Accelerating Teen Driver Learning: Anywhere, Anytime Training

A number of studies have shown that the levels of hazard anticipation, hazard mitigation and attention maintenance skills are related to crash rates, that experienced drivers generally are better at each of these skills than novice drivers are, and that novice drivers can be trained to improve these skills. As might be expected, the differences between novice and experienced drivers’ crash rates are most pronounced during the first few months, novice drivers being nine times more likely to crash during the first month of solo licensure than experienced drivers. The overall purpose of this study was to determine whether learning could be accelerated among novice teen drivers using a training program that targeted the most risky behaviors and the most risky crash types. Toward this end, the Accelerated Curriculum to Create Effective Learning (ACCEL) training program was developed to target relevant skills and crash types. The training program was designed to have open access, be downloadable from the internet anywhere and anytime at no expense and be usable on all devices such as PCs, tablets and smartphones. In order to evaluate ACCEL, 100 participants were recruited: 50 young novice drivers who were trained on ACCEL, 25 young novice drivers who received a placebo training program (a video about vehicle maintenance) and 25 experienced adult drivers. Two experiments were used in the evaluation. In Experiment 1, participants’ performance was evaluated immediately after training on a driving simulator. Evaluation of ACCEL showed improvement in each of the six skills across the three crash types and showed little evidence of training being less effective for females than for males. In Experiment 2, the same participants’ performance was evaluated between three and six months later, again on a driving simulator, where half of the ACCEL participants were exposed to ACCEL a second time between the first and second evaluations. The conclusions drawn from Experiment 2 were limited due to high attrition. However, the results were consistent with the hypothesis that a single dose of ACCEL endures over time, that two doses are better than one, and that trained female drivers do better than untrained female drivers do.

• Record URL:
  https://aaafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/AcceleratingTeenLearningReport.pdf
• Summary URL:
  https://aaafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/AcceleratingTeenDriverLearningFactSheet.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • ©2017, AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
• Corporate Authors:

  AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety

  Washington, DC  United States 
• Authors:
  • Fisher, Donald L
  • Young, Jared
  • Zhang, Lisa
  • Knodler, Michael
  • Samuel, Siby
• Publication Date: 2017-6

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 141p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Before and after studies; Driver performance; Driver training; Driving simulators; Evaluation and assessment; Gender; Recently qualified drivers; Teenage drivers; Traffic crashes
• Subject Areas: Education and Training; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01641412
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 24 2017 9:53AM