Relationship of laboratory and on-road tests for driving-school students and experienced drivers

There is a pressing need to evaluate driving ability without an actual driving test but no reliable, standardised procedure is available. This study investigated the resulting distortion performance evaluation for different driver groups in on-road tests due to driving skills and driving style. Two groups, 15 female driving school students and 25 experienced male drivers were examined using cognitive and psychomotor tests and standard personality questionnaires as well as an on-road driving test. The students made significantly fewer errors on the driving test than the experienced drivers. The former group's driving performance could be predicted by errors on the laboratory tests, along with personality factors, while experienced drivers' driving errors were best predicted by slowness on laboratory tests. This study suggests that, when a series of standard cognitive and psychomotor tests are considered, different measures may apply in predicting young people's ability to drive safely based on assessing driving ability of experienced drivers, assumed lowered due to distorted driving style.