POLICE DRIVERS' VISUAL SEARCH IN HAZARDOUS SITUATIONS

Previous research at Nottingham University has described changes in drivers' visual search patterns during the transition from novice to experienced driver. Such changes were particularly notable when the driver was viewing and responding to hazardous situations. In such situations drivers reduced their spread of visual search and increased the time spent fixating on individual objects; moreover, this focusing effect was greater for novice than experienced drivers. It thus seems likely that experience with hazardous driving situations allows the driver to reduce this potentially dangerous focusing of attention. Police pursuit and response drivers regularly experience extremely hazardous driving situations. In the study reported in this paper, trained police drivers, matched experienced drivers, and a group of novice drivers all viewed a selection of films of driving situations, some of which came from actual police response drives, some from police pursuit situations, and some of which were control drives on the same roads. Physiological responses, subjective ratings, and eye movements were recorded from all driver types. The results extend our previous findings on visual search in hazardous situations as a function of traffic experience and have implications for the effectiveness of advanced driver training courses.(A) For the covering abstract see ITRD E116881.