Driver Education Programs Research Articles

Driver Understanding of Potential All-White Pavement Marking Patterns

Over the last decade, increasing attention has been devoted to the potential of converting U.S. pavement markings to an all-white system. There are many reasons and potential benefits for doing so. As part of an NCHRP study, researchers conducted many activities to evaluate the feasibility of implementing an all-white marking system in the United States. The research study findings on marking practices in other countries and the results of the driver survey on all-white markings are summarized here. The researchers found that 17 of the 22 countries contacted use an all-white marking system. However, numerous differences exist between the systems used in various countries, so there is no single all-white system on which the United States could base implementation. The survey findings indicate that the all-white markings evaluated in the survey did not have any higher comprehension levels than the current system of yellow-white markings. Therefore, implementation of all-white markings would need to be accompanied by an extensive driver education program. The survey findings indicate that the presence of a solid line as part of the centerline increases understanding of the two-way message of a centerline to about 85%. In developing the survey, the researchers determined that the use of various marking widths or stripe-gap ratios was not effective in conveying messages to drivers. On the basis of the study findings, the researchers recommended an all-white system not be implemented in the United States at this time.

Adolescent driver risk taking and driver education: Evidence of a mobility bias in public policymaking

Problem: Road traffic injury is the leading cause of death among adolescents in high-income countries. Researchers attribute this threat to driver risk taking, which driver education (DE) attempts to reduce. Many North American authorities grant DE graduates earlier access to unsupervised driving despite no evidence of this being a safety benefit. This theoretical article examines risk taking and DE in relation to an apparent mobility bias (MB) in policymaking. Method: The MB is defined, the history and sources of driver risk taking are examined, and the failure of DE to reduce collision risk is analyzed in relation to a potential MB in licensing policies. Discussion: The author argues that DE's failure to reduce adolescent collision risk is associated with a MB that has produced insufficient research into DE programs and that influences public policymakers to grant earlier licensure to DE graduates. Recommendations are made regarding future research on DE and risk taking, coordinated improvements to DE and driver licensing, and a plan to reduce collision risk by encouraging parental supervision after adolescent licensure. Impact on Industry: Research on adolescent driver risk taking would have direct applications in DE curricula development, driver's license evaluation criteria, graduated licensing (GDL) policies, as well as other aspects of human factor research into the crash-risk problem.

Human Fatalities in Animal-Related Highway Crashes

Recent national and statewide trends in the relatively uncommon animalrelated highway crashes that involve human fatalities were reviewed. Highway crashes in which animals are struck by vehicular traffic regularly occur throughout the United States. Invariably, such crashes are most damaging to the struck animals, while injuries to humans are usually not as severe. As such, significant research has focused on the plight of animals involved in traffic crashes. However, over the past decade animal-related crashes in the United States have claimed 1,353 human lives, costing the nation well over $1 billion in losses. The research reported focuses on recent national and statewide trends in fatality-producing animal-related vehicular crash frequencies and rates. Additionally, the temporal aspects of these crashes and trends in human and vehicle involvement in these crashes were investigated. The analysis used Fatality Analysis Reporting System data from 1991 to 2000, which were combined with data from other sources in a geographic information system. Analysis of the integrated data indicated that fatality-producing animal-related crashes are increasing nationally and that this trend is attributable to increasing vehicle miles traveled. The rate for fatality-producing animal-related crashes is holding steady at the national level. Human fatalities in such crashes occur at times when animals are more active, and unrestrained persons are more often killed than restrained persons. The information presented is suitable for agencies assessing the issue of human fatalities in animal-related crashes and for driver education and awareness programs.

Effects of an in-vehicle collision avoidance warning system on short- and long-term driving performance.

Many new in-vehicle systems focus on accident prevention by facilitating the driving task. One such driving aid is an in-vehicle collision avoidance warning system (IVCAWS), used to alert the driver to an impending collision. Our study evaluated the effects of an imperfect IVCAWS both on driver headway maintenance and on driver behavior in response to warning system errors. Our results showed that drivers tend to overestimate their headway and consequently drive with short and potentially dangerous headways, and that IVCAWSs are a useful tool for educating drivers to estimate headway more accurately. Moreover, our study showed that after a relatively short exposure to the system, drivers were able to maintain longer and safer headways for at least six months. The practical implications of these results are that the use of an IVCAWS should be considered for inclusion in driver education and training programs.

