01556850

Component

Adolescence is often seen as a period of higher risk-taking, which may contribute to the high rate of motor vehicle crash mortality among US adolescents. In Vehicle Driving Recorder (IVDR) technology is an increasingly popular research tool for objectively measuring risky driving. The participants (n = 106) in this study were a subsample of participants from wave 4 of the NEXT Generation Health Study, a nationally representative longitudinal study. A DriveCam Vehicle Event Recorder (VER) was installed in their personal cars. The VER contained, among other technologies, an accelerometer which measured longitudinal and lateral acceleration. The rate of extreme g-force events was recorded and a median split of this rate was used to create a dichotomous variable (high- vs. low-rate groups), which was the dependent variable in a logistic regression. The primary independent variable was alcohol use. When controlling for gender and mileage also included in the model, alcohol use was significantly [Odds ratio = 1.72, p <.05] associated with higher risk g-force events. Increased amounts of alcohol use were associated with a greater likelihood of being in the high g-force-rate group. With the use of a newly developed technology, these findings affirm previous reports that alcohol use and risky driving are associated, suggesting a common pattern of risk taking behavior among adolescents.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANB30 Operator Education and Regulation.

01550057

15-4523

English

9p

2015

Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting

Web

References (22) ; Tables

Adolescents; Alcohol use; Behavior; Crash characteristics; Fatalities; High risk drivers; Teenage drivers

Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2015 Paper #15-4523

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 30 2014 1:29PM