Careless but also clueless? hazard perception skills of young adolescent cyclists Dr. Divera Twisk 2 April, Dublin conference RSA Dublin 1
Why this study? 1. Adolescent brain development may make road accidents unavoidable 2. Cycling is promoted to combat obesity, air pollution, congestion, and global warming 3. Cycling is hip and trendy
Three main questions 1. Is there a road safety problem? 2. What are contributing factors? 3. Which interventions are effective? Traffic education A safe road system
Puberty independence travel further away from home Adolescent changes and mortality Crash & severity
Natural & Unnatural death by age 60 50 40 30 20 Disease Other non-natural Other Accidents Road Crashes 10 0 0" 1-4 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 5
(Road) mortality by gender 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Other non-natural Other Accidents Road Crashes 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Females Males
Over represented in any type of risk behaviour
Changes &mobility patterns? Adolescent development Independent & further away from home with friends From the safe backseat vulnerable as cyclist of moped rider High exposure to risk Crashes & severity
Changes: inexperience and motivations Adolescent development Independent & further away from home with friends From the safe backseat vulnerable as cyclist of moped rider Inexperienced High exposure to risk Risk behaviour Task complexity Crashes & severity
Inexperienced/motivations & education? Adolescent development Independent & further away from home with friends Traffic education From the safe backseat vulnerable as cyclist of moped rider Inexperienced Risk behaviour High exposure to risk Task complexity Crashes & severity
An example voettekst 11
Road user to blame Victim Errors Violations Wagenaar, W. & Reason, J. (1990). Types and tokens in road accident causation. Ergonomics, 33(10-11. High task demand driver Cyclist poor hazard perception Skills. Cyclist not given priority: violation/error. Cyclist overlooked: laps.
Two programmes Two different perspectives Deliberate risky behaviour Lack of experience Two different didactical approaches Increase risk awareness Train simple rules of thumb Two effects Increase risk awareness does NOT help Rules of thumb DO help 14
No effect on tasks in real traffic Simple Complex 15
Simple Complex 16
Results Identification of blind spot location improves Safe behaviour in complex traffic does not improve Before the training only 0% showed safe behaviour in real traffic After the course this rose marginally to 10 % 17
An unsafe road environment? Adolescent development Independent & further away from home From the safe backseat vulnerable as cyclist of moped rider Inexperienced High exposure to risk Risk behaviour The road environment Task complexity Crashes & severity
An example: voettekst 19
Road infrastructure and road environment Legal framework, licensing and enforcement Vehicle Road user Other road users Errors Violations Mixing vulnerable road users with high mass vehicles Mirrors not compulsory. Priority rules not safe Poor view. High injury potential Wagenaar, W. & Reason, J. (1990). Types and tokens in road accident causation. Ergonomics, 33(10-11. High task demand driver Cyclist poor hazard perception Skills. Cyclist not given priority: violation/error. Cyclist overlooked: laps.
Other measures Extra mirrors lorries -40% Cycle airbag -40% Underride protection -35%
Intervention: a safe traffic system? Adolescent development Independent & further away from home From the safe backseat vulnerable as cyclist of moped rider Inexperienced High exposure to risk Risk behaviour The road environment Task complexity Crashes & severity Safe traffic system
Summary Road traffic is one of the prime causes of death among youngsters This starts as young as the age of 10 Young cyclists are inexperienced in complex traffic Learning requires effective education programmes Evaluation of programmes is essential Judgement based on intuitions are not good enough Education may be good, safe road systems are probably even better www.swov.nl