A method to improve the hazard perception of young novice drivers based on Bandura’s observational learning theory: Supplement to expert commentary training

Compared with experienced drivers, young novice drivers are more likely to have traffic accidents. The main reasons are that they lack experience, their hazard perception is weak, and their visual search strategy is underdeveloped. Research shows that hazard perception training can improve the visual search strategy of young novice drivers and enhance their hazard perception ability. We propose that a driver's visual search behaviour, like any other action, can be developed by observing the behaviour of a role model. In an experiment based on a driving simulator, we clustered the visual search paths of 20 experienced drivers, selected the drivers with the best visual search behaviour, and obtained visual search path video footage to produce hazard perception training videos. Using these videos, we applied Bandura’s observation learning theory to train 20 young novice drivers. We call this approach “training based on experienced drivers' performance”. To determine the effects of training based on experienced drivers' performance, 20 young novice drivers were given the usual expert commentary training, and 20 young drivers were given no training. The results showed that training based on experienced drivers' performance and expert commentary training had positive effects on the average speed of young novice drivers through hazard sections. Compared with untrained young novice drivers, trained young novice drivers decreased their speed in response to dangerous road sections. Compared with young novice drivers who received expert commentary training and those who did not receive training, young novice drivers who received training based on experienced drivers' performance showed significant improvements in visual search. These results suggest that training based on experienced drivers' performance can help young novice drivers improve their hazard perception, especially in visual aspects. This training method can complement existing training methods for young novice drivers.     

Keep on cruising: Changes in lifestyle and driving style among male drivers between the age of 18 and 23

Despite recent improvements in general road safety levels, young male drivers in most western countries continue to be overrepresented in road traffic accidents. Lifestyle related motivational factors are a key element in the young male driver problem. Based on 379 posted questionnaires completed by the same male drivers at the age of 18 and again at the age of 23, this study examined changes in the relationship between lifestyle and driving style over a 5 year period. A number of changes in car use, driving style and engagement in different leisure time activities were found. Cruising was related to an extrovert social life as well as problem behaviours such as drink driving. At the age of 18 cruising was a part of the normal social life of the majority of the participants. However, while most drivers reduced their level of cruising as well as related problem behaviour over time, a smaller group still showed a similar life style at the age of 23. The study confirmed the importance of lifestyle related motivational factors for driving behaviour among young drivers.     

Self-regulation of driving by older adults: Comparison of self-report and objective driving data

Until recently, objective data have been lacking on the extent to which older adults modify their driving by driving less or avoiding situations considered challenging; a process commonly referred to as self-regulation. Advances in technology now make it possible to examine driving exposure, patterns, and habits using low-cost global positioning system (GPS) technology to record a vehicle’s location on a continuous basis along with the date and time. The purpose of this exploratory study was to better understand the process of self-regulation among older adults by examining their trip-specific driving patterns using objectively-derived GPS measures of driving and comparing these patterns with drivers’ self-reports. The study used a sample of 156 adults age 75 or older, recruited from the greater Melbourne area of Australia as part of the Ozcandrive project, a partnership between Monash University Accident Research Centre and the Canadian Driving Research Initiative for Vehicular Safety in the Elderly (Candrive), a prospective cohort study of older drivers. Objective driving data were collected through equipment installed in participants’ personal vehicles. Participants were asked to drive as they normally would with the equipment installed in their vehicle. After approximately the first 4 months of driving with the device, data were downloaded and participants completed a computer-based questionnaire on self-regulation of driving. Results suggest that there was correspondence, albeit not perfect, between some objective driving measures and their comparable self-reported measures, but a lack of correspondence for others. For avoidance of various driving situations, comparisons were statistically significant for driving at night, driving in unfamiliar areas, and on high speed roads. For each driving situation, participants’ actual driving predicted the likelihood of reporting trying to avoid that situation, although perfect one-to-one correspondence between the self-reported and objective data on self-regulatory driving patterns was lacking. For measures of driving exposure, self-reported and objective driving exposure measures were correlated, but participants tended to underreport their average number of days per week and kilometers per week driven. This discrepancy between self-reported and objective measures is of concern as the ability to measure driving exposure not only contributes to a better understanding of the complex process of self-regulation, but is also a critical element in understanding crash risk.     

Les effets du port du masque sanitaire sur les jeunes enfants en lieux d’accueil collectif

IntroductionMandatory for professionals working in collective care facilities with children aged 3 months to 3 years, the wearing of a mask modifies information that is crucial for verbal and non-verbal communication, which is essential for social development.ObjectiveAn exploratory survey aims to collect the perception of these professionals of the children's reactions to the wearing and removal of the mask.MethodIn mid-December 2020, 586 people recorded 895 observed reactions to the wearing of masks and 793 to their removal in a questionnaire posted on a site dedicated to early childhood professionals.ResultsThe content analysis of the discursive corpus indicates that 75% of the observations on the wearing of the mask mainly concern problems in interactional experiences and difficulties in language activities, with 25% indicating no notable reaction in the children. When the mask is removed, more than half of the observations refer to positive effects: improved relational exchanges, better involvement in activities, particularly language activities, positive emotional reactions, etc. The testimonies also evoke an ostensible attentional activity to the (re)discovery of the adult's whole face, negative emotional reactions and sometimes a non identification of the adult.ConclusionThe majority of professionals perceive difficulties in the areas of language communication and social-emotional interaction. The overall data, although not conclusive due to the inherent limitations of the method used, are consistent with the results of other studies on the effects of wearing a mask on speech and social perception.     

