Driving in fog: The effects of driving experience and visibility on speed compensation and hazard avoidance

Inexperience is one of the strongest predictors for collisions, but it remains unclear how novice drivers differ from experienced drivers in terms of safety-related behavioural adaptations such as speed reduction in the presence of reduced visibility. To investigate the influence of driving experience on behavioural compensations to fog, average speed, speed variability, steering variability, collision rate, and hazard response time were measured in a driving simulator. Experienced drivers drove faster in clear visibility than novice drivers, yet they reduced their speed more in reduced visibility so that both groups drove at the same speed in simulated fog. Compared to experienced drivers, novice drivers had higher hazard response times, greater speed and steering variability, and were the only drivers to have collisions.

► Investigates effects of driving experience and visibility on driving behaviour.
► Drivers can reduce their speed in poor visibility to lower their risk of collision.
► Experienced drivers reduced their speed more to fog than novice drivers.
► Only experienced drivers safely avoided hazards at the speed they reduce to in fog.
► Novice drivers had the longest hazard response times and the most collisions.