# Improving Novice Driver Roadway Hazard Identification Through a Parent-Focused Intervention

> **NIH NIH K99** · UNIVERSITY OF IOWA · 2022 · $100,156

## Abstract

Project Summary
Teen drivers are three times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than adult drivers. Several factors
contribute to increased crash risk among novice teen drivers, including distracted driving, inexperience,
heightened risk taking, and an underdeveloped ability to identify potential roadway hazards. Potential hazards
refer to emerging threats on or near the roadway (e.g., the car in front of you braking suddenly due to a
pedestrian darting into traffic) which may or may not evolve into an actual hazard or crash. Experienced drivers
quickly identify and respond to potential hazards with little to no effortful cognition. Novice drivers need
repeated experience in the perception of hazards to effectively identify and respond to potential hazards, yet
fail to develop this skill during the learner phase of licensure. We hypothesize that this experience can be
hastened with specific parental guidance. As primary supervisors and teachers during the learner phase of
licensure, parents are well positioned to teach their children to identify latent hazards in the driving
environment. However, research on driving supervision indicates this type of instruction is almost completely
absent. The overall goal of the current project is to improve parental instruction and practice surrounding these
events. The first aim of this proposal is to describe parent-teen conversations about hazard identification and
mitigation while parents and teens jointly engage in a perceptual/adaptive learning module – a hazard
anticipation training program delivered via video. We hypothesize that parents will vary in how they scaffold
teens’ ability to correctly identify and perceive hazards according to individual differences in teen temperament,
parenting style, and family communication pattern. The second aim seeks to develop a hazard anticipation
training program to teach parents to better communicate with their children about identifying potential hazards
on the roadway. To this end we will modify an existing training program, designed to help drivers anticipate
hazards on the roadway, to help improve parents’ communication related to these events. For the third and
final aim, we will test the impact of the intervention in a state-of-the-art driving simulator, the NADS-1. We
hypothesize that compared to controls, parents exposed to the intervention will show improved high-order
driving instruction - applicable to the current and future driving environment. We also hypothesize that teens of
parents exposed to the intervention the will look to and respond to potential hazards on the roadway more
quickly and reliably than those assigned to the control. My graduate training in parent-child communication, my
MPH which trained me in population-level primary prevention, and my postdoctoral fellowship in simulation
research have prepared me to begin this interdisciplinary research. This K99/R01 award will equip me with the
necessary training and skills in interve...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10390343
- **Project number:** 5K99HD102588-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
- **Principal Investigator:** Elizabeth O'Neal
- **Activity code:** K99 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $100,156
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-04-09 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10390343

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10390343, Improving Novice Driver Roadway Hazard Identification Through a Parent-Focused Intervention (5K99HD102588-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10390343. Licensed CC0.

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