Hazard Recognition

This course is geared toward drivers aged 16-25.

VIDEO: I KNOW EVERYTHING

Novice Driver Crash Risk Factors

Traffic accident rates for 16 to 19 year old novice drivers are higher than those for any other age group. What causes teenage drivers to be such risky drivers? The following is a list of their primary risk factors.

Ø Lack of skill Novice teenage drivers have not yet completely mastered basic vehicle handling skills and safe-driving knowledge they need to drive safely.

Ø Carrying passengers For teenagers, the risk of being in a crash increases when they transport passengers. The fatality risk for drivers ages 16 to17 is 3.6 times higher when they are driving with passengers than when they are driving alone, and the relative risk of a fatal crash increases with the number of passengers. Peer passengers may distract teen drivers and encourage them to take more risks, especially young males riding with young male drivers.

Ø Night driving The per mile crash rate for teenage drivers is three times higher after 9 p.m. This is because driving at night is more difficult; teens have less experience driving at night than during the day; teens are often sleep deprived; and teenage recreational driving, which sometimes involves alcohol, is more likely to occur at night.

Ø Not wearing seat belts Teenagers tend to wear safety belts less often than older drivers.

Ø Risk taking Teenagers tend to take more risks while driving partly due to overconfidence. Young, novice drivers are more likely to engage in risky behaviors like speeding, tailgating, running red lights, violating traffic signs and signals, making illegal turns, passing dangerously, and failure to yield to pedestrians.

Ø Alcohol and drugs Driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs is a common cause of serious crashes, especially fatal ones, involving teenage drivers. Teenagers who drink and drive are at much greater risk of serious crashes than are older drivers with equal concentrations of alcohol in their blood.

Ø Poor hazard detection The ability to detect hazards in the driving environment depends on perceptual and information-gathering skills and involves properly identifying stimuli as potential threats. It takes time for young novice drivers to acquire this ability.

Ø Low risk perception Risk perception involves subjectively assessing the degree of threat posed by a hazard and one's ability to deal with the threat. Young novice drivers tend to underestimate the crash risk in hazardous situations and overestimate their ability to avoid the threats they identify.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/teenweb/more_btn6/traffic/traffic.htm

Why do you think that young drivers do the things pictured below?

Following Too Closely….TAILGATING

How to apply the 3-Second Rule:

1. Watch the rear bumper of the vehicle in front of you pass a fixed object.

2. Count 3 seconds: “one-one thousand, two-one thousand, three-one thousand.”

3. Your front bumper should not pass that fixed object until after you have counted three seconds.

Add one or more seconds for EVERY adverse factor that causes driving conditions to deteriorate.

This would include factors such as:

weather conditions

night driving

heavy traffic

road construction

health issues

driver emotions

size of the vehicle you are in or you are following

If you are closer than 3 seconds to the vehicle ahead of you, you are tailgating!

VIDEO: ATTENTION and DISTRACTION

Types of Driving Hazards

1. Driver Hazards: These are hazards that the driver creates by his or her own behavior. The driver directly causes these hazards by making unsafe driving decisions. Examples: speeding, drinking and driving, texting, eating, taking over the counter drugs that make you drowsy, inattentive driving, etc.

2. Driving Hazards: These are hazards that are in the environment, out on the roadway. While drivers don’t create these hazards, they do need to anticipate that driving hazards will happen, be prepared when they occur, and respond appropriately. Examples: weather, road construction, dirt roads, bridges in the winter, night driving, etc.

The formula for managing driving hazards is called IPDE:

1. Identify-anything that can affect your driving: stop sign, driver weaving in lane, stale green light, dirt road surface, type and meaning of lines in your lane, road signs(give you information on what is coming up), tractor ahead, snow on road, rush hour traffic, curve ahead, closed zone behind, parked cars on side of road, bike on shoulder, etc.

2. Predict-the worst thing that can happen with what you have identified: car on right may run stop sign, drunk driver ahead (weaving), stale green light will turn yellow, dirt road mean longer stopping distance, oncoming car turning left will not yield to me going straight, bike on the shoulder will lose control and swerve into my lane, etc.

3. Decide-to slow down and cover brake when approaching a stale green light, slow down when traveling on dirt road due to decreased traction, cover brake and slow when approaching a car wanting to turn left when my path of travel is straight and actively scan their movements, etc.

4. Execute-the act of moving your foot over the top of the brake pedal to cover it, etc.

VIDEO: THE IPDE PROCESS