Time pressure and driving: Work, emotions and risks

• We used various methods of data collection in order to highlight the determinants of time pressure.
• We examined the time pressure influence on both risk-taking behaviors and emotions.
• Time constraints are not sufficient and not necessary for the emergence of time pressure.
• Time pressure influences negative, but also positive, emotions in the wheel.
• The challenge of the activity is one of the causal factors of risk-taking’ employees on the road.

Little is known about how time pressure affects driving behavior. The present questionnaire-based research addresses this gap in the literature. We used roadside assessment, out-of context self-assessment and hetero-assessment approaches. These approaches (1) identify situational factors eliciting time pressure behind the wheel, (2) explore the emotional reactions of time-pressured drivers, and (3) investigate links between time pressure and risky driving. Our results suggest that time constraints, time uncertainty and goal importance are causal factors for time pressure, which is mostly encountered chronically in professional fields requiring driving. Time pressure is associated with negative emotions and stress, though some motorists also appreciate driving under time pressure because doing so potentially heightens feelings of self-efficacy. Time pressure might increase risk taking, but self-reported accidents were not more numerous. This null finding is critically discussed, but it could result from increased driving ability in chronically time pressured drivers and from adequate adjustments of other drivers. Assessments of objective and subjective factors should be integrated in interventions designed to help working people cope with time pressure behind the wheel.