APPENDIX D
DVD Rating Instructions/
DVD Rating Form

Washington Traffic Safety Commission
TACT pilot project

Instructions for DVD Raters

Thank you for agreeing to help the TACT pilot project by rating interactions between semi trucks and other vehicles. This rater’s kit includes a DVD and a set of sheets for your responses. Please keep them together and return them as a unit when you are done.

The DVD contains 99 scenes of interactions between a designated vehicle, marked by a yellow arrow () at the opening of the scene, and a semi truck (tractor-trailer, pole truck, tanker truck, etc.) in front of the camera car. Please note that the designated vehicle may be any vehicle type including a semi truck. Therefore, you may be rating a semi truck as the designated vehicle interacting with another semi truck.

The DVD menus have scenes numbered from 1 to 99 in groups of 25, and this book contains a separate numbered sheet for each scene. There are also several blank response sheets at the back of the book that you can use if one of the response forms is missing or damaged. In this case, please be sure to write your rater number (from the front of the book) and the scene number you are rating at the top of the blank form.

Please rate the scenes in numerical order from 1 to 99. You may start and stop rating as many times as you want, but please do not confer with anyone about your ratings. A few Post-It notes have been included in the book for you to use as place markers when you take breaks.

Inserting the DVD will take you to the main menu. It contains four choices—Scenes 1-25, Scenes 26-50, Scenes 51-75 and Scenes 76-99. Clicking on one of these choices will open another menu with the individual scene numbers and a choice to return to the Main Menu.

To play a scene, just click on the number of the scene (with the mouse if you’re using a computer or the remote if it’s a DVD player) and the scene will start. At the end of the scene, you will be returned to the sub-menu that includes that scene number. It is OK to watch a scene more than once. However, once you complete rating a scene, move on to the next highest numbered scene. Do not go back and re-rate an earlier scene.

The response form is the same for each scene and consists of 10 items. The first seven items relate to the behavior of the driver of the designated vehicle (the vehicle identified with the yellow arrow). The last three items address the behavior of the driver of the semi truck.

In items 1-4, please circle the number on each dimension that best indicates how close your assessment is to the concepts at each end of the five-point scale. For example, if you were asked how much you liked chocolate ice cream and you liked it, but it is not your favorite, you might select a “4” on the following scale and circle it as follows:

The four dimensions in the scales in questions 1-4 are:

• Low crash risk/High crash risk – What is the likelihood that the behavior of the driver of the designated vehicle could result in a crash between his vehicle and the semi truck, or among any other vehicles in the scene?
• Unintentional/Intentional – To what extent did the driver of the designated vehicle plan to act as shown, or were his behaviors forced by some outside factor (i.e. by other drivers, roadway design, etc.)?
• Legal/Illegal – To what extent was the behavior of the driver of the designated vehicle legal or illegal?
• Defensive/Intimidating – To what extent was the driver of the designated vehicle acting in a defensive/self-protective or intimidating manner?

For Questions 5, 6 and 7, please mark an “X” or a   for the one category that best expresses your opinion with respect to the driver of the designated vehicle after you view the scene.

For Questions 8, 9 and 10, please mark an “X” or a for the one category that best expresses your opinion with respect to the driver of the semi truck after you view the scene.

There are no wrong or right answers. We want your impressions based on the information that is available in the scenes. We know that some of them may be hard to see because of weather, lighting or the camera angle. Please do your best. We would prefer that you provided a rating on each item for each scene and did not leave anything blank. Just give your best impression from the available information.

If you have any additional comments on a scene, please write them directly on the form or on the back if you need extra room.

When you have completed your ratings of the 99 scenes, please return the entire rating package to:

Dr. Philip Salzberg
Research Director
Washington Traffic Safety Commission
1000 S. Cherry Street
P.O. Box 40944
Olympia , WA 98504

We would appreciate receiving your ratings by January 4, 2006.

Many Thanks!

Before Starting

Please check which group of raters you are affiliated with:

Washington Patrol ______

Trucking Association ______

WTSC ______

DVD Rating Form

Rater #1

Scene 1

In this section you will be evaluating the behavior of the designated vehicle’s driver.

Circle the number between each word pair that you believe best describes the behavior of the designated vehicle’s driver.

5. Which of the following best summarizes the behavior of the designated vehicle’s driver?
Select one.

6. Would you characterize the designated vehicle’s driver as aggressive? Select one.

Definitely_____      Probably _____      Probably not _____      Definitely not _____

7. Should a police officer stop the designated vehicle’s driver? Select one.

Yes ____      No ____

In this section you will be evaluating the behavior of the semi truck’s driver.

8. Which of the following best summarizes the behavior of the semi truck’s driver? Select one.

9. Would you characterize the semi truck’s driver as aggressive? Select one.

Definitely_____      Probably _____      Probably not _____      Definitely not _____

10. Should a police officer stop the semi truck that was involved? Select one.

Yes ____      No ____