History

Despite significant improvements in recent years, young drivers aged 18 to 25 years remain over-represented in road accidents in Australia and overseas. Research has shown that the acquisition of cognitive driving skills is a crucial factor in reducing their accident involvement. The cognitive skills considered most critical include:

• risk perception;
• attentional control; and
• time-sharing.

These skills are normally acquired through on-road experience, taking several years to develop. Unfortunately, many young drivers are killed or seriously injured in the course of acquiring them.

In 1995 the Transport Accident Commission sponsored the design and construction of two driving simulators. One of these was designated to function as a research simulator within the Accident Research Centre, providing the basis for a fundamental research program on driver performance.

Two identical driving simulators were built in 1995. One was stationary and based at Monash University, Clayton. The second one was mobile. The mobile simulator was used to collect data on young driver performance.

The fixed simulator was primarily used for experimental design, much less for actual data collection. In 1997 the mobile simulator was sold and only the fixed simulator was used at the Centre.