Situation Awareness Fast-Tracking, Including Identifying Escape Routes (SAFER): Evaluation of the Impact of SAFER on Learner Driver Situation Awareness Skills

Despite a plethora of education, engineering, and enforcement-related intervention, the pernicious problem that is young driver road safety remains of global interest. Compared with more experienced drivers, young novice drivers have been found to have deficits in situation awareness skills (SAS), which is an essential repertoire of knowledge and abilities in perceiving, comprehending, and appropriately responding to a breadth of driving risks (projection). Current practice requirements in Queensland, Australia, do not incorporate SAS-specific training for parents, the most common supervisor of novice drivers. This study evaluates the impact of SAFER, a SAS-acquisition acceleration “game” in which parents foster SAS in their child during the period before licensure, on novice driver SAS at learner licensure. Sixty parent–pre-learner dyads were recruited from the Sunshine Coast and randomly allocated to intervention ( n = 30) and control ( n = 29). Using a SAS-based coding taxonomy, SAS was measured via simulator-based verbal commentary protocol at learner licensure as part of a larger longitudinal project. Intervention learners exhibited significantly greater SAS (perception/comprehension/projection of breadth of driving risks), than control learners. Intervention learners exhibited significantly less perception, and considerably greater perception/comprehension/projection SAS than intervention parents. Currently, in Queensland’s licensing program there is limited support for parents/other supervisors of learner drivers, and no SAS-focused intervention is available. SAFER is an innovative SAS-acquisition acceleration intervention that has been shown to build SAS even before the young novice is licensed to drive. A larger state-wide pilot is in development to explore the merit of incorporating SAFER within Queensland’s graduated driver licensing program.

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The impact and sustainability of the graduated driver licensing program in preventing motor vehicle crashes in Massachusetts

Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery ◽

10.1097/ta.0000000000000512 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 78 (2) ◽

pp. 265-271 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Haytham M.A. Kaafarani ◽

Jarone Lee ◽

Catrina Cropano ◽

Yuchiao Chang ◽

Toby Raybould ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Motor Vehicle ◽

Motor Vehicle Crashes ◽

Vehicle Crashes ◽

Graduated Driver Licensing ◽

The Impact ◽

Driver Licensing

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Comparison of older and younger novice driver crash rates: Informing the need for extended Graduated Driver Licensing restrictions

Accident Analysis & Prevention ◽

10.1016/j.aap.2017.08.015 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 108 ◽

pp. 66-73 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Allison E. Curry ◽

Kristina B. Metzger ◽

Allan F. Williams ◽

Brian C. Tefft

Keyword(s):

Crash Rates ◽

Graduated Driver Licensing ◽

Novice Driver ◽

Driver Licensing

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Evaluating a smartphone application to increase the quantity and improve the quality of supervised practice driving

Injury Prevention ◽

10.1136/injuryprev-2021-044247 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. injuryprev-2021-044247

Author(s):

Johnathon P Ehsani ◽

Rebecca Weast ◽

Theresa Chirles ◽

Andrew Hellinger ◽

Wendy Shields ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Smartphone Application ◽

Crash Risk ◽

First Year ◽

Graduated Driver Licensing ◽

Teenage Drivers ◽

Stage 1 ◽

Safety Benefit ◽

And Control ◽

The Impact

BackgroundThe learner stage of graduated driver licensing (GDL), when teenagers are supervised by an adult driver, represents an opportunity to develop skills that could confer a safety benefit during their years of independent driving. This paper describes the design of a teenage driving study, which aims to evaluate the impact of a smartphone application, the ‘DrivingApp,’ to increase the quantity and improve the quality of supervised practice driving.MethodsThis longitudinal intervention study of teenage drivers and a parent/guardian spans the final 6 months of the learner licence and the first year of independent driving. Participants will be assigned to experimental or control groups using block allocation. Parent–teenage dyads assigned to the intervention arm will receive information about their practice driving via a smartphone application, including miles driven and total drive time. Baseline and monthly surveys will be administered to both experimental and control participants to measure the outcome measures during the learner stage: (1) practice driving amount, (2) consistency and (3) variety. Outcomes during independent driving are (1) self-reported number of attempts at the driving test and (2) number of crashes during the first year of independent driving.DiscussionImproving the quality of teenagers’ supervised practice driving is an unmet research need. This study will contribute to the evidence about what can be done during the learner period of GDL to maximise teenage drivers’ safety during the first years of independent driving, when crash risk is highest.

