Applying an extended theory of planned behavior to predicting violations at automated railroad crossings
Résumé
Based on an extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB, Ajzen, 1985, 1991), we conducted surveys inorder to explain and predict violations at a railroad crossing, among pedestrians (n = 153) and car drivers(n = 151). Measures were made with respect to three chronologically related railroad crossing situationsthat varied in risk level. The situations were described in scenarios and depicted on photographs. Theparticipants were recruited in the suburbs of Paris, at two automated railroad crossings with four half-barriers. We found that the pedestrians had stronger crossing intentions than did car drivers, especiallyat the more congested crossing of the two under study. For both categories of road users, intentions andthe amount of intention variance explained by the extended TPB factors decreased significantly with risklevel. In the most dangerous situations, risk-taking was the most unlikely and the least predictable Self-reported past frequency of crossing against safety warning devices was the main predictor of the intentionto commit this violation again, especially among males, followed by the attitude and the injunctive normin favor the violation. Moreover, car drivers were influenced in their crossing intentions by the descriptivenorm. The presence of another vehicle on the tracks when the safety warning devices were activated wasperceived not as facilitating, but as an additional risk factor. The discussion addresses the importance oftaking into account these determinants of violations in conceiving countermeasures. Our findings couldbe especially useful for conceiving risk-communication campaigns.