Motorcycling experience and hazard perception

Studies of hazard perception skills in car drivers suggest that the ability to spot hazards improves with driving experience. Is this the case with motorcyclists? Sixty-one motorcyclists, split across three groups (novice, experienced and advanced riders) were tested on a hazard perception test containing video clips filmed from the perspective of a motorcyclist. Response times to hazards revealed that the advanced riders (who had completed an advanced riding course) were the fastest, and the experienced riders were the slowest to respond to hazards, with novice riders falling in-between. Advanced riders were also found to make more internal attributions regarding the causes of the hazards than novice riders (though on a general measure of Locus of Control there was no difference between groups). The results demonstrate a link between advanced training and motorcycling hazard perception skill, but raise important concerns about the effects of mere experience on rider safety. This challenges previous conceptions that simply extrapolated from our understanding of the hazard perception skills of car drivers to this particularly vulnerable group of road users.     

Hazard perception in novice and experienced drivers: The effects of sleepiness

One driver skill that has been found to correlate with crash risk is hazard perception ability. The purpose of this study was to investigate how hazard perception latencies change between high and low sleepiness for a high risk group (novice drivers) and a lower risk group (experienced drivers). Thirty-two novice drivers (aged 17-24 years) and 30 experienced drivers (aged 28-36) completed a validated video-based hazard perception test, in which participants were asked to anticipate genuine traffic conflicts in footage filmed from the driver's perspective, with separate groups tested at either 10 a.m. (lower sleepiness) or at 3 a.m. (higher sleepiness). We found a significant interaction between sleepiness and experience, indicating that the hazard perception skills of the more experienced drivers were relatively unaffected by mild increases in sleepiness while the inexperienced drivers were significantly slowed. The findings suggest that the disproportionate sleepiness-related accident involvement of young, inexperienced drivers could be partly due to a slowing of their ability to anticipate traffic hazards.     

A comparison of the hazard perception ability of accident-involved and accident-free motorcycle riders

Hazard perception is the ability to read the road and is closely related to involvement in traffic accidents. It consists of both cognitive and behavioral components. Within the cognitive component, visual attention is an important function of driving whereas driving behavior, which represents the behavioral component, can affect the hazard perception of the driver. Motorcycle riders are the most vulnerable types of road user. The primary purpose of this study was to deepen our understanding of the correlation of different subtypes of visual attention and driving violation behaviors and their effect on hazard perception between accident-free and accident-involved motorcycle riders. Sixty-three accident-free and 46 accident-involved motorcycle riders undertook four neuropsychological tests of attention (Digit Vigilance Test, Color Trails Test-1, Color Trails Test-2, and Symbol Digit Modalities Test), filled out the Chinese Motorcycle Rider Driving Violation (CMRDV) Questionnaire, and viewed a road-user-based hazard situation with an eye-tracking system to record the response latencies to potentially dangerous traffic situations. The results showed that both the divided and selective attention of accident-involved motorcycle riders were significantly inferior to those of accident-free motorcycle riders, and that accident-involved riders exhibited significantly higher driving violation behaviors and took longer to identify hazardous situations compared to their accident-free counterparts. However, the results of the regression analysis showed that aggressive driving violation CMRDV score significantly predicted hazard perception and accident involvement of motorcycle riders. Given that all participants were mature and experienced motorcycle riders, the most plausible explanation for the differences between them is their driving style (influenced by an undesirable driving attitude), rather than skill deficits per se. The present study points to the importance of conceptualizing the influence of different driving behaviors so as to enrich our understanding of the role of human factors in road accidents and consequently develop effective countermeasures to prevent traffic accidents involving motorcycles.     

Issues in motorcycle sensory and cognitive conspicuity: The impact of motorcycle low-beam headlights and riding experience on drivers’ decisions to turn across the path of a motorcycle

Background

Crashes involving a passenger car and a motorcycle, where the car is turning across the path of the motorcycle, are a major crash type of motorcycle riders. It has been proposed that the incidence of such crashes could be reduced through improvements in motorcycle conspicuity. Operation of low-beam headlights on motorcycles has been discussed as one approach for improving the “sensory conspicuity” of motorcycles during daylight hours, whilst previous experience as a rider may serve to heighten “cognitive conspicuity” through raised awareness of motorcyclists on our roads.

