Hazard Perception in City and Highway Environments

Abstract

Hazard perception (HP) is an important aspect of driving performance and is associated with crash risk. In the current study, we investigate the effect of roadway environment (city vs. highway) and expertise on HP. HP was measured using HP clips that evaluated response lag (defined as the time from the participant’s response to the end of the clip) and fuzzy signal detection theory metrics of response criterion and sensitivity. Forty videos were used: 20 from highway environments and 20 from city environments. Forty-eight participants with a range of driving experience as assessed by the years since obtaining a license (less than 1 year to 24 years) completed the study. There were differences between city and highway environments in response lag and response bias; participants responded earlier to the hazards in the highway environment and exhibited a more liberal response bias. Driving experience was significantly correlated to response lag. When the video clips were categorized by environment, driving experience was only significantly correlated with performance for the city environment.