Psych 409a: November 26, 2006

Driver Skill, Performance, and Behavior

By:  Kirk Ishida

 

Instructions for this activity are found at:

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/g25-oral1.htm

Instructor: Dr. Leon James

Peter Rothe, editor (2002). Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems That Make Traffic Safer. (Edmonton: University Of Alberta Press). Reviewing pgs.211-230.

I.                    Skill

a.       Learned ability to perform some task effectively and efficiently

b.      Traditionally they are abilities involving using simple tools and materials to make a product

 

II.                 Driving Skill

a.       Built on a broad foundation of basic human abilities

                                                               i.      2 aspects of fundamental capabilities

1.      human information processing capacities have limitations that can be exceeded

2.      basic sensory, mental and psycho-physical capacities vary greatly in an individual

                                                             ii.      human engineering perspective on driver failure focuses on that driving demands may exceed mental capacity

                                                            iii.      general abilities underlying driver skills may be trainable

b.      Looking for the whole driver

                                                               i.      To operate safely and efficiently many task demands must be met

                                                             ii.      Driver skill categories

1.      knowledge

a.       provides background information against which all the perceptual and cognitive functions take place

2.      attention

a.       real-time management of resources

3.      detection

a.       identifies changes in the environment

4.      perception

a.       creates awareness of constantly changing situations

5.      evaluation

a.       estimate consequences and probabilities of alternative actions

6.      decision

a.       selects the best response to a situation

7.      motor skill

a.       executes your maneuvers

8.      imagination

a.       time, speed, and space choices

9.      motivation

a.       prioritizes and balances goals and values

10.  responsibility

a.       chooses goals and values and directs self monitoring

                                                            iii.      Driver skill importance

1.      your performance capability determines what you do

2.      driving skill may be necessary but not sufficient for improved safety

 

III.               Preparing for the futures

a.       With the use of more technology changes will occur on how drivers learn

b.      Drivers mental workload will increase because of more technology

c.       We will need to train new skills for the new technology

d.      We need to look for something effective to help us with our driving

 

Links

http://pdftohtml.spiritofanime.com/pdf2html.php?url=http://www.carcontrol.com/skilltraining.PDF is a website that explains what driver skill is and gives a case study of if training had effect.

http://www.smith-system.com/custom.shtml is an organization that trains drivers which I find very interesting.  A case study was done to ExxonMobil Aviation and it has been implemented.  This might be an interesting seminar to consider to see if their training of skills if effective.

http://www.driverskills.com/Advanced-Driving.htm is another site that trains drivers and it is taught in the UK.  Comparing and contrasting these two sites might provide information about how to improve safety as well as seeing how people took this class were affected.

My Homepage: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409af2006/ishida/ishida-home.htm Homepage: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/classhome-g25.htm