Risky Decision-Making and Hazard Prediction are Negatively Related and Could Be Assessed Independently Using Driving Footage
Metadatos
Afficher la notice complèteEditorial
Dove Medical
Materia
Driving Hazard detection Anticipation Hazard perception Risk estimation Decision taking
Date
2021-06-24Referencia bibliográfica
Castro C... [et al.]. Risky Decision-Making and Hazard Prediction are Negatively Related and Could Be Assessed Independently Using Driving Footage. Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2021;14:857-876 [https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S305979]
Patrocinador
Government Delegation grants for the National Plan on Drugs", SpainRésumé
Introduction: Traffic collisions are a principal cause of death in Europe, disproportionately
affecting young drivers. Driving safety depends not only on our ability to anticipate and
respond to dangers on the road but also on the level of risk we are willing to engage within
our own driving behaviour.
Methods: Hazard prediction (HPr) and risky decision-making (RDM) tests were given to
three groups of young Spaniards (169 participants): 54 non-drivers (M=20), 65 novice
(M=21) and, 50 experienced drivers (M=26 years old). Both tests presented participants
with video clips of driving recorded from the driver’s perspective. The HPr test contained
hazardous situations caused by the actions of another road user (eg, a pedestrian crossing the
road). Each HPr clip was occluded as a hazard began to unfold and participants were asked to
predict “what happens next?” They selected their answer from four on-screen options. The
RDM test used clips where any imminent danger would be provoked by the film-car driver’s
risky behaviour (eg, overtaking illegally). Participants were asked to report the probability of
following certain types of risky behaviour (eg, “Would you go forward with the lights on
amber?” or “Would you overtake the cyclist/lorry/bus at this point?”). In addition, the effect
of the locality of the driving scenarios was manipulated: they could take place in the
participant’s native country (Spain) or in a different country (UK).
Results: Non-drivers and novice drivers were less able to predict upcoming hazards and
more likely to make risky decisions. Driving scenarios from another country (UK) provoked
riskier decisions than those from the participants’ home country (Spain).
Conclusion: Improvement in HPr skills among novice or new drivers poses a huge
challenge as far as driver training is concerned, though it is only part of the solution.
Young inexperienced drivers’ willingness to engage in risky behaviour also needs to be
tackled. Our results suggest that such RDM can be assessed in a similar way to HPr skill,
using a naturalistic approach, which raises the possibility of assessing and training drivers on
a wider range of safety-related behaviours.