In the late 1970s and early 1980s, several research projects aimed to explore the relationship between human factors and driving performance. In 1986, generalised linear modelling methodology was first applied to a study of drivers' self-reported accident liabilities. In 1991, there was a large-scale postal questionnaire survey of drivers' accident experiences, using a structured sample. Accident data were available from about 13,500 drivers, with approximately equal split between both sexes. A chart shows the influence of age and experience on the accident liability of male and female drivers, as shown by that study. Another chart shows similar data about novice drivers, obtained from a 1995 study. The main discrepancies between the results presented there relate to the first year age effect and the difference between male and female drivers in the first year or so of driving. Subsets of earlier samples were used in other studies at the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL).
Abstract