Hazard anticipation of young novice drivers - SWOV

difference between overt latent hazards and covert latent hazards. The
experts were instructed to take pictures of road and traffic situations with no
hazards; with latent hazards (both covert latent hazards and overt latent
hazards); and with imminent hazards. In combination with the depicted
speeds, the correct response of the photographs with no hazards was
considered to be 'do nothing', of photographs with latent hazards 'release
throttle' and of photographs with imminent hazards 'brake'. In order to
verify these responses, fifteen experts, not involved in the production of the
photographs, were asked to do the task with fifty photographs. These experts
were partly employees of CBR and partly experts from other organisations
(e.g. driving instructors). Pictures were only included in the task if 80% of the
experts provided the same response. Of the twenty-five photographs in the
task, in nine items the correct response was 'brake', also in nine items the
correct response was 'release throttle' and in seven items the correct response
was 'do nothing'. An example of each category is presented in Appendix 2.
The full set could not be reproduced, as the photographs are also used in the
theory test of the Dutch driving test.
Visual perception test
The skill to detect a latent hazard in a visually complex environment could
be related to the someone's visual perception abilities in general. With visual
perception is not meant someone's visual acuity, but the ability to
understand what is seen in a visually complex environment. It could be that
persons do not recognize hazards in a visually complex environment not so
much because they have no knowledge about the type hazard, but because
they cannot detect it due to the visual complexity of the situation. In order to
test if there is a correlation between the two previously described hazard
anticipation tasks and visual perception, all participants performed a
validated visual perception test. This test was the third edition of the Motorfree
Visual Perception Test (MVPT-3) (Colarusso & Hammill, 2003). In
combination with other tests the MVTP is used to assess fitness to drive in
older drivers (i.e. drivers of sixty-five years of age and older). A significant
correlation was found between on-road driving tests and MVPT scores
(Mazer, Korner-Bitensky, & Sofer, 1998). Although MVPT-3 is composed of
different sub-tests (spatial relationship, visual discrimination, figure-ground,
visual closure and visual memory), one score is calculated. It took about 30
min to complete the test.
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