Hazard anticipation of young novice drivers - SWOV

5.2.9. Discussion
The objective of the study was to explore whether versions of the hazard
detection and recognition task of Chapter 4 and the risk assessment and
action selection task of Chapter 4 with response methods suitable for mass
testing, would show: (1) substantial lower scores on both tasks for novice
drivers than for experienced drivers, and (2) substantially higher scores for
crash free novice drivers than for novice drivers with self-reported (minor)
crashes. The photo task in this study did not differ much from the risk
assessment and selection task that was applied in Chapter 4. In contrast to
the risk assessment and action selection task of Chapter 4, participants had to
respond within the maximum eight seconds a photograph was exposed on
the screen and not after eight seconds when the screen had turned black. A
second difference was a countdown timer bar that was visible at the bottom
of the screen. The video task, however, differed genuinely from the task
applied in Chapter 4. In the hazard detection and recognition task of Chapter
4, two response methods were used: recorded fixations on overt latent and
covert latent hazards and mentioned latent hazards. In the video tasks
pointing with a mouse and clicking replaced the eye fixations. As much more
time is required to point and click than for a saccade, it was necessary to
freeze the screen during five seconds a view times per clip to allow for
pointing and clicking. In order to prevent possible negative effects from the
interruptions (the pauses), such as the possibility that the pause would
trigger the presence of a latent hazard not noticed while the video was
running, pauses were also inserted not containing a latent hazards and
participants were told that incorrect clicks would lower their score.
The difference between learner drivers and experienced drivers on the photo
task with the learner drivers having the highest risk scores was of the same
magnitude as in the very similar risk assessment and action selection task in
Chapter 4. The average risk score of novice drivers with eighteen months
driving experience was in between the average risk scores of the learner
drivers and the experienced drivers. The average risk score of novice drivers
was significantly lower than the average risk score of the learner drivers, but
not significantly higher than the average risk score of the experienced
drivers. This could indicate that what is measured by the photo task, and
based on the results of Chapter 4 this presumably is more hazard detection
and hazard recognition than risk assessment, improves rapidly after
licensing. This is in line with the rapid decline in crash rate in the first period
after licensing (see Section 1.2). On the very similar risk assessment and
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