Automated feedback on viewing skills lowers accident involvement

Abstract

The risk of being involved in an accident in the first year after licensing is greater for novice drivers who passed their driving exam the first time than for novice drivers who failed their first driving exam. Enhanced training programmes can shorten the duration of training and can raise the passing rate on the first exam, but can also increase accident involvement after licensing. We propose automated feedback on viewing skills can contribute to safe driving after licensing. An intervention was made in a driving simulator curriculum to study the transfer on the first driver exam and retention of driving skills for safe driving in the first year after licensing. A questionnaire was sent to 22,881 former students. The results of 2,439 subjects where used in this study. The driving skills of a control group were compared to the driving skills of subjects who followed driving lessons with automated feedback on viewing behaviour. Analysis of simulator data and questionnaire data showed significant differences between the two groups. Novice car drivers who followed driving lessons on a simulator with automated feedback on viewing skills needed fewer lessons to pass the driving exam. The self-reported accident involvement of this group was 31% lower than the control group and 32% lower than the average accident involvement in the Netherlands. We suggest using automated feedback on viewing skills in driver training before and after passing driver examination to increase road safety.