Effects of a PC-Based Attention Maintenance Training Program on Driver Behavior Can Last Up to Four Months: Simulator Study

There are numerous reports in the literature of an increase in crash risk associated with the performance of a secondary in-vehicle task while driving. Recently, it has been shown that the excessively long glances away from the forward roadway are the primary cause of the crashes that occur while the driver performs in-vehicle tasks. Driver training has proved successful over the short term in teaching novice drivers to limit the duration of their glances inside the vehicle, both in a driving simulator and on the open road. However, it is not known how well such training would work for novice drivers over the longer term. It is also not known whether training both the novice driver and his or her parent would have a positive impact over the long term. This driving simulator study was designed to address these questions. Half of the parent–teenager driver dyads received PC-based forward concentration and attention learning training while the other half completed placebo training. Eye tracking was used to measure in-vehicle glances at secondary tasks while participants navigated drives on a simulator. It was found that training had an effect on novice drivers over the short and long term and that trained novice drivers had glance patterns indistinguishable from those of their experienced parents at the end of 4 months.