Operator Experience and Accident Risk

It has long been recognized that the risk of operating motor vehicles declines as operator experience increases, even when operator age is deconfounded. In this paper, causal analyses of accidents involving all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) are reviewed in order to explore the role of experience in accident patterns. Factor attributions made by evaluators from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission were sorted according to the reported ATV experience of the person operating each vehicle at the time of an accident. Counter to some expectations, the proportion of accidents attributed at least in part to each major category (e.g., operator, mechanical, or environmental factors) did not change appreciably with operator experience. In addition, most of the proportions attributed to each of a series of possible operator-related factors did not change, with several generally expected exceptions. Implications for understanding and reducing accidents are considered.