Method

Twenty-three experienced car drivers with no riding experience (“drivers”) and 20 experienced car drivers who were also motorcycle riders (“driver–riders”) completed a series of trials in a driving simulator where their task in each trial was to turn ahead of an oncoming vehicle if they felt that they had sufficient room to do so safely. A key manipulation across trials was whether the oncoming vehicle was a motorcycle with headlights on, or a motorcycle with headlights off. Time gap (short, medium, long) was also manipulated.

Results

Results indicate that, at time gaps defined in the current study as short, low-beam headlights may confer some benefit in gap acceptance by encouraging drivers to accept fewer gaps ahead of a motorcycle with headlights on than ahead of a motorcycle with headlights off. No statistically significant differences in gap acceptance between the headlight conditions were found at either the medium or long time gaps. Irrespective of time gap, driver–riders were found to adopt a more efficient turn strategy than drivers with no direct riding experience.

Conclusions

Overall, the present research provides support for the use of low-beam headlights and riding experience as tools through which to augment the sensory and cognitive conspicuity of motorcycles, respectively. It is proposed that further research aim to explore directly the precise mechanisms underlying the observed effects.     

Applying the motorcyclist's perspective to improve car drivers' attitudes towards motorcyclists

This study sought to provide a first crucial step in the direction of developing an intervention program aimed at improving safe attitudes and skills among car drivers towards motorcycles. We intended to improve drivers’ attitudes towards motorcyclists by exposing them to demands that motorcyclists face on the road. Car drivers were exposed to hazard perception clips taken from a motorcyclist's perspective, and interactive hazards in a motorcycle simulator. Car hazard perception clips and a car simulator were used as control conditions. A questionnaire assessed participant knowledge and attitudes towards motorcyclists before and after the intervention. After the intervention participants had more empathic- and fewer negative-attitudes, as well as safer attitudes towards motorcyclists. Self-reported attitude-change suggested that the use of motorcycle hazard perception clips was more effective than the simulator, and the intervention was most effective for those car drivers who reported the most negative attitudes prior viewing the clips or riding the simulator. Providing car drivers with a perspective of the motorcyclist may prove to be a useful tool for promoting safer attitudes towards motorcyclists.     

Hazard detection in noise-related incidents – the role of driving experience with battery electric vehicles

The low noise emission of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) has led to discussions about how to address potential safety issues for other road users. Legislative actions have already been undertaken to implement artificial sounds. In previous research, BEV drivers reported that due to low noise emission they paid particular attention to pedestrians and bicyclists. For the current research, we developed a hazard detection task to test whether drivers with BEV experience respond faster to incidents, which arise due to the low noise emission, than inexperienced drivers. The first study (N = 65) revealed that BEV experience only played a minor role in drivers’ response to hazards resulting from low BEV noise. The tendency to respond, reaction times and hazard evaluations were similar among experienced and inexperienced BEV drivers; only small trends in the assumed direction were observed. Still, both groups clearly differentiated between critical and non-critical scenarios and responded accordingly. In the second study (N = 58), we investigated additionally if sensitization to low noise emission of BEVs had an effect on hazard perception in incidents where the noise difference is crucial. Again, participants in all groups differentiated between critical and non-critical scenarios. Even though trends in response rates and latencies occurred, experience and sensitization to low noise seemed to only play a minor role in detecting hazards due to low BEV noise. An additional global evaluation of BEV noise further suggests that even after a short test drive, the lack of noise is perceived more as a comfort feature than a safety threat.     

Alcohol use and motorcycle accidents

An investigation of 1508 of the 1577 fatal and injury producing motorcycle accidents reported to Victoria police during 1974 revealed that alcohol usage was a significant factor. A similar result was indicated by five other Australian studies which report on post-mortem examinations of fatally injured motorcycle riders. Alcohol affected riders were significantly over represented in fatal and single vehicle accidents. The majority of killed riders had blood alcohol levels typical of problem drinkers. Motorcycle riders had similar blood alcohol levels to a comparable group of drinking car drivers but a significantly lower proportion of killed motorcycle riders were affected by alcohol than killed car drivers. Motorcycle riders affected by alcohol were mainly younger than twenty-five years of age, but this was probably due to the youthfulness of the motorcycle riding population.     