Is it just me,or was that sexist? The role of sexism type and perpetrator race in identifying sexism

ABSTRACT

Despite sexism occurring frequently, people often do not identify it as such. Using a vignette design, the current project explored whether sexism was identified at a different rate and intensity depending on the specific form of sexism enacted (hostile or benevolently sexist behavior) and race (Black or White) of the man perpetrating sexist behaviors. When a Black man engaged in a benevolently (paternalistic) sexist behavior he was perceived as more sexist than a White man. However, White and Black men were perceived similarly when they engaged in a hostile (overtly negative and derogatory) sexist behavior. Overall, female participants identified sexism more often and viewed it as more sexist than male participants did, especially in the context of benevolent sexism. These findings suggest there are significant effects of perceiver gender and perpetrator race in the perception of sexism. This demonstrates the importance of examining both race- and gender-based discrimination together.     

The development of Addiction-Prone Personality traits in biological and adoptive families

This project investigated the predictors of Addiction-Prone Personality (APP) scores in youth and young adults from biological (N = 328, 53% female) and adoptive (N = 77, 53% female) families. The development of offspring’s APP traits was examined from three different angles: (1) patterns in biological and adoptive families, (2) offspring’s vs. parent’s perceptions of familial environment, and (3) different points in the life span. The offspring’s APP scores were found to be significantly predicted by parents’ APP scores in both biological and adoptive families. Parents’ APP scores and offspring’s gender consistently showed significant direct influences on offspring’s APP scores in biological families. The familial care factor (maternal and paternal care, family cohesion, and family adaptability) was found to be the consistent significant predictor of offspring’s APP scores in adoptive families even when offspring became older. These results are consistent in showing that the social environment plays an important role in the development of Addiction-Prone Personality traits.     

Attitudes,norms and driving behaviour: A comparison of young drivers in South Africa and Sweden

Culture is increasingly recognised among traffic psychologists to be a factor influencing driving behaviour. This study examines whether a cultural background characterised by rapid social change and high levels of violence and aggression, as in the South African context, has any discernible influences on driving standards or the behaviour of individual drivers. The experiences and attitudes of young drivers in South Africa are compared with a group of young drivers from Sweden, a country whose society has exhibited high levels of stability and where road user behaviour is renowned for its restraint and compliance with regulations.The two cohorts provide information about their exposure to traffic injuries, their attitudes to other drivers and to a range of traffic offences, and to the types of behaviour they personally engage in. Among the South African respondents the notion of a declining standard of driving emerges very clearly, and specific new norms of driving are identified. Such norms are explained to be a consequence of new social values or challenges inherent within contemporary South African society.     

Cognitive and psychomotor tests as predictors of on-road driving ability in older primary care patients

This study examined the accuracy with which different cognitive and psychomotor assessment tools were able to predict driving ability among older primary care patients. A cross-sectional study of 50 older drivers (with an average age of 73.1 ± 7.0 years) was conducted. Participants who had been referred by their physicians for psychological assessment following a fitness-to-drive examination underwent both an on-road driving test and a cognitive assessment protocol that included the Senior Drivers Battery (SDB) that is currently administered at the Mobility and Land Transports Institute (MLTI) in Portugal, the Useful Field of View (UFOV) test, the Stroke Drivers Screening Assessment (SDSA), Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination Revised (ACE-R), the Trail Making Test, the Key Search test, and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III) Vocabulary and Block Design tests. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the performances of the participants on the SDSA, ACE-R, UFOV and SDB were the best predictors of on-road driving. Specific measures of processing speed and divided attention, visuospatial abilities, executive functions, psychomotor speed and global cognitive functioning may be useful for predicting unsafe driving. The practical implications of these findings are discussed with a view to developing new assessment models for determining driving fitness in older adults.     

Modeling duration of overtaking in two lane highways

The paper attempts to reveal which factors may influence the duration of overtaking in two lane highways. Questions such as what is the duration of young male and female drivers’ overtaking activities and, given that a driver conducts an overtaking maneuver, how long will it take, are addressed using classical survival analysis. Data are collected using a driving simulator. Different models are developed for describing the total overtaking duration, as well as the duration of the acceleration and back-to-lane phases. Results show that the duration of each of the phases of overtaking considered, as well as the total overtaking duration may be best described by a Log–logistic distribution. Analyses point out that, apart from the acceleration phase, the gender is a critical factor to the duration modeling. Other influential factors are the speed difference from the lead vehicle, the speed of opposing traffic, the spacing from the lead and opposing traffic, as well as whether the driver is engaged in multiple overtakes. Finally, the modeling implications to driving assistance systems are discussed.