This paper begins by asking whether it might be more appropriate to speak of driving behaviour rather than driver behaviour. It is argued that an examination of the nature of the driving task is a necessary first step in resolving this issue. It is then shown how analyses of human performance in complex industrial systems have been applied successfully to road safety research in two ways. The first is in providing a framework for studying the occurrence of error, and the second in giving some insight into the changes involved in the transition from novice to expert driver. In considering models of behaviour, the inadequacies of the task demand model, with its emphasison driver abilities, might suggest that driving behaviour is the more appropriate term. However, the two models that follow both emphasise the contribution of the individual, and the need to study the factors that influence behaviour at an individual level. It seems in retrospect that the original question was wrongly phrased, for the critical element should be behaviour, rather than driving or the driver. For the covering abstract of the conference, see IRRD 840727.
Samenvatting