Equine road user safety: public attitudes, understandings and beliefs from a qualitative study in the United Kingdom

Horse riders represent a significant group of vulnerable road user and are involved in a number of accidents and near misses on the road. Despite this horse riders have received little attention both in terms of academic research and transport policy. Based on literature on vulnerable road user safety, including attitudes to road user safety and behaviour of drivers and their relationship with cyclists and motorcyclists, this paper examines the attitudes and reported behaviour of drivers and horse riders. A total of 46 participants took part in six focus groups divided into four groups of drivers with little or no horse riding experience and two groups of frequent horse riders. Each group investigated five key topic areas stemming from the literature review on vulnerable road users including hazard perception, risk perception, emotion, attitudes to sharing the road and empathy. It was found that drivers and horse riders are not always aware of the same hazards in the road and that this may lead drivers to under-estimate the risk when encountering horses. Drivers often had good intentions to overtake horses safely, but were unaware of how vulnerable passing very wide and slow made them feel until they had begun the manoeuvre and hence quickly reduced such feelings either by speeding up or cutting in too soon. However, other than this, drivers had good skills when encountering horses. But these skills could be impeded by frustration when encountering a slow moving horse which was further compounded by a feeling, mainly by younger drivers, that horse riding was for leisure and as such should not get in the way of necessary work journeys. There is a need for drivers to be more aware of the potential hazards a horse rider faces on the road and these could be achieved through inducing empathy amongst drivers for horse riders, creating nudges for drivers in the environment and better education for drivers.     

Equine road user safety: Public attitudes,understandings and beliefs from a qualitative study in the United Kingdom

Horse riders represent a significant group of vulnerable road user and are involved in a number of accidents and near misses on the road. Despite this horse riders have received little attention both in terms of academic research and transport policy. Based on literature on vulnerable road user safety, including attitudes to road user safety and behaviour of drivers and their relationship with cyclists and motorcyclists, this paper examines the attitudes and reported behaviour of drivers and horse riders. A total of 46 participants took part in six focus groups divided into four groups of drivers with little or no horse riding experience and two groups of frequent horse riders. Each group investigated five key topic areas stemming from the literature review on vulnerable road users including hazard perception, risk perception, emotion, attitudes to sharing the road and empathy. It was found that drivers and horse riders are not always aware of the same hazards in the road and that this may lead drivers to under-estimate the risk when encountering horses. Drivers often had good intentions to overtake horses safely, but were unaware of how vulnerable passing very wide and slow made them feel until they had begun the manoeuvre and hence quickly reduced such feelings either by speeding up or cutting in too soon. However, other than this, drivers had good skills when encountering horses. But these skills could be impeded by frustration when encountering a slow moving horse which was further compounded by a feeling, mainly by younger drivers, that horse riding was for leisure and as such should not get in the way of necessary work journeys. There is a need for drivers to be more aware of the potential hazards a horse rider faces on the road and these could be achieved through inducing empathy amongst drivers for horse riders, creating nudges for drivers in the environment and better education for drivers.     

Hazard prediction discriminates between novice and experienced drivers

Typical hazard perception tests often confound multiple processes in their responses. The current study tested hazard prediction in isolation to assess whether this component can discriminate between novice and experienced drivers. A variant of the hazard perception test, based on the Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique, found experienced drivers to outperform novices across three experiments suggesting that the act of predicting an imminent hazard is a crucial part of the hazard-perception process. Furthermore three additional hypotheses were tested in these experiments. First, performance was compared across clips of different length. There was marginal evidence that novice drivers’ performance suffered with the longest clips, but experienced drivers’ performance did not, suggesting that experienced drivers find hazard prediction less effortful. Secondly, predictive accuracy was found to be dependent on the temporal proximity of visual precursors to the hazard. Thirdly the relationship between the hazard and its precursor was found to be important, with less obvious precursors improving the discrimination between novice and experience drivers. These findings demonstrate that a measure of hazard prediction, which is less confounded by the influence of risk appraisal than simple response time measures, can still discriminate between novice and experienced drivers. Application of this methodology under different conditions can produce insights into the underlying processes that may be at work, whilst also providing an alternative test of driver skill in relation to the detection of hazards.     

Why do car drivers fail to give way to motorcycles at t-junctions?

