The Factors Influencing Fatigue Related to the Accident of Intercity Bus Drivers in Indonesia

Abstract

As a developing country, Indonesia pursues advancement through rapid infrastructure expansion. However, in the transportation sector, safety is still a serious problem and requires attention. Road accidents in Indonesia with a high fatality mostly involve intercity buses. Most of the accidents are reportedly caused by human error, typically caused by a fatigued driver.  To understand the factors that influence general fatigue (F), three variables—subjective workload (WL), need for recovery (NR), and emotional intelligence (EI)—are discussed by considering time on task and time of day as factors. To assess the perceptions of 298 intercity bus drivers, this research was conducted using a questionnaire. There are statistically significant differences in the NR (p = 0.001) and EI level (p = 0.001) among the time on task group (less than three hours, three to five hours, and longer than five hours) but not for the WL. Meanwhile, for the time of day group (driving in the morning, afternoon, and at night) there are no significant differences of WL (p = 0.161), NR (p = 0.795), and EI level (p = 0.271). A Tukey post hoc test revealed that the NR and is statistically significantly higher for a duration longer than three hours (p = 0.025 and p = 0.000). Binomial logistic regression was run to understand the influence of WL, NR, and EI on subjective fatigue level, categorized into fatigue (1) and alert (0). The Hosmer–Lemeshow test showed that the model fit the data well, p = 0.673. The variables NR (p = 0.08) and EI (p = 0.020) statistically significantly predict general fatigue subjectively. Based on these results, EI and NR are suggested as factors that should be analyzed further concerning the issue of fatigue-related accidents. Both factors should also be considered in company’s fatigue management system.

Keywords

• emotional intelligence
• fatigue
• intercity bus drivers
• need for recovery
• workload