“a maccas on the left… something on the right”: the influence of emotions and passengers upon young driver situation awareness
Keywords: Hazard Perception, Driver Risk, Distraction & Inattention, Young Drivers
ACRS
Submission Date: 2018 Conference: ARSC
Abstract
A breadth of driving experience-related factors (eg., situation awareness skills, SAS), driving exposure-related factors (eg., friends as passengers) and age-related factors (eg., strong emotions) have been found to increase the crash risk of young drivers. The influence of passengers and emotions upon the SAS of 73 drivers aged 17-24 years with a Provisional 1 licence was explored in a cave simulator. Passengers and emotions negatively impacted upon SAS through operationalisation of a surface understanding of the driving environment, rather than a deeper understanding of the nature and mechanisms of driving hazards evident when driving alone and without experiencing strong emotions.