Research and Development

Over the last 20 years, the The Driving Centre has been seen as a 'university of driving'.

The centre's programs and training philosophy provide guests with skills at the very highest level and the right mental approach in order to control a car in motion.

In conjunction with Griffith University's Gold Coast Campus, The Driving Centre has undertaken its own research to investigate the links between good driving technique and overall car stability. We are also conducting research into the use of mobile phone's whilst driving. The Griffith University projects are in their final stages and results are expected within the coming months. We see these studies as the first steps in many future research programs to come.

The Griffith University's report summary written by Paul Treffner, Rod Barrett, Andrew Petersen from Griffith University and Russell White formerly of The Driving Centre, on active stabilisation and perceptual sensitivity in safe driving stated;

“We examined the relation existing between postural stability, perceptual sensitivity, and stability of driving performance. Using a specially instrumented vehicle, we quantified differences in driving behaviour between untrained experienced drivers and trained instructors from The Driving Centre. Using a variety of everyday manoeuvres, results indicated that The Driving Centre instructors found a different cornering trajectory, a different emergency braking strategy, and were able to perform a high-speed swerve and recovery task more effectively than experienced drivers. Importantly, instructors applied greater bracing forces using the door and console compared with experienced drivers. They also applied greater footrest forces during emergency braking than did experienced drivers. The greater use of bracing by instructors to resist g-forces represents a strategy of active stabilisation and may enhance both postural stability and overall stability and consistency of driving performance. Results are discussed with regard to recent developments in the theory of dynamical systems and human motor control, especially the dynamics of perceptual-motor coordination and how increased stability can improve sensitivity to relevant perceptual information. Theoretically motivated driver-training programs such as that of The Driving Centre should be encouraged. Because they focus on the fundamental technique of increasing dynamic stability as a means of surreptitiously increasing perceptual awareness during driving, principled driver-training programs have the potential to dramatically improve road safety in general.”

Paul Treffner, Rod Barrett and Andrew Petersen have also conducted another study in conjunction with The Driving Centre.

This study investigated the biomechanical and attentional demands of driving while using a hands-free mobile phone under the realistic conditions of driving on a closed-circuit track. Results show that during cornering, controlled braking, and obstacle avoidance, perceptual control of action is degraded when compared to control conditions where mobile phone conversation is absent. Interpretation of the results is motivated by ecological psychology's theory of affordances and suggests that it is a driver's direct perception of which actions the road affords that is compromised when simultaneously speaking using a mobile phone.