The high crash involvement rate of novice drivers has been hypothesized to be attributable largely to their relative inability to acquire and assess information in inherently risky situations. This study seeks to evaluate this hypothesis by recording eye movements while 24 novice teenage drivers, 24 young drivers aged 19-29 years, and 24 older drivers aged 60-75 years drove through risky scenarios in an advanced driving simulator. Findings showed significant age-related differences in driver scanning behavior. On all measures of risk perception, novice drivers performed worse than older drivers. The novice drivers often completely failed to look at elements of a scenario that clearly needed to be scanned. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that novice drivers' scanning patterns reflect their failure to acquire information about potential risks and their consequent failure to deal with these risks. Implications of these findings for the design of driver training programs are discussed.
Abstract