Studies of accident statistics suggest that motorcyclists are particularly vulnerable to collisions with other vehicles which pull out of side roads onto a main carriageway, failing to give way to the approaching motorcycle. Why might this happen? The typical response of the car driver is that they looked in the appropriate direction but simply failed to see the motorcycle. To assess the visual skills of drivers in such scenarios we compared the behaviour of novice and experienced drivers to a group of dual drivers (with both car and motorcycle experience). Participants watched a series of video clips, displayed across three screens, depicting the approach to various t-junctions. On reaching the junction, participants had to decide when it was safe to pull out. Responses and eye movements were measured. The results confirmed that dual drivers had the safest responses at junctions, especially in the presence of conflicting motorcycles. On a range of visual measures both novice and experienced drivers appeared inferior to dual drivers, though for potentially different reasons. There were however no differences in the time it took all drivers to first fixate approaching motorcycles. Instead the differences appeared to be due to the amount of time spent looking at the approaching motorcycle. The experienced drivers had shorter gazes on motorcycles than cars, suggesting that they either process less salient motorcycles faster than cars, or that they terminated the gaze prematurely perhaps because they did not realise they were fixating a motorcycle. We argue that this is potential evidence for an oculomotor basis for Look But Fail To See errors.     

Using speeding detections and numbers of fatalities to estimate relative risk of a fatality for motorcyclists and car drivers

Precise estimation of the relative risk of motorcyclists being involved in a fatal accident compared to car drivers is difficult. Simple estimates based on the proportions of licenced drivers or riders that are killed in a fatal accident are biased as they do not take into account the exposure to risk. However, exposure is difficult to quantify. Here we adapt the ideas behind the well known induced exposure methods and use available summary data on speeding detections and fatalities for motorcycle riders and car drivers to estimate the relative risk of a fatality for motorcyclists compared to car drivers under mild assumptions. The method is applied to data on motorcycle riders and car drivers in Victoria, Australia in 2010 and a small simulation study is conducted.     

Age, skill, and hazard perception in driving

This study examined the effects of age and driving experience on the ability to detect hazards while driving; namely, hazard perception. Studies have shown that young-inexperienced drivers are more likely than experienced drivers to suffer from hazard perception deficiencies. However, it remains to be determined if this skill deteriorates with advancing age. Twenty-one young-inexperienced, 19 experienced, and 16 elderly drivers viewed six hazard perception movies while connected to an eye tracking system and were requested to identify hazardous situations. Four movies embedded planned, highly hazardous, situations and the rest were used as control. Generally, experienced and older-experienced drivers were equally proficient at hazard detection and detected potentially hazardous events (e.g., approaching an intersection, pedestrians on curb) continuously whereas young-inexperienced drivers stopped reporting on hazards that followed planned, highly hazardous situations. Moreover, while approaching T intersections older and experienced drivers fixated more towards the merging road on the right while young-inexperienced drivers fixated straight ahead, paying less attention to potential vehicles on the merging road. The study suggests that driving experience improves drivers’ awareness of potential hazards and guides drivers’ eye movements to locations that might embed potential risks. Furthermore, advanced age hardly affects older drivers’ ability to perceive hazards, and older drivers are at least partially aware of their age-related limitations.     

A simulator study investigating how motorcyclists approach side-road hazards

The most common form of motorcycle collision in the UK occurs when another road user fails to give way and pulls out from a side road in front of an oncoming motorcyclist. While research has considered these collisions from the car driver's perspective, no research to date has addressed how motorcyclists approach these potential hazards. This study conducted a detailed analysis of motorcyclist speed and road position on approach to side-roads in a simulated suburban setting. Novice, Experienced and Advanced riders rode two laps of a simulated route, encountering five side-roads on each lap. On the second lap, a car emerged from the first side-road in a typical ‘looked but failed to see’ accident scenario. Three Experienced riders and one Novice rider collided with the hazard. The Advanced rider group adopted the safest strategy when approaching side-roads, with a lane position closer to the centre of the road and slower speeds. In contrast, Experienced riders chose faster speeds, often over the speed limit, especially when approaching junctions with good visibility. Rider behaviour at non-hazard junctions was compared between laps, to investigate if riders modified their behaviour after experiencing the hazard. Whilst all riders were generally more cautious after the hazard, the Advanced riders modified their behaviour more than the other groups after the hazard vehicle had pulled out. The results suggest that advanced training can lead to safer riding styles that are not acquired by experience alone.     

Prevalence of alcohol and drugs among motorcycle riders killed in road crashes in Norway during 2001–2010

The aim of the study was to examine the prevalence of alcohol and drugs in blood samples from motorcycle riders who died in road crashes in Norway from 2001 to 2010. An additional aim was to compare the prevalence of alcohol and drugs in blood samples from fatally injured motorcycle riders and car drivers who died during the same time period.     

