Are women better drivers than men? As applied social psychologists working in the area of driver behaviour this is a question we often get asked. How should we go about answering it? What - at first sight - appears a straightforward question turns out to require a range of different research tools (Meadows & Stradling, 1995). These include: (i) analyses of accident statistics; (ii) questionnaire/survey studies of drivers; (iii) performance studies using driving simulators, instrumented vehicles, videotaped driving behaviour or on-road observation; (iv) statistical procedures for summarising data, and exploring interactions between different variables; and (v) deriving models for organising concepts and findings and subsequently suggesting directions for future research. In this chapter, the authors present information derived from using a number of these tools, mostly analyses of data from accident statistics, surveys and questionnaires, and conclude with a summary model of factors influencing the behaviour of drivers. (A)
Samenvatting