It is widely known that young drivers are overrepresented in the crash data for a variety of reasons such as risk perception and acceptance, age, gender, experience, exposure, and social contexts. The current mitigations implemented to address the issue consist mainly of graduated driver's licenses and parental involvement programs. However, as technology begins to find its way into transportation in the form of advanced driver assistance systems, there is a need to understand whether these technologies will be a benefit or a detriment to young novice drivers. The present study investigates the reaction of young novice drivers to a control intervention lane departure warning. The results showed less urgent reactions to the warning from novice drivers as compared to their more experienced counterparts. However, no differences in perceptions of the system were found between the novice and experienced groups. Nonetheless, young novice males were found to have derogated performance compared to their novice female peers as well as older more experienced male drivers. This study is a small stepping stone in the necessary investigations of effects of advanced driver assistance systems on young novice drivers and the associated young driver safety epidemic. (Author/publisher)
Abstract