School based driver education for the prevention of traffic crashes.

In the United Kingdom, drivers aged 17-21 years make up 7% of license holders but 13% of drivers involved in road traffic crashes resulting in injury. As in many countries, the UK government has proposed to tackle this problem with driver education programmes in schools and colleges. However, there is a concern that if driver education leads to earlier licensing this could increase the number of teenagers involved in road traffic crashes. To quantify the effect of school-based driver education on licensing and road traffic crashes. We searched the TRANSPORT Database, TRANSDOC and MEDLINE (1968-2000). Randomised controlled trials comparing school based driver education to no driver education and assessing the effect on licensing and road traffic crash involvement. Two reviewers independently screened search results, extracted data and assessed trial quality. Three trials, conducted between 1982 and 1984, met the inclusion criteria (n=17,965). Two trials examined the effect of driver education on licensing. In the trial by Stock (USA) 87% of students in the driver education group obtained their driving license as compared to 84.3% in the control group (RR 1.04, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.05). In the trial by Wynne-Jones (New Zealand) the time from trial enrollment to licensing was 111 days in males receiving driver education compared with 300 days in males who did not receive driver education, and 105 days in females receiving driver education compared with 415 days in females who did not receive driver education. All three trials examined the effect of driver education on road traffic crashes. In the trial by Strang (Australia), 42% of students in each group had one or more crashes since being licensed (RR 1.01, 95% CI 0.83 to 1.23). In the trial by Stock, the number of students involved in one or more crashes as a driver was 27.5% in the driver education group compared to 26.7% in the control group (Relative risk 1.03, 95% CI 0.98 to 1.09). In the trial by Wynne-Jones, the number of students who experienced crashes was 16% in the driver education group as compared to 14.5% in the control group. (RR 1.10, 95% CI 0.76 to 1.59). The results show that driver education leads to early licensing. They provide no evidence that driver education reduces road crash involvement, and suggest that it may lead to a modest but potentially important increase in the proportion of teenagers involved in traffic crashes.

Predicting Motor Vehicle Crash Involvement from a Personality Measure and a Driving Knowledge Test

Summary Typically, safety‐related driver education programs are aimed at changing knowledge of vehicle operation rules and regulations. However, vehicle crashes are as likely to be related to driver personality variables as they are to the knowledge of vehicle operation and rules and regulations. In a study with 48 licensed drivers, crashes were found to be significantly correlated with conscientiousness, a five‐factor model personality dimension, but not with scores on a driving knowledge test. It would appear that prevention efforts should also be directed at changing conscientiousness‐related behaviors, including an emphasis on goal‐setting, and following rules and regulations.

Predicting motor vehicle crash involvement from a personality measure and a driving knowledge test

Summary Typically, safety‐related driver education programs are aimed at changing knowledge of vehicle operation rules and regulations. However, vehicle crashes are as likely to be related to driver personality variables as they are to the knowledge of vehicle operation and rules and regulations. In a study with 48 licensed drivers, crashes were found to be significantly correlated with conscientiousness, a five‐factor model personality dimension, but not with scores on a driving knowledge test. It would appear that prevention efforts should also be directed at changing conscientiousness‐related behaviors, including an emphasis on goal‐setting, and following rules and regulations.

