Do self-reported concussions have cumulative or enduring effects on drivers’ anticipation of traffic hazards?

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the cumulative effect of multiple self-reported concussions and the enduring effect of concussion on drivers’ hazard perception ability. It was hypothesized: (1) that individuals reporting multiple previous concussions would be slower to anticipate traffic hazards than individuals reporting either one previous concussion or none; and (2) that individuals reporting a concussion within the past 3 months would be slower to anticipate traffic hazards than individuals reporting either an earlier concussion or no prior concussion.

Method: Two hundred and eighty-two predominantly young drivers (n_concussed = 68, M_age = 21.57 years, SD_age = 6.99 years, 66% female) completed a validated hazard perception test (HPT) and measures of emotional, cognitive, health and driving status.

Results: A one-way analysis of variance showed that there was no significant effect of concussion number on HPT response times. Similarly, pairwise comparisons showed no significant differences between the HPT response times of individuals reporting a concussion within the previous 3 months, individuals reporting an earlier concussion and the never concussed group.

Conclusion: The findings suggest that previous concussions do not adversely affect young drivers’ ability to anticipate traffic hazards; however, due to reliance on self-reports of concussion history, further prospective longitudinal research is needed.

Keywords:

• Brain concussion
• mild head injury
• fitness-to-drive
• automobile driving
• motor vehicles
• hazard perception skill

Acknowledgements

The research reported here is based on the Master of Clinical Psychology dissertation of the first author, submitted to Griffith University. The authors would like to thank Shu Yang Chen, Emilita Cornain, Phillip Gee, Kimberley McGregor, Zoie Nott and Felicia Tay for testing some of the participants. They thank Gina Geffen for providing advice on the study’s design. Finally, the authors thank Mark Wetton, Andrew Hill, Grant Devilly and Tim Cutmore for their comments on a draft of this manuscript.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.