Situation awareness in young novice ambulance drivers: so much more than driving

The wicked problem of young novice driver road crashes, and the critical role of emergency responders in attending crashes, is well-recognised. What is less well-recognised is that emergency responders may be young novice drivers and young novice ambulance drivers. This project explored the situation awareness (SA) demands upon young novice ambulance drivers in Queensland through a synthesis of relevant literature, hierarchical task analysis (HTA) to explicate the complex emergency dispatch/response system, and perceptual exploration of drivers’ SA. The findings reveal a plethora of opportunities for inadequate SA to negatively impact the road safety of drivers, patients, and other road users.