Relationship between perceptual style and driver reaction to an emergency situation

Abstract

PREVIOUS INVESTIGATORS HAVE FOUND LOW RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN HUMAN CHARACTERISTICS AND ACCIDENT BEHAVIOR PERHAPS DUE TO A NUMBER OF FACTORS INCLUDING INDISCRIMINATE GROUPING OF ACCIDENT AND CHOICE OF PREDICTORS WHICH HAVE NO LOGICAL RELATIONSHIP TO ACCIDENT BEHAVIOR. 20 DRIVERS WERE SUBJECTED TO A CONTROLLED EMERGENCY SITUATION IN AN UNPROGRAMED AUTOMOBILE SIMULATOR, WHERE A DUMMY PEDESTRIAN EMERGED FROM A SHED INTO THE PATH OF THE VEHICLE. SUBSEQUENT MEASUREMENTS OF INDIVIDUAL PERCEPTUAL STYLE, USING THE ROD AND FRAME TEST (RFT), WERE CORRELATED WITH EFFECTIVENESS OF REACTION TO THE EMERGENCY SITUATION. SERIES 3 OF THE RFT CORRELATED .67 WITH RT, .75 WITH DECELERATION RATE, AND .5 WITH A HIT-MISS CRITERION. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTUAL STYLE AND SIMULATOR DISCOMFORT RESULTED IN SHRUNKEN MULTIPLE CORRELATIONS OF .89-.95 DEPENDING ON THE DATA TRANSFORMATIONS. THE EXTRAPOLATION OF THE RESULTS TO REAL WORLD ACCIDENT BEHAVIOR HAS IMPLICATIONS WITH REGARD TO AGE, SEX, AND USE OF ALCOHOL BY DRIVERS. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)