Hello I'm working in a School driver teaching theorical courses from driving defense, etc

You might find the following papers of some interest:

White, S. M., & Rotton, J. (1998). Type of commute, behavioral aftereffects, and cardiovascular activity: A field experiment. Environment and Behavior, 30(6), 763-780.

Hennessy, D. (2008). The impact of commuter stress on workplace aggression. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38(9), 2315-2335.

Van Rooy, D. L. (2006). Effects of automobile commute characteristics on affect and job candidate evaluations: A field experiment. Environment and Behavior, 38(5), 626-655.

I have also attached a white paper from my research group:

Reimer, B., Mehler, B., & Coughlin, J.F. (2010). An evaluation of driver reactions to new vehicle parking assist technologies developed to reduce driver stress. Technical Report, New England University Transportation Center at MIT, Cambridge, MA. (a .pdf is available at: http://agelab.mit.edu/2010 )

We also recently published a paper on the senstiivity of physiological measures for detecting changes in workload and stress due to secondary tasks while driving:

Mehler, B., Reimer, B. & Coughlin, J.F. (2012). Sensitivity of physiological measures for detecting systematic variations in cognitive demand from a working memory task: an on-road study across three age groups. Human Factors, 54(3), 396-412. DOI 10.1177/0018720812442086

Hopefully some of this will be of some use.

The following paper is not about stress and driving but is a nice complement to the paper on personality characteristics (emotional abillites and risky driving) that Farooq Rathore recommended.

Zhao, N., Reimer, B., Mehler, B., D’Ambrosio, L.A., & Coughlin, J.F. (2012). Self-reported and observed risky driving behaviors among frequent and infrequent cell phone users. Accident Analysis & Prevention.

The apparently higher crash risk among individuals who use cell phones while driving may be due both to the direct interference of cell phone use with the driving task and tendencies to engage in risky driving behaviors independent of cell phone use. Measurements of actual highway driving performance, self-reported aberrant driving behaviors as measured by the Manchester Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ), and attitudes toward speeding, passing behaviors and relative concern about being involved in a crash were assessed. Individuals who reported frequently using cell phones while driving were found to drive faster, change lanes more frequently, spend more time in the left lane, and engage in more instances of hard braking and high acceleration events. They also scored higher in self-reported driving violations on the DBQ and reported more positive attitudes toward speeding and passing than drivers who did not report using a cell phone regularly while driving. These results indicate that a greater reported frequency of cell phone use while driving is associated with a broader pattern of behaviors that are likely to increase the overall risk of crash involvement.

link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2012.07.019

A related paper from our group that is currentily in press is (should appear on-line in about 3 weeks);

Zhao, N., Mehler, B., Reimer, B., D’Ambrosio, L.A., Mehler, A., & Coughlin, J.F. (in press). An investigation of the relationship between the Driving Behavior Questionnaire and objective measures of highway driving behavior. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behavior.

The Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) is a well-documented instrument for obtaining self-report information on aberrant driving behaviors. The DBQ contains three subscales to capture different aspects of driver behavior: errors, lapses and violations. Previous research has demonstrated a relationship between DBQ scores and retrospective and prospective crash involvement. There is little or no published information, however, on the relationship between DBQ scores and actual driving behavior that may bear some relationship to crash risk. The present study focuses on the relationship between DBQ subscales and observed highway driving behaviors. A sample of 108 drivers in self-reported good health and with a safe recent driving history was balanced by gender across three age groups (20-29, 40-49, 60-69). Prior to driving, participants completed a 24-item U.S. version of the DBQ. The relationships between subscales of the DBQ and driving behavior were examined. The results indicated that drivers with high violations scores drove faster, had poorer lateral control, changed lanes more frequently, spent more time in the left lane, and had more sudden unidirectional accelerations. High lapses scores were related to high steering wheel reversal rates and less consistent throttle control. No main effects were observed between errors scores and any of the driving behavior measures. The relationships observed here are likely conservative because drivers who had accidents in the past year were excluded.

Thank you for your great aticles which opened new perspectives on the subject for me. As I am trying to get an overview on the subject stress and driving I don't mind articles/literature that complements the subject. Instead I am grateful for any hit and assistance.

As I am quite booked out in September I will look at the literature in more depth in October.

Here are two references about the visual environment's impact on stress while driving. Enjoy!

Cackowski, J. M., & Nasar, J. L. (2003). The restorative effects of roadside vegetation: Implications for automobile driver anger and frustration. Environment and Behavior, 35(6), 736.

Parsons, R., Tassinary, L. G., Ulrich, R. S., Hebl, M. R., & Grossman-Alexander, M. (1998). The view from the road: implications for stress recovery and immunization. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 18(2), 113–140.

Attached, you can find some updates to this interesting question. We have focused on professional drivers in two of them, but results are very relevant as empirical support of the interaction between stress and driving performance.

Article Risky Behaviors and Stress Indicators between Novice and Exp...

Article Comparing Job Stress, Burnout, Health and Traffic Crashes of...

Article Burnout, Job strain and road accidents in the field of publi...