| PSYCHOMETRIC TESTING Don't feel badly - I didn't know what psychometric testing was either when I first saw the word. It's something new that's being considered in the UK to try and identify people with the wrong driving attitude. I think it's a great idea. It's actually a psychological assessment to find the drivers who are most at risk, but apparently is only being considered for fleet drivers at this time. Along with the assessments will be a unique coaching course, workshops, and behind the wheel training based on drivers' behaviors. I really think it's an idea whose time has come. You can be quite sure airline pilots have to undergo rigorous training and psychological assessment, so why not drivers? But, you say, airline pilots are responsible for a few hundred people, while a car driver may only be responsible for perhaps half a dozen people. This is true of course, but also think of how crowded our roadways are, and all those people who managed to squeak through our rather simple, ten minute road test. Add to that the fact that no one has had any psychological testing, and you end up with a pretty scary situation. It certainly helps to explain the carnage and mayhem on our roads. It seems to me that almost everything comes down to money. We could put a halt to a lot of the horrific crashes and fatalities on our road ways if we were willing to spend the money for longer, improved road tests, more frequent testing, more rigorous testing, and psychological testing. But that all costs money; a great deal of money. Peak Performance is an award-winning company of driver safety specialists in the UK. Managing director James Sutherland says: “A driving based psychometric assessment can really get inside the mind of the driver and identify driving behaviours most likely to place him or her at risk, while specific driver coaching, be it in workshops or behind the wheel, can help modify or correct those attitudes and behaviours." Right on. Peak Performance, along with Cranfield University, have developed the Fleet Driver Risk Index (FDRI) which identifies, through their driving behaviors and attitude to risk-taking, those drivers likely to be at the highest risk while driving on company business. The FDRI is an online driving psychometric assessment designed to be taken by those company employees who regularly drive for work. Once the employee has completed the assessment – which takes approximately 30 minutes – a report is generated for each driver. The report: - identifies which employees are at a high risk of an accident - reveals the specific types of high risk behaviour that are contributing to the high risk for each individual - recommends the specific training course that aims to correct high risk behaviours and reducing the risk. All we have to do now is bring it to North America and make it applicable to the general public. I'm not going to hold my breath while I'm waiting. More safe driving tips can be found in my defensive driver course "Learn To Drive And Survive." Click on the link below: http://www.ultimate-driver-training.com/index.html Webmasters: if you would like to link to this article you can use the following URL: http://www.ultimate-driver-training.com/psychometric_testing.html
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