Effects of driver age and experience in abrupt-onset hazards

Novice drivers and older drivers are found to have the highest crash risk among all drivers and this has motivated many research studies into various aspects of novice and older drivers. Although age-related declines were expected, studies did not find older drivers to respond slower to hazards. This study examined the hazard detection and response latencies of 14 young novice drivers, 14 young experienced drivers, and 12 older experienced drivers, to abrupt-onset hazards. Older drivers were found to take longer times before fixating on an abrupt-onset road hazard but appeared to have insignificantly faster reaction times after the initial fixation. Hence, the overall response latency did not suggest any age effects. Older drivers also scanned the roadway less as compared to their younger counterparts. No effects of experience were found. The findings provided insight on age-related declines in hazard detection whose effects have been masked by other components of hazard response.     

Video-based road commentary training improves hazard perception of young drivers in a dual task

This study used a video-based hazard perception dual task to compare the hazard perception skills of young drivers with middle aged, more experienced drivers and to determine if these skills can be improved with video-based road commentary training. The primary task required the participants to detect and verbally identify immediate hazard on video-based traffic scenarios while concurrently performing a secondary tracking task, simulating the steering of real driving. The results showed that the young drivers perceived fewer immediate hazards (mean = 75.2%, n = 24, 19 females) than the more experienced drivers (mean = 87.5%, n = 8, all females), and had longer hazard perception times, but performed better in the secondary tracking task. After the road commentary training, the mean percentage of hazards detected and identified by the young drivers improved to the level of the experienced drivers and was significantly higher than that of an age and driving experience matched control group. The results will be discussed in the context of psychological theories of hazard perception and in relation to road commentary as an evidence-based training intervention that seems to improve many aspects of unsafe driving behaviour in young drivers.     

The prevalence of alcohol, cannabinoids, benzodiazepines and stimulants amongst injured drivers and their role in driver culpability: part i: the prevalence of drug use in drive the drug-positive group

Blood samples from 2,500 injured drivers were analysed for alcohol, cannabinnoids, benzodiazepines and stimulants. Overall, three-quarters of drivers tested negative for drugs. Alcohol was the most frequently detected drug. Cannabinoids were also detected at high rates, but the majority of drivers tested positive for THC-acid, the inactive metabolite of THC. Benzodiazepines and stimulants were detected at low rates, and detection rates for combinations of drugs were also low. Males were more likely to test positive for drugs, especially alcohol and THC, whereas females were more likely to test positive for benzodiazepines. A similar proportion of car drivers and motorcycle riders tested positive for drugs, although riders were more likely to test positive for THC. Single-vehicle crashes were particularly associated with alcohol for both car driver and riders, and for riders, multiple-vehicle crashes were particularly associated with THC.     

The perception of pedestrians from the perspective of elderly experienced and experienced drivers

We examined hazard perception (HP) abilities among elderly experienced and experienced drivers, with regard to the presence of pedestrians in residential areas. Two evaluation methods were used: (a) observation of traffic scene videos and pressing a button when a hazardous situation was identified, and (b) driving in a driving simulator. The results of the video observation method showed that elderly drivers had a longer response time for hazard detection. In addition, four of the eight pedestrian-related events were difficult for elderly drivers to perceive when compared to experienced drivers. Elderly drivers, shown to have limited useful field of view, may also be limited in their ability to detect hazards, particularly when located away from the center of the screen. Results from the simulator drive showed that elderly drivers drove about 20% slower than experienced drivers, possibly being aware of their deficiencies in detecting hazards and slower responses. Authorities should be aware of these limitations and increase elderly drivers' awareness to pedestrians by posting traffic signs or dedicated lane marks that inform them of potential upcoming hazards.     

Hazard perception of motorcyclists and car drivers

The current study compares hazard perception (HP) performance of 50 male drivers with and without a motorcycle license in order to generalize results. A video-based HP test, measuring reaction times to traffic scenes, was administered to these two groups of drivers. Participants with a motorcycle license performed better than participants without a motorcycle license. ANOVA indicated that learning improved linearly for participants with a motorcycle license but not for participants without a motorcycle license. No evidence that HP was predicted by age was found. HP scores for drivers who reported previous involvement in an accident were lower than for those who reported not being involved in an accident. The results are discussed in the context of sensitivity and response bias models.