{"pk":50059,"title":"Modelling the Effects of Emotional States on Driving Speed and Crashes","subtitle":null,"abstract":"Driving is a complex task requiring immense\ncoordination between an individual's mental and\nphysical faculties. Though it becomes automatic with\npractice and experience, the driver must constantly\nprocess stimuli from the environment and react\naccordingly. An individual's emotional state, both in\nterms of arousal and valence, plays a part in how drivers\ninteract with the variables on the road while driving,\nwhich may significantly impact control during driving.\nThe current study explores the influence of emotions,\nparticularly pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant, on\nincidents of crashes and average driving speed.\nEmotions, particularly negative emotions, potentially\nimpact decision-making and may lead to lower risk\nperception, leading to higher average speed and\nincreased number of crashes. The hypothesis\nanticipates that the unpleasant emotional states of\ndrivers may result in a higher speed and increased\nnumber of crashes. For emotion induction, 95 drivers\nwere exposed to three sets of images - pleasant, neutral,\nand unpleasant, from the International Affective\nPicture System (IAPS). They were instructed to drive\non a driving simulator while navigating challenging\nscenarios like pedestrian crossings and taking a right\nturn while judiciously measuring gaps between an\noncoming traffic flow. Data analysis was done using\nlinear mixed models, and the results suggested that\nemotions significantly impact the number of crashes\nand average speed. It also indicated a notable difference\nin the number of crashes and speed between pleasant\nand unpleasant states. The results align with the\navailable literature that claims negative emotions can\nlead to more risk-taking behaviour and, thus, higher\nspeed and crashes. This study can be used to predict\ndrivers' behaviour, while different states of emotions\nand interventions can also be provided to enhance\ndriving safety. n summary, the study emphasizes the\npivotal role of emotions in influencing road safety.\nKeywords: Traffic Psychology, Emotions, Accident\nPrevention","language":"eng","license":{"name":"","short_name":"","text":null,"url":""},"keywords":[{"word":"Psychology; Emotion; Human Factors; Motor control; Computer-based experiment"}],"section":"Abstracts with Poster Presentation (accepted as Abstracts)","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2bq19478","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Debaparna","middle_name":"","last_name":"Mukherjee","name_suffix":"","institution":"Indian Institute of Kanpur","department":""},{"first_name":"Ark","middle_name":"","last_name":"Verma","name_suffix":"","institution":"Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur","department":""}],"date_submitted":null,"date_accepted":null,"date_published":"2025-01-01T18:00:00Z","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"PDF","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/cognitivesciencesociety/article/50059/galley/38021/download/"}]}