User-controlled photographic animations, photograph-based questions, and questionnaires: Three Internet-based instruments for measuring drivers' risk-taking behavior

The Internet has been exploited successfully in the past as a medium for be havioral research. This paper presents a series of studies designed to asse ss Internet-based measures of drivers' risk-taking behavior. First, we comp ared responses from an Internet sample with a traditional pencil-and-paper sample using established questionnaire measures of risk taking. No signific ant differences were found. Second, we assessed the validity of new Interne t-based instruments, involving photographs and photographic animations, tha t measured speed, gap acceptance, and passing. Responses were found to refl ect known demographic patterns of actual behavior to some degree. Also, a r oadside survey of speeds was carried out at the locations depicted in the p hotographic measure of speeding and, with certain exceptions, differences b etween the two appeared to be constant. Third, a between-subject experiment al manipulation involving the photographic animation measure of gap accepta nce was used to demonstrate one application of these techniques.