Conditions for speeding behaviour: A comparison of car drivers and powered two wheeled riders

Broughton, P.S.; Fuller, R.; Stradling, S.; Gormley, M.; Kinnear, N.; O'Dolan, C.; Hannigan, B.

Abstract

Against a UK background of decreases in collisions involving car drivers, motorcycle collisions are on the increase. To throw light on this process, this paper explores differences between motorcyclists and car drivers in the conditions for speeding behaviour. Some predictions derived from the model of Task-difficulty Homeostasis (TDH) were tested using self-report data from samples of older (>35 years), male car drivers (n = 269) and motorcyclists (n = 102). As predicted, riders were more likely to speed on rural roads and less likely to speed on urban roads, and, riders were much more likely to speed in daytime than at night.

Riding a motorcycle offers opportunities for expressive use of the vehicle and riders are more likely to say they really enjoy riding fast. However amongst older riders this behaviour appears to be largely confined to daytime riding on rural roads. Compared with cars, motorcycles provide more of an opportunity to manoeuvre around obstacles in controlling task demand, rather than using speed as the primary controlling variable. Although this provides more options for the rider, it carries with it vulnerability to loss of control from variation in road surface adhesion and maintaining too high a speed

Citation

Broughton, P., Fuller, R., Stradling, S., Gormley, M., Kinnear, N., O'Dolan, C., & Hannigan, B. (2009). Conditions for speeding behaviour: A comparison of car drivers and powered two wheeled riders. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 12(5), 417-427. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2009.07.001

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 20, 2009
• Online Publication Date: Aug 14, 2009
• Publication Date: 2009-09
• Deposit Date: Apr 10, 2014
• Journal: Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour
• Print ISSN: 1369-8478
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 417-427
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2009.07.001
• Keywords: Speeding behaviour; Powered two-wheeler riders; Driver behaviour; Task-difficulty homeostasis
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/6785