1PHASE 1 PREREQUISITE FOR A LEARNER’S LICENCE

At-Risk Behaviours

Please note that the driving school instructor may use a different presentation to teach this module.

2AT-RISK BEHAVIOUR

Outline of Module 4

• Activity: Risk Taking: Positive and Negative Aspects

• Driving: A Complex Activity

• Activity: Risk Factors

• Risk-Increasing Factors

• Waking Up to Risk

• Driver-Environment-Vehicle (DEV)

• Reminder: Learner’s Licence Test

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Targeted Competency

• Recognizing the personal characteristics that can influence one’s behavior as a prospective driver

• Identifying the factors that increase risk while driving

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Risk Taking: Positive and Negative Aspects

Instructions (individually)

Take five minutes to answer the following question

• Is it sometimes good to take risks on the road or elsewhere (in sports, for example)?

‒ If so, why?

‒ If not, why not?

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Risk Taking: Positive and Negative Aspects

Positive Aspects‒ Facing up to fears

‒ Experiencing intense sensations

‒ Taking up a challenge

‒ Being up to the task

‒ Testing your strengths and limitations

‒ Increasing your self-esteem and confidence

‒ Being acknowledged by a group of friends

‒ Relieving stress

Negative Aspects‒ Putting someone’s life on the line

(yours or another person’s)

‒ Experiencing physical and mental suffering

‒ Causing physical and mental suffering to family and friends

‒ Having to live with legal consequences (loss of your licence, seizure of your vehicle, criminal record, demerit points, etc.)

‒ Having to live with financial consequences (loss of employment income, fines, penalties, etc.)

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DVD De héros à zéro[from hero to zero]

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Driving: A Complex Activity

• The brain cannot perform two tasks simultaneously. Rather, it works on them alternately, but does it so fast we have the illusion of doing the two simultaneously

• Doing two things at once considerably reduces our level of concentration and affects our performance. For example, you may find it difficult to say the alphabet backwards while listening to a conversation, but driving while talking on a cell phone is equally as difficult!

• Most drivers underestimate the demands of driving and overestimate their ability at the wheel

Driving a vehicle requires attention and vigilance at every moment!

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Driving: A Complex Activity (cont.)

• Driving requires the use of a number of skills: psychomotor (coordination), perceptual (vision, hearing, etc.), cognitive (judgment, anticipation, attention)

• The road system is complex, with different types of drivers, vehicles and environments: this diversity requires that drivers process large quantities of information and constantly make adjustments

• Because it is such a complex task, the various factors that influence driving constitute potential risks

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Activity: Risk Factors

Instructions (in teams)

On the Bristol board, illustrate or describe factors that can increase risk on the road (the factors in question may relate to the driver, the vehicle or the environment)

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Risk-Increasing Factors

Driver Environment Vehicle

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Risk-Increasing FactorsDriver Environment Vehicle

Age

Sex

Temperament/personality

Beliefs, values, motivations, attitudes, associations

Driving experience

Distractions (internal)

At-risk behaviours (speeding, alcohol, drugs, fatigue, failing to wear a seat belt, etc.)

Road users

Weather conditions

Road conditions

Day of the week and time of day

Distractions (external)

Type of road

Condition of the vehicle

Characteristics of the vehicle

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The Driver

• As many as 80% of road accidents are caused by human behaviour and could be prevented

• Driver limitations are usually the most critical risk factors on the road, more so than vehicle limitations or road conditions

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Age-Related Risk Factors

Young drivers‒ High risk tolerance

‒ Overestimation of abilities and underestimation of the complexity of driving

‒ Driving in difficult circumstances (at night, with several people in the vehicle, after a long evening, with a high level of fatigue, etc.)

‒ Peer influence: dares, wishing to be up to the situation and to fit in with a circle of friends

‒ Lifestyle: busy schedule (work, studies, leisure activities, driving course = fatigue and stress), alcohol and/or drug consumption

Obviously, not all young people show at-risk behaviour behind the wheel!

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Drivers Killed in an Accident in QuébecBy Age Group, 2012

17,1

9,6

4,8

2,83,3 3,5

5,1

0,0

2,0

4,0

6,0

8,0

10,0

12,0

14,0

16,0

18,0

15-19 20-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+

Rate per 100,000 licence holders

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Drivers Involved in a Fatal Accident in QuébecBy Age Group, 2012

30,7

22,0

13,4

8,8 9,5 9,7 10,2

0,0

5,0

10,0

15,0

20,0

25,0

30,0

35,0

16-19 20-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+

Rate per 100,000 licence holders

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Comparison of Men and Women Drivers

More offences and accidents

Reason for driving: pleasure

More cautious

Greater fear of being injured or killed in an accident

Reason for driving: getting from point A to point B

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Traffic Accident Deaths in CanadaBy Sex and Age, 2000-2005

Source: Traffic Injury Research Foundation, 2008

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Age 16 Age 17 Age 18 Age 19

Passengers Drivers

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Age 16 Age 17 Age 18 Age 19

Passengers Driv ers

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Other Risk Factors

Driver inexperience

• Beginning driver = At-risk driver

Temperament/Personality

• Aggressiveness, impulsiveness, emotional control, etc.

Distractions (internal)

• Emotions, stress, etc.

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Other Risk Factors (cont.)

At-risk behaviours

• Speed

‒ Time constraints, pleasure of driving fast, ignorance of risk

• Impaired driving

‒ Alcohol, drugs, medication, fatigue, distractions (cell phone, keeping an eye on a child in the back seat, searching for something, etc.), lack of sleep

• Failing to wear a seat belt

‒ If you are involved in an accident and are not wearing your seat belt, you may be ejected from your vehicle and run a greater risk of being injured when you hit the ground, of being run over by your own vehicle or hit by another vehicle, or of slamming into a street lamp or telephone pole, etc.

‒ Failing to wear a seat belt is often associated with other dangerous road behaviour (speeding, alcohol)

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Waking Up to Risk

1. Recognizing risk

2. Avoiding risk

3. Dealing with situations of risk

The earlier I recognize risks, the better I can avoid them!

How?

By thinking about my capacity to drive, the condition of my vehicle and the environment

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References

• Road Access Binder

• Driving a Passenger Vehicle

• Driver’s Handbook

• Review exercises