AN EVALUATION OF THE NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL'S DEFENSIVE DRIVER PROGRAM AT FORT WAYNE, INDIANA

THE NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL'S EIGHT HOURS OF PROGRAMMED INSTRUCTION KNOWN AS THE DEFENSIVE DRIVER COURSE WAS EVALUATED. THE PRIMARY CONCERN OF THE INVESTIGATORS WAS TO DETERMINE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE COURSE BY ADMINISTERING KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE TESTS TO THE PARTICIPANTS BEFORE THEY TOOK THE COURSE AND TO FOLLOW UP WITH THE SAME TESTS AFTER THEY COMPLETED THE COURSE. THE EVALUATION INSTRUMENTS WERE CONSTRUCTED BY MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL STAFF AND WERE ORIENTED TO INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE DEFENSIVE DRIVER COURSE. THE TESTS WERE ADMINISTERED TO A TOTAL OF 142 PARTICIPANTS IN THE DEFENSIVE DRIVER COURSE AT FORT WAYNE, INDIANA, BETWEEN THE DATES OF FEBRUARY 8, 1968 AND MAY 16, 1968. SOME OF THE PARTICIPANTS RECEIVED THE ENTIRE BLOCK OF INSTRUCTION DURING THE PERIOD OF ONE DAY WHILE OTHERS RECEIVED FOUR HOURS OF INSTRUCTION ON ONE EVENING AND FOUR HOURS OF INSTRUCTION THE FOLLOWING EVENING. THE TEST ANSWERS WERE THEN TRANSFERRED TO I.B.M. DIGITEX ANSWER SHEETS AND PUNCH CARDS FOR COMPUTER ANALYSIS AT THE INDIANA UNIVERSITY RESEARCH COMPUTING CENTER. THE FINDINGS FOR THIS STUDY ARE AS FOLLOWS : (1) THERE WAS AN INCREASE IN THE ACHIEVEMENT FROM THE PRE TO THE POST- KNOWLEDGE AND THE PRE TO THE POST-ATTITUDE TEST SCORES, (2) AGE, SEX AND THE YEAR THE DRIVERS LICENSE WAS FIRST OBTAINED HAD NO APPRECIABLE EFFECT ON ACHIEVEMENT AS MEASURED BY THE PRE AND POST-TESTS, (3) LOWER EDUCATION LEVEL GROUPS DID NOT HAVE TIME TO COMPLETE THE TEST, (4) AVERAGE TIME REQUIRED TO TAKE THE PRE-TESTS WAS ONE HOUR AS OPPOSED TO 50 MINUTES FOR THE SAME POST-TESTS, (5) AS THE STUDY PROGRESSED, COOPERATING ORGANIZATIONS BECAME LESS AND LESS WILLING TO MAKE TIME AVAILABLE TO THE EVALUATORS FOR ADMINISTRATION OF THE TESTS, (6) MANY PARTICIPANTS WERE RELUCTANT TO GET INVOLVED IN BEING EVALUATED EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE INFORMED THAT THE RESULTS WOULD NOT BE SHOWN TO OTHERS, (7) BLUE COLLAR WORKERS WERE MORE OPPOSED TO TAKING THE TESTS THAN WERE THE WHITE COLLAR WORKERS, AND (8) PRESENTATION OF THE ENTIRE EIGHT HOUR COURSE IN ONE DAY IS UNDESIRABLE. ON THE BASIS OF THE RESULTS OF THIS STUDY, THE FOLLOWING CONCLUSIONS ARE MADE: THE EIGHT HOUR COURSE OF INSTRUCTION HAD LITTLE EFFECT ON INCREASING THE OVER-ALL MEAN SCORES FROM THE PRE TO THE POST-TESTS. AGE AND SEX OF THE INDIVIDUAL WERE VARIABLES THAT HAD LITTLE EFFECT ON TEST SCORES. THE HIGHER THE LEVEL OF FORMAL EDUCATION ATTAINED, THE HIGHER THE TEST SCORES. THE AGE AT WHICH A PARTICIPANT FIRST OBTAINED A DRIVER'S LICENSE WAS A VARIABLE THAT APPEARED TO HAVE LITTLE EFFECT ON TEST PERFORMANCE. NON-TRAFFIC VIOLATORS HAD A TENDENCY TO SCORE SLIGHTLY HIGHER THAN TRAFFIC VIOLATORS. THE ANALYSES OF THE KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE TEST ITEMS REVEALED THAT SEVERAL OF THE ITEMS ARE LACKING AN ACCEPTABLE DEGREE OF VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY. /SRIS/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • 79 Pp, 13 FIG, 17 TAB
• Corporate Authors:

  Indiana University, Bloomington

  Center for Safety and Traffic Education
  Bloomington, IN  United States  47405
• Authors:
  • Loft, B I
  • Crow, J W
• Publication Date: 1969

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Attitudes; Computer programs; Defensive drivers; Driver training; Drivers; Education; Evaluation; Punched cards; Traffic regulations
• Uncontrolled Terms: Traffic laws; Violations
• Subject Areas: Highways; Law; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00220740
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Nat Safety Council Safety Res Info Serv
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 9 1970 12:00AM