Preventing Transportation-Related Injuries

The Role of Personality and Social Cognition in Teen Risky Driving

Project Director/Lead Investigator: Nancy Rhodes, PhD

Teen drivers account for a disproportionate number of fatal crashes, and teen passengers of teen drivers are also at risk. Young male drivers have the highest risk of crashes, and their crashes tend to involve higher speed than those of young female drivers, and are thus more likely to cause serious injury or death. Research investigating teen risk behavior has suggested that exogenous variables that represent stable differences between individuals such as sex, sensation seeking, and gender role socialization, predispose individuals to behave in more or less risky ways. The proposed exploratory research will add to knowledge of adolescent risky behavior by identifying the social cognitive variables, specifically focusing on attitudes, norms, and perceived control, that mediate the relationship between individual differences and risky driving behavior. Then, beliefs that differentiate teen drivers who engage in risky driving from teens who do not will be identified. Identifying these beliefs will set the stage for a future work designed to validate interventions targeting individuals whose characteristics put them at elevated risk of engaging in risky driving. The proposed work is designed to reduce the social and economic burden of teen traffic crashes by conducting foundational research on the psychological underpinnings of teen risky driving. The results of this research will lead to the development and testing of social marketing techniques to prevent teen crashes.

Medication Use and Motor Vehicle Collisions Among Older Drivers

Project Director/Lead Investigator: Gerald McGwin, Jr, MS, PhD

The proposed study seeks to evaluate the association between prescription and non-prescription medication use and at-fault MVC risk among older drivers, and to evaluate several secondary outcomes of interest including all MVCs, regardless of fault, and self-reported near miss MVCs. Much of the research regarding these relationships was conducted over a decade ago and focused on a limited group of medications. Since that time there have been meaningful changes in the type and pattern of medication utilization among older adults. The proposed research is an exploratory analysis of a wide range of medications among a cohort of older drivers in order to enhance understanding of the risks associated with previously under-researched medications as well as evaluate the safety of newer versions of medications that have been previously shown to be a safety concern. The specific questions to be addressed in this study are: (1) Are medications with the potential to impact psychomotor, visual, and cognitive abilities associated with the risk of at-fault MVC involvement among older adults?; (2) Is the use of multiple medications associated with the risk of at-fault MVC involvement among older adults?; and (3) If so, what specific combinations of medications are responsible for this risk? Prior research suggests that medications of potential interest include those with hypnotic, sedative, and anxiolytic properties such as benzodiazepines, opioids, and antidepressants. With the exception of benzodiazepines, there is little research regarding the effect of these medications on MVC involvement. Non-prescription medications may have these same properties, and there exists little research to guide clinicians and older drivers on possible hazards posed by such commonly used medications. The prevalence of multiple medication use among older adults is high, and it may only be when used in combination with other medications or in patients with certain medical conditions that adverse effects become apparent. Though the majority of research of public policy in this area has focused on medications that place drivers at increased risk of MVC involvement, we recognize the potential that some medications may actually improve driving performance and thereby reduce MVC risk. The findings of this research will provide a foundation for more detailed and focused work specifically on those medications identified as being the greatest safety threats and could provide the basis for development of useful screening tests for driver licensure in the future.

Teaching Young Children Pedestrian Safety Skills in Virtual Reality

Project Director/Lead Investigator: David C. Schwebel, PhD

Pedestrian injuries are among the leading causes of pediatric injury and mortality in American children ages 5-6, but existing behavior-oriented interventions achieve only modest success. One limitation to existing interventions is that they fail to provide children with the repeated practice needed to develop the complex perceptual and cognitive skills required for safe pedestrian activity. Virtual reality (VR) offers a highly promising technique to train young children in pedestrian safety skills. VR permits repeated unsupervised practice without risk of injury; automated feedback to children on success or failure in crossings; adjustment of traffic flow (density) and speed to match children’s skill level; and an appealing and fun environment for training. The proposed research project is designed to test the efficacy of virtual reality as a tool to train young children in safe street-crossing behavior. A randomized control trial will be conducted with four equal-sized groups of children ages 5-6 (total N = 240). One group will receive training in a virtual pedestrian environment. The virtual environment, already developed via a previously ICRC-supported effort, has been demonstrated to have face, construct, and convergent validity. The second group will receive pedestrian safety training via computer-based strategies that are most widely used in American schools today. The third group will receive what is judged to be the most efficacious treatment currently available, individualized behavioral training at streetside locations. The fourth and final group will serve as a no-contact comparison group. All participants in all groups will be exposed to a range of field- and laboratory-based measures of pedestrian skill during baseline and post-intervention visits, as well as during a six-month follow-up assessment. Primary analyses will be conducted through linear mixed models designed to test change in field-based pedestrian safety assessments over time in the intervention groups. We believe this project to be highly significant because it targets a major public health concern (pediatric pedestrian safety) using a novel and technologically-sophisticated strategy (virtual reality) with a randomized controlled trial design with three comparison groups. The project is consistent with the movement in public health to translate knowledge about etiology into empirically-driven and theoretically-motivated intervention programs that, if shown to be efficacious, may be disseminated widely to reduce injury-related morbidity and mortality. The study will result in a relatively inexpensive and replicable intervention to be useful in preventing significant morbidity and mortality from pediatric pedestrian injury.