While virtually all of the identified problem types could be addressed through either education or training countermeasures, Table 9 prioritizes countermeasures on the basis for which countermeasure type is likely to be most successful. For example, seven of the 23 identified problem types involve driver inattention as the primary factor associated with crash occurrence. This factor can be most effectively addressed though an education countermeasure that has a public information campaign as a central focus. The general public should be informed of the relative size of this problem in the crash population, the crash types that result from inattention, relevant situational factors, and the specific types of inattention mechanisms that lead to crash occurrence.
Inattention is a pervasive problem among all age groups of both genders.
Relatively few of the crash-involved drivers in this sample appeared to be aware that removing attention from the driving task for even brief periods could result in crash involvement. Similarly, focusing on internal thoughts was noted in each of the identified problem types. This would be very difficult to detect because the drivers were typically looking forward and may have appeared to be attentive to other drivers or witnesses. Following the crash occurrence, most of the drivers who were focusing on internal thoughts expressed in increased awareness of the relative risk associated with this attention problem. A public information campaign focussing on these types of issues would increase the awareness levels of non-crash involved drivers.