Citation

Piranveyseh P, Kazemi R, Soltanzadeh A, Smith A. Ergonomics 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/00140139.2021.1992021

PMID

34633912

Abstract

Road traffic accidents are increasing worldwide and cause a high number of fatalities and injuries. Mental Work Load (MWL) is a contributing factor in road safety. The primary aim of this work was to study important MWL factors and then compare conventional and BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) drivers' MWL. This study evaluated bus drivers' MWL using the Driving Activity Load Index (DALI) questionnaire conducted with 123 bus drivers in Tehran. The results revealed significant differences between conventional and BRT drivers' mental workload. Moreover, data modelling showed that some organizational and environmental factors such as bus type, working hours per day, road maze, and route traffic volume contribute to drivers' mental workload. These findings suggest some essential customized factors that may help measure and offer practical solutions for decreasing the level of bus drivers MWL in real-world road driving.Practitioner summary:Mental workload is affected by several contributing factors. Depending on the working context, some of these contributing factors have a more significant influence on the level of the experienced MWL. Therefore, the main factors influencing the MWL of BRT and conventional bus drivers were assessed in their real-life environment.

Language: en

Keywords

BRT bus driver; conventional bus driver; DALI; Mental workload; Real-world driving