Effect of variable priority training on police officer driving performance and workload

Abstract

Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of police injuries and deaths in line of duty. These crashes have been mainly attributed to the use of in-vehicle technologies while driving. Police officers receive extensive training on driving skills; however, limited training is provided on the use of in-vehicle technologies. Variable priority training (VPT) is a computer-based training that has shown promising results in improving multi-tasking performance. Eighteen police officers participated in a driving simulation study to assess the effect of VPT on officers’ performance and workload. Findings suggested that although VPT was effective in improving officers’ performance in dual and multi-task simulations across the training sessions, this effect was not generally transferred to driving. However, the VPT might be effective for training of high-demand situations involving pursuit driving and multiple secondary tasks. The findings can be beneficial for police agencies to improve training protocols.

Practitioner summary: A driving simulation study was conducted to assess the effect of a computer-based training approach on police officers’ driving performance and cognitive workload. The findings suggested that the proposed training approach might be effective for training of high-demand situations involving pursuit driving and multi-tasking.

Keywords:

• Training
• driving
• police
• workload
• multi-tasking

Acknowledgments

The opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Texas A&M University.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This project was funded in part by Texas A&M Triads for Transformation (T3) research grant.