As is common in developed countries worldwide, in Australia, including Western Australia (WA), young novice drivers are substantially over-represented in road crash and injury statistics compared to more experienced drivers.
While young age can contribute to this inflated risk, the major contributing factor is inexperience. Measures that seek to address this inexperience include driver education and training programs and graduated driver licensing initiatives, which operate in the context of other regulatory systems, such as Police enforcement and laws regulating the purchase and consumption of alcohol.
The WA Office of Road Safety commissioned the Monash University Accident Research Centre to review these systems, to determine current WA policies and practices and to make recommendations for the WA context.
Published and unpublished literature were reviewed and a series of consultations undertaken with key agencies and individuals. The present document reports on the findings of these activities. Programs specified as a focus were the Road Aware Pre-Drivers initiative and the Youth Driver Development Program, in addition to the new Graduated Driver Training and Licensing system.
Evaluations of all three initiatives have been commissioned and are currently in progress. Notwithstanding the need to monitor the findings of these evaluations and make revisions accordingly, a range of recommendations are made in each of the three key areas, that is, driver training, licensing and other young driver regulatory systems.
As is common in developed countries worldwide, young drivers are among the most vulnerable road users in Australian jurisdictions, including Western Australia (WA), particularly during the first few months of unsupervised driving.
While they represent only a minor proportion of licensed drivers, they are substantially more likely to be involved in fatal and injury crashes than experienced drivers. At least two out of every three fatalities of 17-20 year olds in WA occur as occupants of motor vehicles, primarily as drivers. The high crash risk of young drivers reflects the effects of both youth and inexperience; however, inexperience is by far the main contributing factor.
Crash rates have been shown to drop dramatically with increased driving mileage, and drivers delaying licensure to older ages have been found to have a similarly increased crash risk during the first 12 months of unsupervised driving.
The great majority of crashes are attributable to under-developed cognitive-perceptual skills and over-estimation of ability coupled with underestimation of risk. Intentional risk-taking can also play a role, although is not considered to be a contributing factor in the majority of cases.
In order to address the over-representation of young drivers in WA fatal and serious injury crashes, the Road Safety Council and the Government of WA introduced the new Graduated Driver Training and Licensing (GDT&L) system in February 2002. The Road Aware Pre- Drivers program was also introduced in September 2002 to be offered across the state, and runs parallel to the Youth Driver Development Program (YDDP), which is being extended from its single location in Bunbury.
The overriding objective of these programs is improved attitudes and safer road user behaviours. Evaluations of all three programs are currently underway. Notwithstanding these initiatives, it is recognised that there is still the potential to revise current systems or to introduce new initiatives to enhance or complement the current GDT&L system based on ‘best-practice’ recommendations in the road safety literature.
On this basis, the Office of Road Safety commissioned the Monash University Accident Research Centre to undertake a review of national and international literature on young driver training, licensing and regulatory systems and to make recommendations for the WA context. This report details the findings of the review, with a focus on systems relevant to car-related driving (only) in the context of everyday driving.
Included is an assessment of the current situation in WA, based on consultations with WA authorities and key individuals and the documentation and materials they provided. A number of recommendations are made for WA in light of the findings based on the road safety literature regarding ‘best practice’.