Hazard anticipation of young novice drivers - SWOV

hazards are a good indicator of someone’s ability to detect and recognize
covert latent hazards.
The study presented in Chapter 5 was on practical methods to measure
various aspects of hazard anticipation that are suitable for mass testing. The
results show that on the developed photo task, learner drivers (tested on the
day they had passed the driving test) responded riskier with regard to speed
adaptation than both novice drivers with 18 months driving experience and
experienced drivers did. In addition, novice drivers who had reported a
crash had riskier responses than crash free novice drivers. These are
indications that the photo task has validity. On the developed video task
with pauses in which participants could click on latent hazards however,
only a marginally significant difference between crash free novice drivers
and novice drivers that had reported a crash was found. Moreover, on this
video task, no significant difference was found in detected and recognized
latent hazards between learner drivers on the day they passed the driving
test and professional drivers. The conclusion is that in principle the photo
task is a good method to test hazard perception and the video task with
mouse clicks on latent hazards during pauses in the clips, is not. The results
of Chapter 4 however indicate, that a video task (but not with pauses and
mouse clicks) has more potential to discriminate between good and bad
drivers in hazard anticipation than the photo task.
The results the study presented in Chapter 6 show that it is possible to
train visual search for latent hazards in a training program of approximately
one hour on a simple simulator. According to Elvik (2010), the young novice
driver problem is almost impossible to solve as "the high risk of young
drivers is probably attributable to a powerful mixture of biological factors
(hormones and brain development), overoptimistic self-assessments and
being in a phase of life in which becoming independent, testing limits and
rebelling against adult values is important." This all may be true but there is
hope. Lack of hazard anticipation skills is one of the causes why novice
drivers have such a high crash rate (Congdon, 1999; Curry et al., 2011;
McKenna & Horswill, 1999; McKnight & McKnight, 2003; Wells et al., 2008).
The results of the studies presented in this thesis indicate that poor hazard
anticipation is partly caused by the fact that novice drivers do not know what
to expect and therefore do not know where to look. The results in this thesis
also indicate that this shortcoming can be overcome by training, without
stimulating the tendency to take more risks, which often is the case after
completion of a short training program in which skills are trained.
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