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The Impact of Information Integration in a Simulation of Future Submarine Command and Control

Human Factors The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society ◽

10.1177/00187208211045872 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 001872082110458

Author(s):

Steph Michailovs ◽

Stephen Pond ◽

Megan Schmitt ◽

Jessica Irons ◽

Matthew Stoker ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Team Performance ◽

Situation Awareness ◽

Information Integration ◽

Command And Control ◽

Cognitive Capacity ◽

Human Centered Design ◽

Control Rooms ◽

And Control ◽

The Impact ◽

Operator Workload

Objective Examine the extent to which increasing information integration across displays in a simulated submarine command and control room can reduce operator workload, improve operator situation awareness, and improve team performance. Background In control rooms, the volume and number of sources of information are increasing, with the potential to overwhelm operator cognitive capacity. It is proposed that by distributing information to maximize relevance to each operator role (increasing information integration), it is possible to not only reduce operator workload but also improve situation awareness and team performance. Method Sixteen teams of six novice participants were trained to work together to combine data from multiple sensor displays to build a tactical picture of surrounding contacts at sea. The extent that data from one display were available to operators at other displays was manipulated (information integration) between teams. Team performance was assessed as the accuracy of the generated tactical picture. Results Teams built a more accurate tactical picture, and individual team members had better situation awareness and lower workload, when provided with high compared with low information integration. Conclusion A human-centered design approach to integrating information in command and control settings can result in lower workload, and enhanced situation awareness and team performance. Application The design of modern command and control rooms, in which operators must fuse increasing volumes of complex data from displays, may benefit from higher information integration based on a human-centered design philosophy, and a fundamental understanding of the cognitive work that is carried out by operators.

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The impact of changes to the graduated driver licensing program in Queensland, Australia on the experiences of Learner drivers

Accident Analysis & Prevention ◽

10.1016/j.aap.2011.01.012 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 43 (4) ◽

pp. 1301-1308 ◽

Cited By ~ 54

Author(s):

Bridie J. Scott-Parker ◽

Lyndel Bates ◽

Barry C. Watson ◽

Mark J. King ◽

Melissa K. Hyde

Keyword(s):

Graduated Driver Licensing ◽

The Impact ◽

Driver Licensing

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The Impact of State-Level Graduated Driver Licensing Policy on Rates of Unlicensed Driving and Passenger Restraint Use: Can Stricter Legislation Foster a Culture of Safety?

Annals of Emergency Medicine ◽

10.1016/j.annemergmed.2013.07.119 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 62 (4) ◽

pp. S106-S107

Author(s):

J. Fu ◽

V. Vaca

Keyword(s):

State Level ◽

Culture Of Safety ◽

Restraint Use ◽

Graduated Driver Licensing ◽

Passenger Restraint ◽

The Impact ◽

Driver Licensing

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Estimating young novice drivers' compliance with graduated driver licensing restrictions: A novel approach

Traffic Injury Prevention ◽

10.1080/15389588.2016.1171857 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

pp. 35-40 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Allison E. Curry

Keyword(s):

Novice Drivers ◽

Novel Approach ◽

Graduated Driver Licensing ◽

Driver Licensing

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On-Road Effectiveness of a Tablet-Based Teen Driver Training Intervention

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting ◽

10.1177/1541931213601439 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 60 (1) ◽

pp. 1926-1930 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Tracy M. Zafian ◽

Siby Samuel ◽

Jennifer Coppola ◽

Erin G. O’Neill ◽

Matthew R.E. Romoser ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Training Programs ◽

Training System ◽

Training Intervention ◽

Driver Training ◽

Novice Drivers ◽

Computer Based Training ◽

Computer Based ◽

Novice Driver ◽

The Difference ◽

The Impact

The largest cause of novice driver crashes is their inexperience, causing both failures to anticipate hazards and to maintain attention to the forward roadway. A number of computer-based training programs have been shown to improve novice drivers’ hazard anticipation and attention maintenance skills. The Engaged Driver Training System (EDTS) is a computer tablet-based program targeted at teaching novice drivers both, to anticipate latent hazards and decrease distracting activities in the presence of such hazards. Previous simulator testing of EDTS has found it to be effective at improving latent hazard anticipation and decreasing distraction. This current study extends that research by conducting an on-road evaluation of EDTS, and by examining the impact of training parents along with their teens. This evaluation found that EDTS-trained teens showed better hazard anticipation on-road than the placebo-trained teens. Teens who participated with their parents in training identified a higher proportion of latent hazards than teens who did not participate with their parents, but the difference was not statistically significant.

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