Performance on Cue Recognition and Evasive Action Skills as Predictors of Effective Driving in College-Age Drivers

Two experiments compared self-reported driving effectiveness oflicensed drivers (mean age 19 years) to their performance on two simulateddriving tasks. For both experiments, drivers first completed a driving historyquestionnaire. In Experiment 1, they then performed Cue Recognition, whichuses stationary line drawings of vehicles as stimuli and requires a turning orbraking response to an appropriate stimulus. Males responded faster than females,especially for the most complex choice responses, and reported more tickets.Drivers reporting no tickets responded slower than those reporting at least oneticket, and they reported fewer accidents. In Experiment 2, drivers also performedEvasive Action Skills, which uses more realistic recorded driving scenarios inwhich the appearance of a hazard is the imperative stimulus that commands theappropriate turn or brake response. Number of errors on Evasive Action Skillscorrelated significantly with number of self-reported accidents. Response timeson Cue Recognition and Evasive Action Skills were correlated, but there was norelation between response times on Cue Recognition and errors on EvasiveAction Skills. However, a comparison of the 10 fastest and 10 slowest drivers onCue Recognition showed that the fastest responders committed significantly moreerrors on Evasive Action Skills than did the slowest responders. The data in bothexperiments reflect a speed-accuracy tradeoff