Subjective and Objective Comparisons of Successful and Unsuccessful Trainee Drivers

Abstract

Twenty-two men were tested at weekly intervals during their 5 weeks' course of instruction in bus-driving. The use of the vehicle's controls and time taken over a standard circuit in traffic were recorded at each test, and the trainees' reserve capacity was measured by scoring their performance on a subsidiary auditory task. Details were available of previous driving experience with other vehicles and the trainees were also subjectively assessed at weekly progress checks given by experienced examiners The object was to compare scores obtained by trainees who passed the independent driving test for Public Service Vehicles, given at the end of their course, with the scores of those who failed. Success on the P.S.V. test was significantly related to previous experience of any kind (p= 0-004), and to the result of the progress check given after 14 days' training (p =0.0002). The reserve capacity of the successful group was significantly greater than that of the unsuccessful, at the first test given on the 7th day (p< 0.025). At no stage during training could the two groups be discriminated on the objective measurements made directly on driving performance. The relative merits of these methods of assessing driving potential are briefly discussed, with a view to the design of simple selection tests for professional drivers.