Understanding Driving: Applying Cognitive Psychology to a Complex Everyday Task. John A.Groeger. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press, 2000. ISBN 0‐415‐18752‐4.

Understanding Driving: Applying Cognitive Psychology to a Complex Everyday Task. John A. Groeger. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press, 2000. ISBN 0-415-18752-4. Melvin D. Shipp, School of Optometry, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama Are you looking for a well-written, comprehensive text on the sensory and motor aspects of driving? Would you like a book that links human factors research and driving performance? If the answer to either, or both, of these questions is “yes,” you should add Understanding Driving: Applying Cognitive Psychology to a Complex Everyday Task to your professional library. Although currently ubiquitous, driving is a recent phenomenon—progressing from fad status to a commonplace and essential daily activity in <100 years. However, this evolution has not been without peril. Traffic-crash fatalities are among the 10 leading causes of death in most industrialized countries. And, despite technological advances—seatbelt usage, speed limits, improved signage, etc.—traffic-crash related mortality and morbidity continue as significant public health challenges. The demographic characteristics of drivers are changing: drivers are aging, and the gap between the proportion of male and female drivers is decreasing. These changes will influence the nature of traffic-crash risks for all drivers. Although recent crash trends suggest an overall decline in U.S. traffic fatalities, as a group, older American drivers are experiencing higher crash-fatality rates than in the past. Importantly, the number of older American drivers is increasing. In this book, John A. Groeger assumes the daunting task of integrating theoretical and applied aspects of driving. He accomplishes this in a commendable fashion, using a mix of humor, anecdotes, historical information, and a comprehensive synthesis of the literature. He offers compelling evidence to support his contention that crash risks will increase over the next 10 to 20 years, primarily because of increased numbers of older drivers, despite projected increases in public transportation. The book begins with a discussion of the role of vision and driving. Various aspects of vision function—visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, color vision, and depth perception—are related to motion, speed, and estimation of time to collision. Importantly, the author discusses these aspects of vision function in the context of both age-related changes and gender. In subsequent chapters, nonvisual aspects of driving performance are discussed and contrasted. The chapters on perceptual-motor responses/skills, attention, automaticity, and distraction are particularly interesting, especially in light of recent debates on the dangers of cell phone use while driving. In support of the notion of increased future traffic-crash risk, Groeger describes the impact of neuropsychological deficits associated with aging and disease on driving performance. He also provides a comprehensive discussion of role of memory, hazard perception and assessment, and reaction time on safe driving. Importantly, two chapters are devoted to a review of current perspective on the potential for enhancing driving performance through instruction/training, and by increasing self-efficacy. The last chapter is of particular interest to researchers, and those interested in the integration of the sensory-motor and cognitive aspects of driving. Groeger's discussion of a four-faceted framework (r2 = 0.47) is particularly enlightening and is a useful theoretical model for future study of driving performance. Groeger concludes by challenging his psychology colleagues to “be more than bit-players” in the pursuit of a comprehensive theoretical model that explains and predicts driver behavior. This challenge is also appropriate for vision scientists, health policy researchers, and others interested in addressing this public health conundrum. Groeger has produced a concise and informative text. Except for a couple of confusing graphical illustrations, overall, this book is very user-friendly. It is well referenced with an extensive list of both contemporary and historical citations. This book should interest practicing clinicians, applied and basic scientists, and policy makers alike.