A new hazard test for HGV drivers

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
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Can you help us develop our assessment and training tools?

With thanks to the moderators for allowing this post

At Nottingham Trent University, we are currently running a project developing new assessments of HGV driver skill, with a view to better targeting training needs of new drivers. To do this, we create our tests and then seek to get lots of drivers to have a go at them to gather feedback and scores. It would be of great help to our research if you can spare 15 mins to undertake either of our tests (or even both).

Our first test is hazard perception with a twist. We believe the DVSA hazard test is a poor assessment of HGV drivers’ abilities, and we hope we have designed something more relevant to the typical HGV driver, and with a fairer scoring method. Our second test is a traffic light test for HGV drivers (would you go through this amber light?). Both tests are best viewed from a laptop or PC rather than a mobile device. The hazard test gives you a score that you can compare with your friends and colleagues.

Both tests are for HGV drivers only (from newbies to old hands). If you are not an HGV driver but want a sneaky peek, you can still click on the link. All we ask is that when the study asks you to create a username, simply type in the word “test”. This will allow us to remove your data from the other HGV drivers’ data prior to analysis.

Please note, we are not assessing you - we are actually assessing the tests. If you are an excellent driver, but perform poorly on our tests, then this means we’ve got our tests wrong! This is why we need your expertise.

Please do feel free to comment or ask questions. I will do my best to answer, though please forgive any delays in response due to current workload obligations. Feel free to post your hazard score in the comments but please do not post any comments that refer directly to the content of the clips. Unfortunately, if someone comments on one of the clips, this can affect the way other people do the test and will produce biased results.

To access one or both of the tests please find the links below:

The HGV Hazard Prediction Test
https://ntupsychology.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5sVTjtEnwRnbrjE

The HGV Traffic Light Test
ntupsychology.eu.qualtrics.com/ … xCjOBcgObk

Thank you for reading this far, and I hope you find the tests interesting.

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This topic has been OK’ed by Admin, dd.

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I would have taken the test but i cannot be bothered to fill in all the questions you ask.

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I’ll have a go in next couple of days when I have time. I’m curious to know, though, how you will determine the difference between a good driver who performs badly and a bad driver who claims he is good!

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Tailschwing:
I’ll have a go in next couple of days when I have time. I’m curious to know, though, how you will determine the difference between a good driver who performs badly and a bad driver who claims he is good!

A bad driver who claims he is good? 99.9% of drivers then.
I`ll have a go later…

be good to get the 0.1% in the results too.

5

Very interesting. Enjoyed the first one. Traffic light one is a bit tedious, and difficult to ascertain what you would do looking at it on a screen. The load you’re carrying might have an impact too… a half full liquid tanker might not be so keen on stopping as an empty one. And before I get shot down in flames, yes I know we should only be driving at a speed from which we can safely stop.

6

Franglais:

Tailschwing:
I’ll have a go in next couple of days when I have time. I’m curious to know, though, how you will determine the difference between a good driver who performs badly and a bad driver who claims he is good!

A bad driver who claims he is good? 99.9% of drivers then.
I`ll have a go later…

be good to get the 0.1% in the results too.

Ha, you must be one of the few who agree with me on that one!

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I have not had a look at your test but I had plenty experience with the original hazard perception tests.
To me they are probably good for new drivers who are unlikely to know where to look for hazards but not so much for an experienced
driver. If I remember correctly the experienced drivers were the ones who tended to fail because they were seeing the hazards too early for the machine.
Then there was people telling students to wait till they see the hazard , count 1 2 then click. (Cheating!)

In my opinion there are drivers who are very good at spotting hazards and some that struggle a little bit
but of course when they do a test they are fully alert and concentrating. Unfortunately not always the case on the road.
That’s what needs fixing. :wink:

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Bin Man:
I would have taken the test but i cannot be bothered to fill in all the questions you ask.

Thanks for taking the time to look. The questions are a part of the research as they help us understand whether scores vary with any general driver characteristics.

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Tailschwing:
I’ll have a go in next couple of days when I have time. I’m curious to know, though, how you will determine the difference between a good driver who performs badly and a bad driver who claims he is good!

