Hazard anticipation of young novice drivers - SWOV

order to avoid attribution of an experienced crash or near crash to the other
road users involved in the situation and to promote far transfer, participants
were also challenged to detect hazards, to comprehend the mechanisms
behind the development of a hazard with the aid of plan views and to
improve themselves. This training program of approximately one hour, in
which a low cost fixed-base simulator was used, improved visual search for
latent hazards of young novice drivers in both near and far transfer
situations significantly. The developed simulator-based training program can
become part of initial driver training programs or part of an advanced course
for novice drivers.
7.8. Further research
In this thesis, it is hypothesised that hazard anticipation has an emotional
and motivational aspect and that there is a difference with regard to this
aspect between young drivers and middle-aged drivers. This aspect could
not be demonstrated. It is likely that this aspect could not be demonstrated
because it was not adequately operationalized in the risk assessment and
action selection task (i.e. the photo task). It could be that something of this
aspect would have been measured if Skin Conductance Response (SCR) had
been used. Another possibility to measure this aspect is to show participants
the video clips that contain the latent hazards while they are situated in an
apparatus for functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). If there is
greater activity in for example the amygdala when approaching a latent
hazard, this would be an indication of emotional arousal.
The video clips with latent hazards that do not materialize have a high
potential to measure differences in hazard detection and recognition skills
between novice drivers and experienced drivers, as the differences between
the two groups on this task both with regard to fixations on covert latent
hazards and mentioned latent hazards were large. This potential
disappeared when mouse clicks in pauses were used as response method. It
could be worthwhile to try out response methods that are suitable for mass
testing in which there are no interruptions in the video clips and in which the
response method is not advantageous for persons with experience in
computer gaming.
The simulator-based hazard anticipation training had a positive effect
on visual search for latent hazards. Whether this effect retains over a longer
period was not investigated, as the participants were tested within an hour
after the training. Because the experience of crashes or near crashes during
the simulator training is presumed to create arousal and moderate levels of
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