Aberrant Driver Behavior, Poor Sleep, Fatigue Among Bus Rapid Transit Drivers and Sustainable Traffic Safety

A great deal of effort has been made to investigate and develop approaches to address driver behavior, fatigue, and sleepiness for different road users worldwide. However, very little research has been conducted to explore these issues in the context of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) drivers in a low-income countries such as Mexico. The present study fills this gap. The aim of this study is to identify the human factors contributing to aberrant driver behavior (ADB) among BRT professional drivers in Mexico City. A total of 152 drivers participated in a self-reported survey. Exploratory factor analysis was performed on the BRT-ADBQ to identify the behavioral factors, and the Checklist Individual Strength (CIS–Fatigue) subscale was employed to assess the fatigue of drivers. The key findings were the following: (a) the created BRT-ABDQ identified two ADBs (violations and errors); (b) violations factors, but not errors, contributed to accident involvement; (c) ADB, fatigue, poor sleep and age (30–39) were predictors to accidents and (d) a linear trend has been revealed indicating that as the hours of sleep decreased, the experience of fatigue increased proportionally. The conclusion of the study is that ADB, sleepiness, and fatigue are real and existent among BRT drivers and should be a matter of concern for the case of the BRT organization that participated in the study. More generally, organizations running these systems should intervene by implementing sleep and fatigue reduction strategies to mitigate the adverse impact of these and thereby contribute to sustainable traffic safety and urban mobility.