Application

Question 1

What did Williams & O’Neill (1974) discover about the crash risk of highly skilled drivers? (1 point)

Answer 1

Williams & O’Neill (1974) found that highly skilled drivers had more crashes than a matched control group (and had more traffic convictions).

(maybe they take more risks?)

Question 2

According to Horswill (2016), why has much traditional driver training been ineffective in reducing crash risk? (1 point)

Answer 2

argued that traditional training has targeted the wrong skills, such as vehicle control, which doesn’t correlate with crash risk.

A better approach might be to target a skill that does correlate with crash risk, such as hazard perception (Horswill, 2016).

Question 3

What is hazard perception in driving? (1 point)

Answer 3

Hazard perception in driving is the ability to predict dangerous traffic situations (Horswill, 2016).

Question 4

What is the underlying theoretical explanation for why certain drivers are better at hazard perception than others, according to Horswill (2016)? (2 points)

Answer 4

Drivers who are good at hazard perception are thought to have a more sophisticated mental representation of the traffic environment (Horswill, 2016).
They use this to anticipate dangers and be subsequently more prepared

The skilled driver’s mental model can manifest as:
1. A more efficient visual search of the road ahead, prioritizing the monitoring of high-risk targets or locations.
2. A better understanding of what threats may be hidden from the driver’s line of sight.
3. An improved understanding of what other road users are likely to do in a given situation.

Question 5

Describe the sorts of variables that have been empirically associated with hazard perception in driving. (1 point)

Answer 5

—- obvious—-

Blood alcohol level

Level of fatigue

Level of distraction

Driving experience / age

   ----not so obvious----

Risk taking interventions

Contrast sensitivity

Usefulness field of view

Brain injury

Question 6

Outline the design for an experiment that could be used to evaluate the effectiveness of a hazard perception training intervention. (1 point)

Answer 6

pre intervention and post intervention comparison of:

• Hazard perception response times
• hazard perception test scores

Between intervention and waitlist control groups

ANCOVA with covariate being the baseline scores to evaluate