Young adults are consistently over-represented among those injured or killed in traffic accidents. Risky driving behaviours such as speeding, driving when fatigued, and driving under the influence of alcohol are often implicated in these crashes. In an effort to shed light on these road safety problems, considerable research has been devoted to examining the driving patterns and behaviours of this age group, as well as the situational, structural and legal factors that influence their driving behaviour.
However, much less is known about the earlier circumstances or factors in young drivers’ lives that may have influenced their current driving behaviour. This report presents findings from the ATP Young Drivers Study – a collaboration between the Australian Institute of Family Studies, the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV), and the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) of Victoria.
The study used data gathered over the course of the Australian Temperament Project (ATP) to identify factors associated with, and pathways to, three different types of problematic driving behaviour (risky driving, crash involvement and speeding offences) among a large sample of young drivers aged 19 to 20 years. The report also examined the learner driver experiences and driving behaviours of these young adults, and the association between unsafe driving behaviours and other problem behaviours (substance use and antisocial behaviour). This Executive Summary highlights some of the most important findings emerging from this report.
This report of the ATP Young Drivers Study is the product of a collaborative partnership between the Australian Institute of Family Studies, the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) and the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) of Victoria. The collaboration commenced in 2002 when the RACV and TAC commissioned the Institute to collect and analyse data concerning the nature and development of driving behaviour among a large group of Victorian young adults (aged 19-20 years) who were participating in the Australian Temperament Project (ATP). The RACV and TAC worked in close partnership with the Institute during all phases of the project, including the preparation of measurement instruments, determining the nature of the analyses undertaken, the interpretation of study findings, and the preparation of this report.
This report provides valuable new information relating to young adults’ own reported driving behaviour and their experiences when learning to drive, as well as providing a detailed examination of factors, past and present, which may have contributed to their current driving behaviour. It is hoped that this information will be used to increase understanding of the factors that place a young person at risk of becoming involved in a crash, committing traffic violations, and/or engaging in “risky” driving practices and, in turn, inform road safety programs aimed at preventing young people from engaging in potentially dangerous driving behaviours.
Research concerning young novice drivers is now briefly reviewed.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the leading cause of death among young Australians aged between 15 and 24 years is injury, and transport accidents account for more injury-related deaths than any other cause (ABS 2003). Within Australia, young drivers are significantly over-represented among those killed or injured in road traffic accidents (Cavallo and Triggs 1996; Dunsire and Baldwin 1999; Palamara et al. 2001; TAC 2003). For example, in the State of Victoria, young drivers aged 18 to 25 years accounted for 28 per cent of all drivers killed in 2002, despite the fact that they represented only 14 per cent of the licenced population (TAC 2003). Crash involvement is particularly high for young novice drivers, with the TAC (2003) reporting that young Victorians are almost four times more likely to be involved in fatal or serious injury crashes during their first year of driving than more experienced drivers.
This trend for disproportionately high levels of crash involvement among young drivers is not unique to Australia. The same phenomenon has been observed in many other industrialised countries or regions including the United States, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Europe (Begg and Langley 2000; Clarke et al. 2002; Engström et al. 2003; Laapotti et al. 2001; Shope et al. 2001).
Considerable research has focused on the crash patterns of young adults and the situational factors associated with crash involvement among this group. However, much less is known about the circumstances, characteristics or factors in young drivers’ earlier lives that may have contributed to their later risky or dangerous driving behaviour (Engström et al. 2003; Shope et al. 2001). While acknowledging the important influence of situational (such as traffic conditions, time-of-day), structural (such as road design, road conditions), and community (such as norms/laws regarding driving behaviour, enforcement of road laws) factors on driving behaviour, this report aims to address this research deficit by primarily focusing on young driver characteristics such as their past and present individual attributes, and features of their current and earlier family and social environments.
As noted, there is an over-representation of young drivers in road traffic accidents. A number of studies suggest that the crashes that young people are involved in tend to be different from those of other age groups. To provide some background on the nature of these differences, a brief review of some of these characteristics now follows.
Young inexperienced drivers are over-represented in most types of crashes but particularly single-vehicle crashes (Cavallo and Triggs 1996; Clarke et al. 2002; Engström et al. 2003, Palamara et al. 2001; TAC 2003). These crashes typically involve a single vehicle colliding with a fixed object (such as a tree or pole), or rolling over. More than half of 18 to 25 year-old drivers killed on Victorian roads in 2002 were involved in a crash of this type (TAC 2003). Young men are more likely to be involved in crashes resulting from excessive speed, whereas inadequate driving skills are more likely to play a causal role in crashes involving young women (Cavallo and Triggs 1996; Triggs and Smith 1996).