characterized by elevated workloads, multitasking requirements, and navigation through complex mixed-traffic environments. This study aimed to comprehensively identify the determinants of risky driving behaviors among professional bus drivers. METHOD: A questionnaire-based investigation was conducted among 1,400 professional bus drivers in Changsha, China. Based on drivers' self-reported historical risky driving behaviors (including speeding, fatigued driving, distracted driving, and aggressive lane changes), K-means clustering analysis was used to categorize the drivers into three distinct risk groups: low-risk, medium-risk, and high-risk. Subsequently, logistic regression models (multinomial Logit for risk group classification and ordered Logit for specific risky behaviors) were employed to examine the influences of driver workload, safety awareness, bus enterprise management, traffic environments, and demographic characteristics on risk level classification and the occurrence of specific risky behaviors. RESULTS: Compared to the low-risk group, high-risk driver groups were associated with higher workloads, drivers aged 45 years and above, lower driving experience, and driving experience of less than five years. Notably, drivers with 11-20 years of experience showed higher risk than those with 6-10 years, suggesting a "burnout" effect. Meanwhile, the medium-risk group was correlated with higher workloads, diminished safety awareness, divorced drivers, and sleep duration of less than seven hours. Furthermore, the results revealed that higher workload and lower safety awareness were significantly associated with increased likelihoods of all four types of risk behaviors, while inadequate enterprise management and adverse traffic environments were only associated with certain risk behaviors. This study provides empirical evidence for the identification of risks among bus drivers and advocates for differentiated safety management strategies, emphasizing the necessity for collaborative interventions across multiple dimensions, including stress management, traffic environment optimization, and targeted interventions for high-risk demographic subgroups or specific bus routes.