At this stage of the research we are looking for patterns in the data. For instance, if everyone gets all the hazards correct, then we have made the test too easy. Likewise, if no-one gets any answers correct, then we have made the test too hard. Thanks for looking at the tests and I hope we have persuaded you to have a go.

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grumpybum:
Very interesting. Enjoyed the first one. Traffic light one is a bit tedious, and difficult to ascertain what you would do looking at it on a screen. The load you’re carrying might have an impact too… a half full liquid tanker might not be so keen on stopping as an empty one. And before I get shot down in flames, yes I know we should only be driving at a speed from which we can safely stop.

Thanks for the feedback. The traffic light test involves more clips than it needs at this research stage. For a final test it should have fewer clips (and be - hopefully!- less tedious).

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jakethesnake:
I have not had a look at your test but I had plenty experience with the original hazard perception tests.
To me they are probably good for new drivers who are unlikely to know where to look for hazards but not so much for an experienced
driver. If I remember correctly the experienced drivers were the ones who tended to fail because they were seeing the hazards too early for the machine.
Then there was people telling students to wait till they see the hazard , count 1 2 then click. (Cheating!)

In my opinion there are drivers who are very good at spotting hazards and some that struggle a little bit
but of course when they do a test they are fully alert and concentrating. Unfortunately not always the case on the road.
That’s what needs fixing. :wink:

Two very good points that we both agree with. Our hazard test is different to the DVSA version - it doesn’t rely on scoring windows and response times so hopefully avoids the ‘pressing too early’ problem. You are right too that drivers are primed to spot hazards in a hazard test, unlike on the real roads. We can get around this (somewhat) by mixing clips from different tests together, so you don’t know what question you will be asked at the end of each clip. Inevitably however a driver knows that they are doing a test, and we cannot really avoid this problem.

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I’ll give it a go when i get a day off

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By adjusting for wrong questions asked by the testers, and averaging out the scores, I calculate my score at 109.90%.
I must have had an off day.
:smiley:
.
Not an onerous task, and if it helps, why not?

14

David Crundall:
At this stage of the research we are looking for patterns in the data. For instance, if everyone gets all the hazards correct, then we have made the test too easy. Likewise, if no-one gets any answers correct, then we have made the test too hard. Thanks for looking at the tests and I hope we have persuaded you to have a go.

Got 75%. I’ve never done a hazard perception test so I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking for but once I’d “tuned in” it didn’t seem too bad. I do feel that some of the answers though the hazard was so far away as to not be one in real life given the speeds being travelled, especially a couple where the only thing was a vehicle pulling out from a side road so far ahead that given the speed you were doing they’d have completed the manouvre without you having to even lift off the throttle.

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David Crundall:
We believe the DVSA hazard test is a poor assessment of HGV drivers’ abilities, and we hope we have designed something more relevant to the typical HGV driver

The people who haven’t seen the inside of a truck believe the people who don’t do any actual driving themselves can’t do a proper assessment of HGV drivers abilities. Interesting.

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I haven’t looked. Driving a truck is not a game, full-stop. Pixels on a screen is not the real-world and those who have never driven a truck should not feel they can assess the assessment.

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67% for me :blush:

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Noremac:
I haven’t looked. Driving a truck is not a game, full-stop. Pixels on a screen is not the real-world and those who have never driven a truck should not feel they can assess the assessment.

So how should new drivers be tested? give them the keys to a truck, or try some simulator first? What do pilots do?

19

stu675:
67% for me :blush:

46%. I suppose I’ll have to mail back my license to the dlva asap

20

David Crundall:

grumpybum:
Very interesting. Enjoyed the first one. Traffic light one is a bit tedious, and difficult to ascertain what you would do looking at it on a screen. The load you’re carrying might have an impact too… a half full liquid tanker might not be so keen on stopping as an empty one. And before I get shot down in flames, yes I know we should only be driving at a speed from which we can safely stop.

Thanks for the feedback. The traffic light test involves more clips than it needs at this research stage. For a final test it should have fewer clips (and be - hopefully!- less tedious).

Why do you not give a score for the traffic light one? surely you must have already decided what are the correct answers