This research has the purpose of identifying changes in driver behaviour and performance in the early post-test period, and to identify those factors that are associated with improved accident liability. Novice and experienced drivers were observed as they drove an instrumented vehicle and as they performed a number of laboratory tasks. Of principal interest was the eye movements of the two groups of drivers as they encountered hazardous sections of roadway when driving, and while they watched video clips of driving scenes in a task involving hazard perception. The key objectives are as follows: (1) Identify those differences between newly qualified drivers, more experienced drivers, and older novice drivers which are likely to account for the high accident liability of young newly qualified drivers; (2) Design a training intervention to accelerate desirable changes in key components of driving; and (3) Evaluate the intervention on a large sample to ascertain whether training of key components is possible. Differences between novice and experienced drivers were found when they encountered dual carriageways in the instrumented car, and in their hazard perception responses in the laboratory. Novice drivers tended to search the scene to a lesser extent than the experienced drivers. Failing to search the roadway adequately for potential hazards may be associated with the higher accident rates of novice drivers, in that they may be recognising dangerous driving situations later than experience drivers. A trainig intervention, aimed at developing the novices' search for hazards, has been developed and evaluated. In comparison with a non-trained control group of novice drivers, the trained group showed extended search patterns both in the laboratory and on the road. (There is an extensive list of references with this paper).
Abstract