Clinical Utility of the DriveFocus™ Intervention on Young Drivers With and Without Experience

Abstract

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Introduction: The DriveFocus™ intervention addresses the ability of young drivers to detect and respond to critical roadway information. DriveFocus is an interactive video-based tablet application that teaches users how to detect and prioritize critical roadway items. However, young drivers with and without experience may respond differently to the intervention.Objectives: We compared the simulated driving performance of two 17 year-old licensed drivers with (novice) and without (learner) driving experience, after three (post-test 1) and six (post-test 2) intervention sessions.Methods: We collected clinical, driving performance (number of visual scanning, adjustment to stimuli, and total driving errors) and acceptability data.Results: The learner driver made more visual scanning, adjustment to stimuli and total errors when compared to the novice. Both participants exhibited a decrease in both types and number of driving errors from baseline to post-test 2 and the learner also made less driving errors at post-test 1. Both participants rated the perceived ease of use of the intervention favorably.Conclusions: This study lays the foundation to examine the impact of the DriveFocus™ intervention among novice and more experienced young drivers.

Keywords

• adolescents
• young drivers
• driving simulation
• hazard perception
• DriveFocus™