Driver risk-taking in Spain and the U.S.A.

Author(s)
Soler, J. & Sivak, M.
Year
Abstract

The study investigated differences in driver risk-taking between Spanish and U.S. subjects. The task consisted of performing a simulated intersection crossing on a video display. Subjects were shown an intersection with moving traffic on a horizontal road, and they were asked to attempt (under time pressure) a fixed number of crossings with a car moving vertically. The subjects in both countries included younger, middle-aged, and older persons of both sexes. The present results suggest that all subjects have the same target risk level of performance. To attain the risk level of performance, males and younger subjects (because of their presumed superior psychomotor skills and/or greater experience with video tasks) attempted to cross more gaps (and, consequently, smaller gaps), with resulting smaller safety margins.

Publication

Library number
B 26825 [electronic version only] /83.2 /
Source

Ann Arbor, MI, The University of Michigan, Transportation Research Insitute UMTRI / Valencia, The University of Valencia, Faculty of Psychology, Department of General Psychology, Methodology, and Psychobiology, 1987, III + 9p., 3 ref.; UMTRI-87-34

Publication (link)

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