Day, M., Thompson, A., Poulter, D. et al. (2 more authors) (2018) Why do drivers become safer over the first three months of driving? A longitudinal qualitative study. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 117. pp. 225-231. ISSN 0001-4575
Abstract
Drivers are at high crash risk when they begin independent driving, with liability decreasing steeply over the first three months. Their behavioural development, and other changes underlying improved safety are not well understood. We adopted an innovative longitudinal qualitative design, with thirteen newly qualified drivers completing a total of 36 semi-structured interviews, one, two and three months after acquiring a full UK driving license. The interviews probed high-risk factors for new drivers, as well as allowing space for generating novel road safety issues. Analysis adopted a dual deductive and inductive interpretative thematic approach, identifying three super-ordinate themes: (1) Improvements in car control skills and situation awareness; (2) A reduction in the thrill of taking risks when driving against a background of generally increasing driving speed; (3) Early concerns about their social status in the eyes of other road users during the early stages of driving, which may put pressure on them to drive faster than they felt comfortable with. The study provides important new leads towards understanding how novice driving becomes safer over the first few months of driving, including how well-studied concepts of driving skill and style may change during development of independent driving, and bringing the less rigorously studied concept of social status into focus.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY/4.0/). |
Keywords: | automobile driving; risk-taking; young adults; novice drivers; qualitative; longitudinal |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Psychology (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL MR/N011198/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 11 Apr 2018 09:55 |
Last Modified: | 22 May 2018 09:32 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2018.04.007 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.aap.2018.04.007 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:129383 |