Behaviour Research and Therapy 45 (2007) 805–818 Driving fear and driving skills: Comparison between fearful a control samples using standardised on-road assessment Joanne E. Taylor a, , Frank P. Deane b , John V. Podd a a School of Psychology, Massey University, Private Bag 11-222, Palmerston North, New Zealand b Department of Psychology, Illawarra Institute for Mental Health, University of Wollongong, NSW2522, Wollongong, Australia Received 14 February 2006; received in revised form 30 June 2006; accepted 11 July 2006 Abstract The present study explores driving skills in a group of 50 media-recruited driving-fearful and 50 control drivers whom were women. Participants completed an on-road practical driving assessment with a professional driving Diagnostic as well as pre-post self-report and instructor driving assessments were conducted. Fearful drivers ma errors on the driving assessment than controls. However, the pattern of errors was identical for both groups, ind that fear and anxiety may be associated with the number rather than the type of driving errors made. These differences remained when factors such as driving history, currentdriving frequency, and diagnosis were controlled using case selection. More research is needed to replicate the findings in more diverse samples. Additional work should also clarify the specific role of driving skills in driving fear, which will facilitate treatment planning for exposure-based treatments and help identify cases where driving skills assessment may be appropriate. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Driving fear; Skill; Assessment Introduction Clinical understanding of driving fear and phobia has developed as research in this area has increas the last decade. A growing body of literature has examined fear reactions following motor vehicle acc including post-traumatic and phobic responses (for reviews, see Blanchard & Hickling, 1997; Taylor, D & Podd, 2002). Studies of non-clinical volunteers reporting driving fear reveal high levels of fear and s severity as well as diagnostic complexity in these samples ( Ehlers, Hofmann, Herda, & Roth, 1994; Ta Deane, 2000). In particular, problems with differential diagnosis have arisen because driving phobia h associated with a mixture of cognitions including fear of anxiety, external situations (such as accident embarrassment (Ehlers et al., 1994).The role of social anxiety as one focus of fear has since been found to include fear of one’s driving performance being criticised or negatively evaluated ( Taylor & Deane, 2000; Taylor, Deane, & Podd, in press). ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.com/locate/brat 0005-7967/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2006.07.007 Corresponding author. Tel.: +64 6 3505799x2065; fax: +64 6 3505673. E-mail addresses: J.E.Taylor@massey.ac.nz (J.E. Taylor), fdeane@uow.edu.au (F.P. Deane), J.V.Podd@massey.ac.nz (J.V. Podd