Using Real-Time and Post Hoc Feedback to Improve Driving Safety for Novice Drivers

Abstract

Introduction. Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of fatalities among teens in the U.S. (National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 2013). Prior research suggests that real-time and post hoc feedback can improve teen driver behavior. The Driver Coach Study (DCS) aimed to improve teens’ safe driving habits by providing them real-time feedback and post hoc feedback to a broader range of risky driving behaviors that have never been used in previous studies. Exposure data were also collected so that rates of risky driving behaviors over time could be assessed. Post hoc feedback, which included an electronic report card of risky driving behavior as well as video clips, was provided to both teens and parents via email and secure website link. Method. Ninety-two teen/parent dyads were recruited in southwest Virginia to have a data acquisition system (DAS) installed in their vehicles within two weeks of receiving their learner’s permit. Data were collected through the nine-month (minimum) learner’s permit phase plus seven months of provisional licensure. Feedback was only provided for the first six months of post licensure, then turned off to assess whether teenagers returned to unsafe driving behavior. Trained data coders reviewed 15 seconds of video surrounding each risky driving maneuver, and recorded driver errors such as poor vehicle control, poor speed selection, drowsiness, etc., for each event. Results. In this paper, the relationship between driver coaching and driver errors will be examined across the six-month feedback phase and also compared to the seventh month when feedback was turned off. Conclusions. This study has implications for the design of future monitoring and feedback systems, as it is currently unknown whether these devices can improve novice drivers’ crash rates.