Nonmotorized Traffic Accidents in San Juan, Argentina

Findings are presented for a recently completed exploratory study of nonmotorized accidents in San Juan, Argentina. The study was undertaken jointly by EICAM [Escuela de Ingenieria de Caminos de Montaña (School of Mountain Highway Engineering)] in San Juan and a visiting Canadian professor from the University of Calgary at the National University of San Juan. The study was funded by EICAM and represents the first study of traffic accidents in San Juan. Nonmotorized traffic fatalities are a disproportionately high percentage of all traffic fatalities in Argentina compared with more-industrialized countries. Pedestrian and bicycle traffic fatalities comprise almost one-half of all traffic fatalities in the Province of San Juan. The probable causes of nonmotorized traffic fatalities and injuries are explored, including vehicle speed, nighttime driving without headlights or with parking lights only, cyclist and pedestrian behavior, and aggressive driving. Recommendations to enhance pedestrian and bicyclist safety include the strict enforcement of recently enacted traffic laws; for example, proper illumination at night, speed limit enforcement, a driver education program, a bicyclist education plan, and a wide range of traffic engineering improvements (e.g., line markings and traffic control devices). Institutional responsibilities for traffic should be reviewed, because various institutions have overlapping jurisdiction, resulting in an inadequate traffic audit database.

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

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).

Effectiveness of Automated Speed-Monitoring Cameras in Kuwait

In 1994 the General Traffic Department installed automatic radar cameras to monitor traffic speed at a number of strategic roadway locations in Kuwait. The aim was to lower the number of high-speed violations and thus reduce road accidents. Recent traffic safety records point to an increase in both the number of violations and the occurrence of road accidents. It is argued in this paper that without live enforcement support and active follow-up of camera-recorded violations, the effectiveness of these cameras in improving road safety is insignificant at best, particularly in the undisciplined driving environment of the oil-rich nations in the Middle East. The speed of traffic was simultaneously measured via radar instruments both at the automatic camera site and at sections approximately 1 km before or after or before and after the cameras at eight camera locations. Measurements were recorded for six 1/2-hr periods at each site for a total of 72 hr over a period of 3 months, so that morning, afternoon, and after-dark hours, as well as different days of the week and roadway types, were covered. Analysis of the speed data showed that for the three daily periods and various roadway types, traffic speeds were consistently higher in sections before or after or before and after the automatic camera at the camera site. Statistical tests indicated that the difference in speed measured at and away from the cameras was at the 99 percent level. The findings demonstrate that in a traffic environment characterized by poor driving behavior, inconsistent and piecemeal driver education programs, and insufficient presence of law enforcement officials, reliance on automatic cameras alone to reduce traffic violations is doomed to fail.

Judging the Roles of Legislation, Education and Offsetting Behaviour in Seat Belt Use: A Survey and New Evidence from Alberta

A recent court decision in Alberta overturned provincial legislation making seat belt use mandatory. Arguments supporting this decision included the possibility that the life-saving benefits of increased seat belt use might be offset by other changes in driving behaviour, as well as the potential for the same safety improvements to be achieved through a less intrusive means such as public education. A higher court subsequently reinstated the seat belt legislation without effectively addressing these issues. Here, in the context of a model that allows for driver behavioural responses, we survey the evidence concerning the effects of education programs and legislation in promoting seat belt use, and include some new empirical findings based on a survey undertaken in Alberta prior to such use becoming mandatory. We conclude that effective driver education programs must be designed in a way that allows drivers to gain experience with and develop the habit of wearing seat belts. Paradoxically, mandatory seat belt use legislation may be one of the most effective means for providing drivers with the opportunity for developing these habits.

L'impact de l'obligation de suivre un cours de conduite sur les accidents impliquant des nouveaux conducteurs, Québec, 1980-1984

Over the last 25 years, driver's education programs have been the object of evaluations. Although the results of the more recent studies show that these programs are inefficient in reducing accidents, the Government of Quebec decided to require these courses from all new drivers as of January 1983. Using time series methods, this paper shows that not only does this requirement not reduce the risk of accidents in the first year of driving, but that it can bring about an increase in the total number of accidents amongst new drivers.

Motor Vehicle Injuries During Adolescence

This article reviews the available options for prevention of motor vehicle injuries in adolescents. The potential strategies include high school driver's education programs, driving curfew laws, delaying the age of licensure, raising the minimum age for purchase of alcohol, legislation requiring mandatory seat belt and motorcycle helmet use, and airbags.

