Reducing Crashes and Injuries among Young Drivers: What Kind of Prevention Should We Be Focusing On?

Young drivers throughout the world run a high risk of being killed or injured in traffic accidents, and this problem is still largely unsolved. Better understanding of the underlying processes could be useful in preventive endeavors. To change a young driver’s goals behind driving and the context in which it is done, a variety of both "soft" and "hard" methods should be used. For example, communication and increased enforcement may be used simultaneously. Communication campaigns should target young males in particular and should highlight the dangers of unsafe behavior. Communication campaigns that employ persuasive, emotional messages are most effective with young drivers. Research shows that attitudes about safety are formed long before legal driving age, and therefore it would be important to target young adolescents. Laws need enforcement to be effective and should target areas of particular risk to young drivers. Driver education or communication campaigns cannot be expected to radically change a young person’s life goals. For that purpose, active learning methods that make use of the learner’s own experiences have to be applied. Courses for young drivers, either in the regular school system or in driving schools, designed to make individuals conscious of their personal tendencies and the type of social context that affects their driving behavior could be a useful intervention for reducing crashes and injuries among young drivers.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/13538047
• Authors:
  • Berg, H-Y
• Publication Date: 2006-6

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 15-18
• Serial:
  • Injury Prevention
  • Volume: 12
  • Issue Number: Supplement I
  • Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
  • ISSN: 1353-8047
  • EISSN: 1475-5785
  • Serial URL: http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Adolescents; Behavior; Behavior modification; Communication; Crash injuries; Driver education; Learning; Personality; Safety campaigns; Social factors; Teenage drivers; Traffic crashes; Traffic law enforcement; Traffic safety; Traffic safety education
• Uncontrolled Terms: Interventions
• Subject Areas: Education and Training; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Society; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01031720
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 5 2006 7:48AM