Effect of Roadway Conditions and Land-use on Driving Stress in Yangon, Myanmar

Abstract

A large body of evidence supports that driving stress both directly and indirectly leads to traffic accidents. Therefore, driving stress is an important issue to reduce traffic accidents. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of roadway conditions and land-use on driving stress among professional drivers and to give some suggestions to reduce the driving stress. Multiple indicators multiple causes (MIMIC) model was used to empirically investigate which variables of the roadway condition and land-use affected the driving stress among drivers in Yangon, Myanmar. Standard deviation of normal to normal RR intervals (SDNN), Square root of the mean squared differences between successive RR intervals (RMSSD), Percentage value of consecutive RR intervals that differ more than 50 ms (pNN50), Baseline width of the RR interval histogram (TINN), Balance between the sympathetic nervous system activity and the parasympathetic nervous system activity (fast Fourier transform) (LF/HF (FFT)) and Balance between the sympathetic nervous system activity and the parasympathetic nervous system activity (Autoregressive) (LF/HF (AR)) are used as driving stress indicator. The results suggest that certain roadway conditions reduce driving stress. Specifically, using roundabouts and traffic lights at intersections to control traffic and increasing the number of lanes are the effective ways to reduce driving stress. However, roundabouts rather than traffic lights are more efficient. Conversely, industrial zones are associated with an increase in driving stress.