Study Of Novice Driver Hazard Perception Training

Along with the rapid motorization, China's road transportation safety problem is becoming more and more challenging. The rapid increase of novice drivers on road has become a major direct/indirect factor that seriously affects driving safety. This dissertation conducted a series of experimental studies on novice driver's road hazard perception and handling performance using participative driving simulation and feedback. The aim is to explore approaches and methods to effectively improve novice drivers'hazard perception and to investigate underlying mechanism of these approaches.First, focus group discussions and questionnaires were used to collect and select typical road hazards that appear more popular in Beijing road transportation system. Then virtual reality simulation techniques were used to establish a driving simulation system that can be used for driving simulation training, testing, data recording and afterward analysis. The selected typical road hazards were all developed to be simulation scenarios for experimental study. Validity and feasibility were primarily proved by a pilot test using 8 novice drivers and 8 experienced drivers for the designed simulation scenarios.Referring to the Theory of Planned Behavior and the idea of participative driving simulation training and own performance feedback, 8 different training scenarios were used for intervention of novice driver's hazard perception and handling. Sixteen novice drivers of the treated group received participative simulated driving training and their own performance feedback using their own driving data after driving. Recommended hazard handling method was also shown to the participants as enhanced treatment. For the 16 participants in the control group, no training was provided. Six weeks later, participants in the both groups were tested using 8 corresponding but different hazard scenarios. Results show that the treated group had significantly higher hazard handling performance, significantly better hazard anticipation, significantly earlier response to emerging hazardous scenarios, and lower mental workload. These results indicate that the treatment method is effective in improving novice driver's hazard handling performance.Next step in order to investigate the mechanism of training based on simulated driving and improve the training efficiency, a comparative study was conducted between simulation-based error management training (SEMT) and video-based guided error training (VGET) under the premise of equal exposure to errors. The SEMT group allows its 16 participants to drive on a desktop simulator to interact with a 14km road containing 8 hazards and they were encouraged to treat error as a positive way of learning. The VGET group allows its 16 participants to view pre-made driving video either with or without handling errors. Results show that SEMT group had significantly higher hazard handling performance, significantly higher metacognition and intrinsic motivation in the one-week later testing experiment. These results validated the importance of self-exploration in the participative driving.The findings in this study have apparent potential practical impact for novice driver training and also theoretical contribution in understanding the mechanism of novice driver intervention in dealing with road hazards. The methods and main conclusions can also be extended to training in other domains.