MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS AS REFLECTED BY PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS AND REACTION METER

ACCIDENT RECORDS SHOW THAT THE MAJORITY OF TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS ARE CAUSED BY A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF THE DRIVERS. IT IS DESIRABLE TO DEVISE SOME METHOD TO DETERMINE WHAT DRIVERS ARE LIKELY TO HAVE ACCIDENTS. APPLICANTS FOR DRIVERS' LICENSES IN WASHINGTON ARE REQUIRED TO ANSWER ORALLY A NUMBER OF QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE REGULATIONS. RECENTLY, SOME 200 APPLICANTS WERE GIVEN AN ADDITIONAL WRITTEN PSYCHOLOGICAL TEST CONSISTING OF TWENTY-FOUR QUESTIONS AND A REACTION TIME TEST. THE APPLICANTS WERE GRADED AND THEIR RATINGS HAVE BEEN COMPARED WITH THEIR ACCIDENT RECORDS WITH INDICATIONS THAT IT CAN BE FORECAST WHICH DRIVERS WILL HAVE THE WORST ACCIDENT RECORDS. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT APPLICANTS FOR LICENSES BE GIVEN A WRITTEN PSYCHOLOGICAL TEST, A PHYSICAL EXAMINATION, A DRIVING TEST, AND, IF ITS CAN BE DEVISED A TEST TO MEASURE EMOTIONAL STABILITY. /AUTHOR/

• Record URL:
  https://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/hrbproceedings/13/13-023.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Vol 13, ParT I, PP 348-351; part of Report of Committee on Highway Traffic. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • Van Duzer, W A
• Publication Date: 1934

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Monograph Title: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the Highway Research Board Held at Washington, D.C. December 7-8, 1933. Part I: Reports of Research Committees and Papers
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Board Proceedings
  • Volume: 13
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Behavior; Drivers; Driving tests; High risk drivers; Physical condition; Psychology; Reaction time; Testing; Traffic crashes
• Uncontrolled Terms: Driver reaction; Motor vehicle accidents; Relationships
• Old TRIS Terms: Driver psychology
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00221001
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Aug 23 1971 12:00AM