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Crash statistics demonstrate that newly licensed teenage drivers face a high risk of crashing. Research efforts have been made to identify the underlying reasons. The literature reveals that novice drivers exhibit poor hazard anticipation skills. Hazard anticipation is not the only skill that is important when a hazardous situation arises; it is also important that the driver mitigate the potential hazard. For example, if a pedestrian steps off the crosswalk and stops after taking just one step, a driver might respond by placing his or her foot over the brake. Yet, if the pedestrian keeps walking and a collision appears imminent, the response necessary to avoid the crash might be to brake or steer sharply. In either situation, the ultimate goal is to reduce the probability of a crash by anticipating and mitigating the hazard. Currently it is not known what hazard mitigation strategies novice drivers have in their repertoire, or whether their hazard mitigation strategies actually reduce their likelihood of crashing. This dissertation will seek to address these gaps in our understanding. In two experiments, two groups of drivers were evaluated in potential hazard scenarios (no crash could occur) and crash scenarios (a crash could potentially occur). An understanding of behavior in potential hazard (no-crash) scenarios is important to identify the hazard mitigation strategies of drivers when they are not hypersensitive to crashes. In this study, drivers were exposed to infrequent potential hazards, which could develop into an immediate near-crash or crash situation. Near-crash events were infrequent to keep the drivers from becoming hypersensitive in crash scenarios and …