Factors influencing learner driver experiences [Road Safety Grant Report 2009-003]

When compared with more experienced drivers, new drivers have a higher crash risk. This study examined the experiences of learner drivers in Queensland and New South Wales in order to develop an understanding of the factors that influenced them while learning to drive. This will enable the development of more effective licensing systems. The research was informed by a number of heoretical perspectives, particularly social learning theory. Participants were recruited from driver licensing centres as soon as they passed their practical driving test to attain a provisional licence. Of those approached, 392 new drivers from capital cities and regional locations in Queensland and New South Wales completed a 35 minute telephone interview that collected information on a range of personal, social, environmental and socio-demographic factors. Participants were obtaining their licence before several changes to the licensing systems in both Queensland and New South Wales were made in 2007. Several implications for countermeasure development resulted from this research. These included ensuring licensing authorities carefully consider mandating a minimum number of hour of practice as it may inadvertently suppress the amount of practice that some learners obtain. Licensing authorities should consider the use of logbooks for learner drivers, even if there is no minimum amount of supervised practice required as it may assist learners and their supervisors structure their practice more effectively. This research also found that the confidence of learner drivers increases between when they first obtain their learner licence and when they obtain their provisional licence. This is an important issue requiring further attention by licensing authorities

An Investigation into the Impact of Parkinson's Disease upon Decision Making Ability and Driving Performance

Diagnostics and Rehabilitation of Parkinson's Disease presents the most current information pertaining to news-making topics relating to this disease, including etiology, early biomarkers for the diagnostics, novel methods to evaluate symptoms, research, multidisciplinary rehabilitation, new applications of brain imaging and invasive methods to the study of Parkinson's disease. Researchers have only recently begun to focus on the non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease, which are poorly recognized and inadequately treated by clinicians. The non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease have a significant impact on patient quality of life and mortality and include cognitive impairments, autonomic, gastrointestinal, and sensory symptoms. In-depth discussion of the use of imaging tools to study disease mechanisms is also provided, with emphasis on the abnormal network organization in parkinsonism. Deep brain stimulation management is a paradigm-shifting therapy for Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, and dystonia. In the recent years, new approaches of early diagnostics, training programmes and treatments have vastly improved the lives of people with Parkinson's disease, substantially reducing symptoms and significantly delaying disability. Written by leading scientists on movement and neurological disorders, this comprehensive book should appeal to a multidisciplinary audience and help people cope with medical, emotional, and practical challenges

Modelling Aggressive or Risky Driving: The Effect of Cinematic Portrayals of Risky Driving

The purpose of the current research was to investigate the influence of motion pictures, depicting aggressive or risky driving, on subsequent driving behaviour. Both experimental and descriptive research approaches were used in an attempt to demonstrate the robustness of this relationship. Study 1 employed an experimental design, in which participants drove through a test course on a driving simulator following exposure to either neutral, arousing, or aggressive and risky driving movie content. Various person, situation, and internal factors were assessed, along with various measures of aggressive or risky driving (e.g., speed, acceleration, passing frequency). Study 2 was an event study, which linked automated enforcement speeding data, from the City of Edmonton, to the release of two aggressive or risky driving movies (i.e., Fast and Furious 6 and Furious 7) to investigate changes in the number of speeding infractions and speed differential (i.e., amount the driver exceeded the posted speed limit). Multiple years of speeding infraction data provided a built in replication, allowing for comparisons across different years. The results from Study 1 provided evidence for the contribution of trait aggression, sensation seeking, driving vengeance, a history of violation (i.e., particularly speeding), and a provoking racing scenario to the modelling of aggressive or risky driving. Study 2 revealed an increase in the number of speeding infractions and mean speed differential for the opening weekend and first week post-movie release for Furious 7. The findings from these studies demonstrate the interactivity of person, internal, and situation factors in the modelling of aggressive or risky driving and suggest that movies, which depict this content, can influence real-world speeding behaviour. Public policy implications are addressed, with a strong suggestion for increased enforcement following the release of such movies, particularly during the first week. An emphasis is placed on production companies to provide warnings and address unsafe driving as a public health and safety concern. Also, viewers of such material are reminded of their responsibility, as drivers, to engage in thoughtful, non-risky action when presented with an aggressive driving opportunity

Surrogate safety measures and traffic conflict observations.

The chapter primarily focuses on observing traffic conflicts (also known as near-accidents) as a site-based road safety analysis technique. Traffic conflicts are a type of surrogate safety measure. The term surrogate indicates that non-accident-based indicators are used to assess VRU safety instead ofthe more traditional approach focusing on accidents (see chapter 2). The theory underpinning surrogate safety measures is briefly described, followed by a discussion on the characteristics of the traffic conflict technique. Next, guidelines for conducting traffic conflict observations using trained human observers or video cameras are presented. Chapter 4 concludes with examples of the use of the traffic conflict technique in road safety studies focusing on VRUs