High school driver education: Further evaluation of the Dekalb County study

The DeKalb County, Georgia, study is the largest experimental evaluation of high school driver education to date. Detailed reanalyses of data from that study reveal that students assigned to an enhanced driver education program (Safe Performance Curriculum) were more likely to obtain drivers licenses, to be in car crashes and to have traffic violations than control students not assigned to driver education. Students assigned to a minimal program of high school driver education (Pre-Driver Licensing Curriculum) were also more likely than control students to obtain licenses, but the difference was smaller than for the enhanced program and they were not significantly more likely to be in crashes or to have violations. Students in the more limited course were less likely than those in the enhanced course to complete the course in a timely manner, which suggests that exposure differences may explain differences between the two groups. The results confirm that greater availability of driver education causes students to become licensed sooner, although the DeKalb study probably underestimates the effect. Because of this greater exposure, crashes and violations are incurred at an earlier age.

Women in the driver's seat: Trends in sex differences in driving and death

The social meanings associated with the control of automobiles, involving among other things power, prestige, and independence, have led to driving being defined traditionally as within the masculine purview. One consequence of changing sex roles has been women's gradual usurpation of this formerly male prerogative. The proportion of women licensed to drive has increased markedly, a difference especially pronounced among the younger age groups. Male drivers log more miles than female drivers, and male accident rates have traditionally been higher than female rates. However, controlling for exposure to risk, the sex difference in accident rates has declined, and female mortality from traffic accidents has increased markedly. The possibility of sex differences in driving style is discussed. If driver-education programs and other attempts at intervention are to be effective, then it is important to become cognizant of women, especially young women, as a new population-at-risk, and to modify efforts so as to reach this new target group.

Optometry Volunteers Needed for National Mature Driver Education Program - 55 ALIVE

Optometry Volunteers Needed for National Mature Driver Education Program - 55 ALIVE

Administration: Of Driver and Traffic Safety Education

Several arguments for and against driver education and safety programs in the schools are summarized. The validity of the statistics used by opponents is questioned and evidence in support of such programs are outlined. Language: en

Effects of visual and auditory impairment in driving performance.

A review of surveys, analyses, and experimental studies was conducted to determine driver education and training needs, driver licensing requirements, and actual driving performance of individuals with vision and hearing deficits. While research seems to indicate that vision deficiencies have an adverse effect on safe driving performance, a number of severely visually impaired individuals have been shown to drive safely with the aid of telescopic lens spectacles. Research results to date are not adequate to establish the auditory requirements for safe driving performance, but there is little evidence to suggest that hearing-impaired individuals, with the possible exceptions of totally deaf males and older deaf drivers, do not drive as safely as the general population. A great deal of further research is needed in the area, particularly in the establishment of requirements for driver education and training programs for both vision and hearing limited individuals.

Sex differences in driving performance.

Sex differences in the psychomotor performance characteristics of 89 male and 74 female licensed drivers were evaluated through the use of a driving simulator. Thirteen measurements of steering input, accelerator input, speed maintenance, and lateral placement were made. Data were subjected to a series of multiple discriminant analyses. Discrimination was found between sex groupings, sex/violation groupings, sex/accident groups, sex/driving exposure groupings, sex/type of driving groupings, sex/risk groupings, and sex/driver education groupings. Since basic differences were demonstrated, aspects of the transportation system, such as accident countermeasure efforts and driver education programs which have been primarily developed on the basis of male driving performance data, might be in need of re-evaluation.

Transfer Effectiveness of a Driving Simulator

Forty student drivers received various amounts of driving simulator and film-only pretraining to determine the transfer effectiveness of open-loop simulation using passive instructors in a driver education program. To measure the effects of previous driving experience, the simulator performance of eight licensed drivers was compared to the student drivers. Early in simulation, licensed drivers exhibited reliably better steering performance than the 6-hr. simulation pretraining students, but the reverse was true late in simulation. Six hr. of pretraining yielded significantly better transfer in terms of overall automobile driving performance on a McGlade Road Test than 3 hr. of pretraining regardless of whether the pretraining included instructional films alone or films used in conjunction with simulators. A component analysis of the first hour of driving performance revealed that the 6-hr. pretraining groups were superior to the 3-hr. group on a procedures dimension. In addition, the film-only pretraining groups were superior to the simulator groups in terms of a steering dimension during the first hour of transfer. Implications of these results are discussed in terms of improving simulators used in driver education.