Evaluation of Pc-Based Younger Driver Training Program: Use of a Driving Simulator

Abstract

Younger adults are overinvolved in accidents. Model high school driver education programs were developed in the 1970s in an attempt to reduce this overinvolvement. An evaluation of these programs suggested that they were largely ineffective. Recently, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has developed the first PC-based driver education program (Zero Errors Driving or Driver ZED) using real footage of risky scenarios. The hope is that younger drivers seeing these scenarios will learn to recognize risky situations in the real world before they develop. In an attempt to evaluate the Driver ZED program, the performance of 20 younger drivers is being tested on the University of Massachusetts' driving simulator. Ten of these drivers have been trained with ZED (the trained group) and ten have not seen the program (the untrained group). All 20 drivers must navigate a total of 24 scenarios that have been programmed on the driving simulator. Measures of driving performance were developed which can be used to discriminate between risky and nonrisky drivers. A preliminary evaluation of the performance of the trained and untrained subjects indicates that the trained subjects are performing more cautiously than the untrained subjects in some, but not all, scenarios (e.g., the trained subjects brake sooner when approaching a pedestrian crossing).

Young Novice Driver Subtypes: Relationship to High-Risk Behavior, Traffic Accident Record, and Simulator Driving Performance

“…Fischer, Glaser, Laurie, & Pollatsek, 1998). One might assume, for example, that safe behavior involves moderating one's driving speed.…”

“…In designing the DCAs in the simulator, it was necessary to decide what is and is not safe or skillful behavior in each situation (cf. Fischer, Glaser, Laurie, & Pollatsek, 1998). One might assume, for example, that safe behavior involves moderating one's driving speed.…”

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“…Driving simulators have strong potential for enhancing driver education programs due to the flexibility and control they offer. This is beneficial because it allows the trainer to specify the environment exposing the learner to a wide variety of situations in a shorter period of time than would be needed to experience the same situations on-road (Kappe, van Emmerik, van Winsum, & Rozendom, 2003).They are also able to expose novice drivers to situations that are high risk and train them to more effectively manage these situations (Fisher, Glaser, Laurie, Pollatsek, & Brock, 1998;Fisher et al, 2002;Regan, Deery, & Triggs, 1998). There is evidence to suggest that using driving simulators to educate novice drivers can reduce crash rates (Allen, Park, Cook, & Fiorentino, 2007).…”