The goal of this study was to determine whether young novice drivers that were trained in hazard perception (i.e. specified hazard detection and hazard handling skills) performed better than young novice drivers that did not receive training, immediately after training and two to four weeks after receiving the training. Participants were young novice drivers between the age of 17 and 25 that held their temporary or permanent driver’s license were randomly assigned to a training intervention or a control intervention. The pretest, training or control intervention and the posttest that were all conducted on the first testing day took approximately two hours to complete. The follow-up test that was conducted two to four weeks later, took about one hour to complete. The effects of training were assessed in a driving simulator by tracking participants’ eye movements. The hazard handling scores were significantly higher for the trained group, as indicated by a significantly higher percentage of rear mirror use, and this effect persisted over time. In hazard detection, evaluated by means of detection time, correct hazard detection and occurrence of collision, the trained group performed significantly better in detection time and correct hazard detection during the posttest and retention test. (Author/publisher)
Abstract