AN EVALUATION OF THE ROLE OF HUMAN FACTORS IN THE FIRST FOUR YEARS OF DRIVING

THE SAMPLE TESTED CONSISTED OF 13,915 PERSONS WHO WERE 16 OR 17 YEARS OLD WHEN LICENSED IN FIVE CALIFORNIA COUNTIES IN 1962-63. THEIR DRIVING RECORDS DURING THEIR FIRST FOUR YEARS OF DRIVING WERE DESCRIBED AND CORRELATED WITH OTHER BIOGRAPHICAL DATA. INFORMATION ON ACCIDENT AND CONVICTION RECORD WAS SUPPLIED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES. FOR THOSE WITH FATAL OR INJURY ACCIDENTS, CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL ACCIDENT REPORTS YIELDED DATA ON THE CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING THE ACCENTS. DATA WAS OBTAINED FROM THE PERMANENT RECORDS OF THE SUBJECTS' HIGH SCHOOLS. A MAIL QUESTIONNAIRE REQUESTING BIOGRAPHICAL AND DRIVING DATA WAS SENT TO THE SUBJECTS AFTER THEY HAD BEEN DRIVING FOR THREE OR FOUR YEARS. PERSONAL INTERVIEWS WERE CONDUCTED WITH 443 HIGH AND LOW ACCIDENT SUBJECTS. DATA WAS COLLECTED ON BIOGRAPHICAL FACTORS, ATTITUDES, DRIVING BEHAVIOR, SELF-DESCRIPTION VIA AN ADJECTIVE LIST, AND A PERSONALITY TEST. THE AVERAGE NUMBER OF ACCIDENTS SHOWED LITTLE CHANGE IN THE FIRST FOUR YEARS OF DRIVNG, BUT THIS DOES NOT PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR INCREASING THE LICENSING AGE TO 18. THE ACCIDENT RATE ADJUSTED FOR MILEAGE DECREASED WITH INCREASING EXPERIENCE. CONVICTION RATES SHOWED NO CHANGE ACROSS THE YEARS. CONSIDERABLE CHANGES WERE FOUND IN ACCIDENT CHARACTERISTICS WITH INCREASING EXPERIENCE. SUSPENSION AND REVOCATION OF LICENSES HAD LITTLE EFFECT IN KEEPING DRIVERS OFF THE ROAD. CITIZENSHIP GRADE IN HIGH SCHOOL WAS THE BEST PREDICTOR OF ACCIDENTS AND CONVICTIONS. GENERALLY, MORE SOCIALLY DESIRABLE PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES WERE ASSOCIATED WITH BETTER DRIVING RECORD. THE OVERALL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ACCIDENT FREQUENCY AND BIOGRAPHICAL DATA WAS TOO LOW TO PERMIT IDENTIFICATION OF "ACCIDENT PRONE" DRIVERS PRIOR TO LICENSING. CONVICTIONS WERE PREDICTABLE TO A MODERATELY HIGH DEGREE FROM BIOGRAPHICAL DATA. ACCIDENT CHARACTERISTICS WERE NOT PREDICTIVE OF THE NUMBER OF ACCIDENTS AND CONVICTIONS. AN OPTIMAL POINT SYSTEM FOR TYPES OF VIOLATIONS WAS BETTER THAN NUMBER OF CONVICTIONS FOR PREDICTING FUTURE ACCIDENTS. THOSE TAKING BEHIND-THE-WHEEL DRIVER TRAINING HAD MORE SOCIALLY DESIRABLE PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS THAN THOSE NOT TAKING THE COURSE, INDICATING VOLUNTEER BIAS. DRIVER TRAINING REDUCED FATAL AND INJURY ACCIDENTS FOR FEMALES, BUT HAD LITTLE IF ANY EFFECT FOR MALES. CLASSROOM DRIVER EDUCATION REDUCED FATAL AND INJURY ACCIDENTS FOR FEMALES, BUT HAD LITTLE IF ANY EFFECT ON MALE ACCIDENTS. HIGH ACCIDENT SUBJECTS WERE CHARACTERIZED BY SOCIAL DEVIANCY, GREATER INVOLVEMENT WITH CARS, AND MORE RECKLESS, MORE EMOTIONALLY MOTIVATED DRIVING WHEN A TEENAGER. HIGH AND LOW ACCIDENT DRIVERS DESCRIBED THEIR DRIVING BEHAVIOR AS SIMILAR AT THE TIME OF INTERVIEW. /AUTHOR/

• Corporate Authors:

  California Department of Motor Vehicles

  P.O. Box 11828, 2415 1st Avenue
  Sacramento, CA  United States  95813

  California Division of Highways

  Bridge Department
  Sacramento, CA  United States  05914

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Harrington, D M
• Publication Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Adolescents; Behavior; Biographies; Crashes; Driver training; Drivers; Driving; Fatalities; Human characteristics; Human factors; Injuries; Interviewing; Personality; Point demerit systems; Questionnaires; Records management; Traffic citations; Traffic conviction
• Uncontrolled Terms: Convictions; Data; Driver characteristics; Records
• Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00222605
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Federal Highway Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: B-1-13
• Files: TRIS, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Aug 8 1971 12:00AM