What Every Fleet Manager Ought to Know About The Psychology Of Bad Driving

Do you think you can tell the difference between a good and bad driver? There may be more to it than meets the eye.

In 1999, in the??Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, David Dunning and Justin Kruger published a paper that documented how, in many areas of life, incompetent people cannot recognise just how incompetent they are, a phenomenon that has come to be known as the Dunning-Kruger effect.

What's curious is that, in many cases, incompetence does not leave people disoriented, perplexed, or cautious. Instead, the incompetent are often blessed with an inappropriate confidence, buoyed by??something??that feels to them like knowledge.

This isn't just an armchair theory. A whole battery of studies have confirmed that people who don't know much about a given set of cognitive, technical, or social skills tend to grossly overestimate their prowess and performance, whether it's emotional intelligence, logical reasoning or safety.

We are talking about the human tendency to take more chances as the perception of risk declines. In other words, those drivers who acquire a false sense knowledge could start to take greater risks, which in turn could produce more accidents.

It is a safety factor that has been largely ignored in studies of highway safety. Here are the two telltale signs in drivers;

1. Attributing their near misses to a lack of ability in other drivers.
2. Overestimating their own skills

Many drivers believe they have above-average ability, and the more skilled they believe they are at something, the less likely it is to be true. ??The Dunning-Kruger effect is a tendency to be blind to one's own incompetence and it is often compounded by something psychologists call the fundamental attribution error ??? for drivers it is a failure to account for situational reasons as to why other drivers might get in their way or seem to act dangerously.

This manifests itself in the habit of attributing the mistakes of others to their personality or ability ("what an idiot!" , "what a terrible driver!"), while excusing their own errors as situational ("that bit of road is dangerous", "I had to drive that fast or I would have been late").

One interesting paradox is??that, even though some truck and van drivers are prone to dehumanising other drivers, they still act according to social status. Decades of research shows that prolonged tailgating and other aggressive behaviours are more likely if the aggressor believes they are the more important driver. What's particularly interesting is that these judgements can be based simply on the vehicles involved, with no knowledge of the person behind the wheel: trucks and vans generally outrank cars and newer more powerful trucks and vans trump older ones.

So what can you do to combat the Dunning-Kruger effect?

First of all you need to identify potential contradictions among your more experienced drivers i.e. any increases rather than reductions in the number of accidents after about five years on the job. Remember, overconfidence does not only affect new drivers. It can also distort the judgement of experienced drivers.

While training and education help drivers identify risks on the road, drivers with more experience may take risks because they think their experience reduces the risk of an accident. Consequently, you may want to consider spending more resources and attention to refresher training courses for all of your drivers.

Of course, no one likes to admit they are a bad driver, but you really are never too good to be a better driver - it's as simple as that. And that is where telematics can help.

Telematics data can actually show each driver how they currently operate their vehicles and what they can specifically do to operate them better. This factual driver feedback is critical for a fleet's strongest and weakest drivers and is most effectively shared in a positive reinforcement setting. ??Once you show your drivers that the data will help them, you'll get greater buy in on development plans based on fact rather than perception.

References

1. ??Rothengatter, T. (1997). "Psychological aspects of road user behavior.".??Applied Psychology: An International Review??46??(3): 223???234.??doi:10.1111/j.1464-0597.1997.tb01227.x.
2. ^??Jump up to:^a??^b??^c??Goldenbeld, C.; Levelt, P. B. M.; Heidstra, J. (2000). "Psychological perspectives on changing driver attitude and behaviour.".??recherche-Transports-Securite??67: 65???81.??doi:10.1016/s0761-8980(00)90108-0.
3. ^??Jump up to:^a??^b??Regan, D. (1993). "Dissociation of Discrimination Thresholds for Time to Contact for Rate of Angular Expansion".??Vision Res.??33??(4): 447???462.??doi:10.1016/0042-6989(93)90252-r.??doi: 10.1016/0042-6989(93)90252-R
4. Jump up^??Groeger, J. A. (2000). Understanding driving: Applying cognitive psychology to a complex everyday task. Psychology Press.
5. Jump up^??Trick, L. M., Enns, J. T., Mills, J., & Vavrik, J. (2004).??Paying attention behind the wheel: A framework for studying the role of attention in driving. Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science, 5(5), 385-424.
6. Jump up^??Barjonet, P. (2001). Traffic psychology today. (1st ed., p. 4). Norwell, Massachusettes: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
7. Jump up^??Rothengatter and Groeger (1998-08-17).??"Traffic psychology and behaviour".??Science Direct. Retrieved??2013-03-13.
8. Jump up^??Human Factors in the Causation of Road Traffic Crashes Eleni Petridou and Maria Moustaki, European Journal of Epidemiology , Vol. 16, No. 9 (2000), pp. 819-826,??http://www.jstor.org/stable/3581952
9. Jump up^??Barjonet, P. E. (Hrsg). (2001). Traffic psychology today. Boston, London: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
10. Jump up^??Sullman, M., & Dorn, L. (2012). Advances in traffic psychology: Human factors in Road and rail transport.
11. Jump up^??Cacciabue, P. C. (2007). Modeling driver behaviour in automotive environments: Critical issues in driver interactions with intelligent transport systems.
12. Jump up^??Shinar, D. (1978). Psychology on the road: The human factor in traffic safety. (1st ed.). Berkshire, United Kingdom: Transport Research Laboratory.
13. Jump up^??Taoka, George T. (March 1989).??"Brake Reaction Times of Unalerted Drivers".??ITE Journal??59??(3): 19???21.
14. ^??Jump up to:^a??^b??Porter, B. E. (Ed.). (2011). Handbook of traffic psychology. Academic Press.
15. Jump up^??Translating cognitive neuroscience to the driver's operational environment: A neuroergonomic approach. Lees, Monica N.; Cosman, Joshua D.; Lee, John D.; Fricke, Nicola; Rizzo, Matthew The American Journal of Psychology, Vol 123(4), 2010, 391-411.
16. Jump up^??Association of Driver Rehabilitation Specialists: Driver Rehabilitation Specialist Certification Exam fact sheet (www.driver-ed.org/public/articles/index.cfm?Cat=10)
17. Jump up^??Assesing and Counseling Older Drivers??http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/olddrive/olderdriversbook/pages/Chapter5.html#Anchor-4%20T-22329

18. Kruger, Justin and Dunning, David. (1999).Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments.??Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(6):1121-1134. doi:1037/0022-3514.77.6.1121