title: Does early training improve driving skills of young novice French drivers?
abstract: The aim of this research was to study drivers' performances and divided attention depending on their initial training. The performances of young novice drivers who received early training, traditionally trained drivers and more experienced drivers were compared during a dual task consisting of a simulated car-following task and a number' parity judgment task. It was expected that, due to their limited driving experience, the young novice drivers would have more difficulty in adequately distributing their attention between the two tasks. Poorer performances by novice drivers than experienced drivers were therefore expected. The results indicate that traditionally trained drivers had more difficulties in speed regulation and maintaining their position in the lane than drivers with early training and experienced drivers. Performance impairment linked to driving inexperience was also found in the secondary task. The results were interpreted regarding the attentional resources involved in driving with a secondary task and supported the positive effects of French early training.
authors.affiliation: IFSTTAR, TS2, LMA, F-13300 Salon de Provence, France; CNRS, LPL - National Center for Scientific Research (Laboratoire Parole & Langage - UMR 7309), 5 Avenue Pasteur, 13100 Aix en Provence, France; Laboratoire ICONES (Psychologie et neurosciences: Intégration COgnitive, du NEurone à la Société) (EA 4966), Département de psychologie, UFR des sciences de l'homme et de la société, Université de Rouen, rue Lavoisier, 76821 Mont-Saint-Aignan cedex, France. Electronic address: chloe.freydier@lpl-aix.fr.
authors.forename: Chloé
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Freydier
authors.affiliation: IFSTTAR, TS2, LMA, F-13300 Salon de Provence, France. Electronic address: catherine.berthelon@ifsttar.fr.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Berthelon
authors.affiliation: CNRS, LPL - National Center for Scientific Research (Laboratoire Parole & Langage - UMR 7309), 5 Avenue Pasteur, 13100 Aix en Provence, France. Electronic address: mireille.bastien@univ-amu.fr.
authors.forename: Mireille
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bastien-Toniazzo
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000193:education*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Distraction; Divided attention; Driver training; Novice driver; Simulation