The relationship between driving experience and performance in a braking detection task

Novice drivers have more accidents compared to experienced drivers. One aim of driving research is to develop a diagnostic test which correlates with driving ability. The current study attempts to distinguish between drivers of varying levels of skill and experience and a simple diagnostic test was developed based on judgements of headway. This test is referred to as a braking detection flicker task. In two experiments participants were shown static images of a car travelling along a variety of roadways taken as if through the windscreen of a following vehicle with each image separated by a blue flicker screen. During each trial the car would appear to brake, becoming larger and larger. The task was to detect this sudden deceleration of the car as quickly as possible. When braking, the brake lights of this car would either remain unlit, or would light up, introducing a level of difficulty to the task. Participants were separated into two groups based on driving experience (experts and novices) and the time participants took to respond to the braking car was compared between groups to allow any experiential differences to be determined. Results suggest that such a test is sensitive to experiential differences under certain circumstances