Applying systems approach to driver behaviour analysis

Oluwasegun Aluko

Driver behaviour is an important subject in road safety research. Investigations into this subject have often been conducted using qualitative and statistical methods. However, due to the temporal and spatial gap between actions and their consequences in real life, this paper argues that these methods are not the most suitable approaches to understanding and dealing with this safety problem. In the first instance, these methods tend to identify a sequential course of action and treat causal factors linearly. In contrast, this paper suggests the use of systems analysis and causal loop diagramming which help to view a system holistically as well as identify the circular nature of processes in a system. In this way, it often becomes unimportant to identify a factor as a cause or an effect. This paper goes further to demonstrate the use of this analysis method with the risky behaviour of commercial motorcycle drivers. It concludes by showing that a combination of actions will be more suitable than a sequential policy implementation being currently adopted in dealing with this safety problem.