Arousal, monotony, and accidents in line driving

Abstract

Lack of alertness in monotonous work situations may result from lowered arousal induced by restricted and repetitive stimulation. Line driving is held to be monotonous in this sense, hence laboratory evaluation of a driver's resistance to monotony should predict his accident record. A highly repetitive, 42-min paced task was performed under controlled conditions by 20 line drivers. Self-reports on monotony susceptibility, intelligence test scores, and peer ratings were obtained. Supervisory ratings, traffic convictions, and objective driving measures were criteria in addition to accident records. Accidents of 1 type were predicted by task errors (r = .63; p < .01). Other relations in the correlation matrix are discussed, and a tentative hypothesis advanced concerning the relations among arousal, accidents, and driver behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)