DRIVING WISDOM: Web-based Training for Young Adults to Improve Operator Judgments that Mitigate Crash Risk in Privately Owned Vehicles

We propose to develop a knowledge base of driving hazards that may affect drivers aged 20-35 years. The knowledge base will include information about the hazards, associated risk of crash involvement, and practical behaviors for mitigating this risk. The knowledge based will be developed through a combination of exploratory data collection and analysis of existing data sources (analysis of the 100 car data set, critical incident interviews) and more experimental data collection using a driving simulator to establish the impact of internal and external hazards. This combination of methods will increase the accuracy of knowledge about hazards, and provide converging evidence of the importance of the identified hazards, underlying causes, and potential responses to mitigate risk. We conceive of driving skill, and especially risk assessment, as a form of tacit knowledge. As such, a training method effective in increasing tacit knowledge, namely scenario-based training, will be used to deliver risk assessment training in a web-based environment. Students will respond to the scenarios, and the system will provide immediate assessment and feedback on student responses.