THE ROLE OF AUTOMATICITY IN DRIVING

One of the dominant concepts in the theory of driver behaviour has been that driving is an automatic process. This paper presents some research on whether hazard perception may become an automatic process after years of driving practice. To explore this possibility, both experienced and novice drivers were considered; a 'novice' is here defined as a driver with less than three years' driving experience, who has passed a driving test, and an 'experienced' driver as having over ten years' driving experience. 18 drivers and 18 novices, all of whom held a British driving licence, took part in the study. Two perception tests were used, each of which consisted of seven scenes with an identifiable hazard present and two scenes with no hazard present. The scenes were from a driver's perspective, and the drivers were instructed to respond as fast as possible by pressing a button when they detected a hazard. They performed a hazard test both alone and while performing a simple secondary task. The results were analysed using a related analysis of variance with interference (control versus task) and driving experience as independent variables and response latency and number of misses as dependent variables. The secondary task interfered with hazard perception for both novice and experienced drivers. For the covering abstract see ITRD E105257.

• Corporate Authors:

  TRL

  Crowthorne House, Nine Mile Ride
  Wokingham, Berkshire  United Kingdom  RG40 3GA
• Authors:
  • McKenna, F P
  • FARRAND, P
• Conference:
  • BEHAVIOURAL RESEARCH IN ROAD SAFETY IX. PA3524/99
• Publication Date: 1999

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: p. 20-5

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Analysis of variance; Automatic control; Automation; Automobiles; Average; Behavior; Conferences; Drivers; Driving; Hazards; Perception; Psychology; Research projects; Tests; Theory
• ITRD Terms: 3882: Automatic; 6549: Average; 9001: Behaviour; 1243: Car; 8525: Conference; 1772: Driver; 1855: Driving (veh); 2229: Perception; 2255: Psychology; 8557: Research project; 9150: Risk; 6255: Test; 9078: Theory; 6578: Variance analysis
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Research; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00794948
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD
• Created Date: Jul 7 2000 12:00AM