Citation

Moffie DJ, Symmes A, Milton CR. Highw. Res. Board bull. 1952; 60: 17-24.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1952, National Research Council (U.S.A.), Highway Research Board)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A driver training school was established at North Carolina State College for training tractor-trailer truck drivers. Psychological research was one of the aims of the training program. The research program used interviews, psychological testing, psychological paper-and-pencil tests, and accident follow-up to show the relationship between psychological tests and tractor-trailer driver performance. The study resulted in the following conclusion: (1) accident rates, even though determined on the basis of miles driven per accident, continued to follow the poisson distribution implying that correctional indices need to be interpreted with caution, (2) safe drivers tend to be more tense, less self-sufficient, less dominent, as shown by the bernreuter personality inventory, and these same trends are demonstrated on the mmpi test (hypochondriasis and hysteria scale) even though differences were not shown to be statistically significant, (3) safe drivers tend to make higher scores on the bennett mechanical comprehension test, and (4) the first 6 months of driving experience appears to be a learning period because of the high incidence of accident rates.