Overload depending on driving experience and situation complexity: Which strategies faced with a pedestrian crossing?
DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2015.06.014
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Summary
This study investigates how driving experience and situation complexity influence subjective workload and driving performance when young drivers encounter unexpected pedestrian crossings. Motivated by high accident rates among novice drivers and the prevalence of pedestrian-related fatalities, the research aims to identify which avoidance strategies are most effective under varying levels of cognitive load. The authors hypothesize that high temporal pressure, combined with complex situations and low experience, increases workload and impairs performance, leading to higher collision rates. The experiment utilized a fixed-base driving simulator with 57 young drivers divided into four experience groups: traditionally trained novices, early-trained novices (with additional supervised practice), drivers at the end of their three-year probationary period, and experienced drivers (five+ years). Participants navigated three scenarios of increasing complexity: simple (straight road, no traffic), moderately complex (curves), and very complex (sharp curves, oncoming traffic). Each scenario included unexpected pedestrian crossings. Researchers measured subjective workload using the NASA-TLX questionnaire and objective performance via reaction times, avoidance strategies (braking, swerving, combining, or anticipating), and collision counts. Statistical analyses, including polynomial regressions and mediation tests, were conducted to determine the relationships between these variables. Results indicated that both increased situation complexity and lack of driving experience significantly raised subjective workload. Early-trained novices reported the highest workload, followed by traditionally trained novices, probationary drivers, and experienced drivers. While strategy choice did not vary significantly by group or situation, the effectiveness of strategies differed. Swerving was consistently the most effective avoidance maneuver, even with delayed reaction times, whereas braking alone resulted in higher collision rates, particularly in complex situations. Reaction times were longest for early-trained drivers. Crucially, mediation analysis revealed that situation complexity and driving experience influenced collision rates indirectly through subjective workload; higher workload led to more collisions, especially for novice drivers who relied on less effective braking strategies. Experienced drivers showed fewer collisions in moderate complexity but slightly more in simple situations, likely due to reduced vigilance in monotonous environments. The study concludes that driving overload is driven by the interaction of environmental complexity and driver experience, with novice drivers being most susceptible to performance degradation. It highlights that swerving is a more effective emergency response than braking, regardless of reaction time delays. These findings suggest that driver training programs should focus on improving hazard anticipation and promoting effective avoidance maneuvers like swerving, rather than relying solely on braking. Additionally, the results imply that early training programs may not sufficiently prepare novices for sudden hazards compared to the automation gained through three years of post-license experience.
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| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | Crossref | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-25 |
| archive | success | unpaywall | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-26 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-26 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
| chunk | success | chunk | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
| enrich | failed | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-25 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 6 | 2026-06-26 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-26; verification: verified.
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- Empirical Findings: behavioral performance data
- Theoretical Contribution: theory or model, computational model