Evaluation of Hazard Perception Tests and Development of Guidance

⁠⁠⁠SAG6410 – Psychometric Validation of Hazard Perception Tests Through User Testing

Purpose

The purpose of this project is to assess whether existing Australian Hazard Perception Tests (HPTs) genuinely measure drivers’ hazard perception ability—and not other attributes such as test-taking skill, reaction speed, or familiarity with video-based tasks—and whether they can reliably distinguish between drivers with higher and lower levels of hazard perception skill. This work will provide jurisdictions with evidence to refine test content and scoring mechanisms to more robustly identify and screen novice drivers with lower hazard perception skills.

Austroads seeks responses from appropriately experienced service providers to design and conduct a user testing study to support construct validity assessment through psychometric evaluation of light vehicle HPTs currently used in Australian Graduated Licensing Schemes (GLS).

This work forms a component of Austroads Project SAG6410 – Evaluation of Hazard Perception Tests and Development of Guidance and is intended to complement the completed predictive validity evaluation of the HPTs.

The project deliverables will be used by Austroads members and their specialised teams responsible for HPT management, deployment, and GLS policy.

Objective

The objective of this work is to design and deliver a rigorous, evidence-based user testing study that assesses the construct validity of light vehicle HPTs and provides practical insights into:

The extent to which observed responses align with theoretical hazard perception skill.

Implications for test administration and guidance.

Issue And Rationale

HPTs are a well-established component of Australian graduated licensing schemes. However, despite their long-standing use, no recent HPT user testing to assess construct validity has been carried out. To date, evaluation has focused primarily on downstream safety outcomes. As a result, there is limited empirical evidence confirming that observed test performance consistently reflects the intended construct of hazard perception skill.

This issue is compounded by the fact that there is no harmonised light-vehicle HPT across Australia. Jurisdictions use different test formats, content, instructions, scoring approaches, and administration settings. While harmonisation is not the immediate objective of this project, these differences raise questions about whether existing HPTs are measuring the same underlying capability in a consistent and defensible way. User testing focused on construct validity will, for the first time, provide direct evidence on whether current tests are functioning as intended. This work is therefore necessary to strengthen confidence in existing HPTs and to inform future guidance, refinement, or test administration decisions.

Project Overview

Background

Austroads project SAG6410 has undertaken a comprehensive evaluation of light vehicle HPT using linked data from multiple Australian jurisdictions. That work examined predictive validity, identifying relationships between HPT performance (pass/fail outcomes, number of attempts, and test scores where available) and subsequent crash and offence involvement.

While the data analysis provides evidence on predictive outcomes, it does not directly assess:

• How test takers understand and interpret hazard perception tasks.
• Whether test responses reflect the intended construct of “hazard perception skill”.
• How differences in test design, instructions, and interaction affect observed performance.

User testing is therefore required to:

• Examine construct validity, including whether test behaviour aligns with underlying hazard perception concepts.
• Identify the influence of test protocol factors (e.g. instructions, practice items, response modalities).
• Inform evidence-based refinement of HPT deployment and future test design.

This RFT focuses solely on user testing and experimental assessment of two sets of HPT video clips currently in use by Australian jurisdictions through participant recruitment and user testing.

The project has already produced a Literature Review on Hazard Perception Tests and will deliver a Best Practice Guideline on Hazard Perception Tests.

Also included as part of this tender are the following documents:

• Master Services Agreement outlining our Terms and Conditions.
• All submissions that are research project based must adhere to the Austroads style requirements and the Australian Government Style Manual.

Summary of Austroads Publication Requirements for Research Reports:

Consultants engaged to deliver research reports for Austroads are required to use a standard report template designed to ensure clarity, consistency, and accessibility across all published outputs.

 While the full template will be provided upon contract commencement, the following outlines the key requirements tenderers should be aware of:

General Formatting and Style

• Reports must follow the Australian Government Style Manual, particularly in relation to:
• Inclusive and accessible language.
• Grammar, punctuation, and capitalisation (e.g. sentence case for most headings).
• Referencing and attribution.
• Use pre-defined Austroads styles for all headings, body text, tables, figures, and captions. Manual formatting (e.g. changing fonts or colours directly) is not permitted.
• The Table of Contents must be auto generated and kept updated.
• The report should be:
• Logically structured: Each section must contribute to the report's purpose.
• Consistent: No conflicting information or contradictions.
• Thorough: All aspects of the agreed scope must be fully addressed and justified.

Content Development Guidelines

•  The Summary and Section 1 (Introduction) are mandatory for all reports.
•  Reports must include appropriate referencing for external sources, data, and studies.
•  Any copyrighted material used must have documented permission and be properly acknowledged.
•  A qualified editor must review the report before submission to ensure correct grammar, spelling, and readability.

Figures and Tables

All figures and tables must:

• Be sequentially numbered.
• Include a clear caption inserted using the Microsoft Word Insert Caption tool.
• Images and diagrams must be clear, relevant, and referred to in the text.

Technical Details

Specific instructions are included for each section within the template (e.g. expected content, structure, and formatting).

Reports must avoid "style corruption" often caused by copying and pasting formatted text—authors must verify styles remain consistent with Austroads' format.

Reports should be reviewed to ensure there is no duplication, ambiguity, or omission of scope elements.

All submissions are to be submitted as a PDF at a maximum size of 10MB.

All submissions are to include a completed Tender Proposal Coversheet.

The naming convention for submissions is: [your Company name] – [Project No.] – [any internal reference numbers].