AN ANALYSIS OF CRITICAL MANEUVERS IN THE ACCIDENTS OF YOUNG DRIVERS

This study is an evaluation of data on crashes of 16 through 18-year-old drivers in order to identify "critical" maneuvers. Crashes of drivers aged 16 through 18 were compared with crashes of drivers aged 35 through 44. In this report, two hypotheses were tested: (1) that the crashes of 16 through 18-year-old drivers are more likely to involve emergency situations such as brake failures, skidding, or blowouts than the crashes of older, more experienced drivers; and (2) that the difficulty which young drivers may have with certain vehicle maneuvers will be expressed in the over-representation of these maneuvers in the crashes of young drivers when they are compared with those of older, more experienced drivers. The data from this study indicate that there are no differences between the ability of young drivers and that of older drivers to handle emergency situations such as skids, blowouts, or brake failures. Both groups of crashes contained the same proportion attributable to emergency situations. Some caution should be exercised in interpreting these data, however, because they do not reflect any information on exposure. That is, there are no data on the influence of emergency situations in each group. Analysis indicated that young drivers did experience difficlty with pulling into the path of oncoming traffic and that they did have a disproportionate number of rear-end collisions. It is suggested that these problems may result from inexperience in judging gap clearance and closure speeds. /Author/

  • Corporate Authors:

    University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

    Highway Safety Research Center
    Chapel Hill, NC  United States  27599
  • Authors:
    • Barry, P Z
    • Roper, R B
    • Pitts, L
  • Publication Date: 0

Media Info

  • Features: Figures; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 33 p.

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00145111
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Source Agency: National Safety Council Safety Research Info Serv
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Apr 13 1977 12:00AM