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The Driving Exposure of Learner and Provisional Drivers: Insight from an App-Based Study

Young drivers persist as a major public health problem due to their over-involvement in road crashes in which they and other road users are injured. In Queensland, Australia, young drivers have to progress through a graduated driver licensing (GDL) program. A Learner licence can be gained at age 16 years, and Learners are required to record 100 hours of supervised driving practice in a logbook before they can undertake a practical driving test to determine if they are ready to progress to for independent driving. While logbooks record some information regarding the Learner’s driving exposure, such as suburb, time of day, and distance driven, much remains unknown regarding their driving exposure during this period. Upon passing the practical driving assessment, young drivers advance to a Provisional 1 (P1) licence. The authors know P1 drivers are overrepresented in crashes, especially in the first 6 months of independent driving, but much remains unknown regarding their driving exposure during this time. The specific aims of the research program are to: (1) Explore the driving exposure of young drivers when they have held their Learner licence for approximately 10 months and will soon be undertaking the practical driving test. (2) Explore the driving exposure of young drivers for six months after they have progressed to a P1 licence. (3) Explore parent involvement after the young driver has progressed to a P1 licence. Thirty learner drivers, and their parents, will participate in the longitudinal study (currently n=15). Young drivers are provided with a Samsung smartphone, in-car 12V charger, a phone cradle, and a hand towel to cover the phone when not in use, so that the phone remains unobtrusively in the car throughout the longitudinal study. The phone has two pre-installed apps, and the young driver will follow a 4-week cycle throughout the life of the project. The young driver will activate the Driving App before they commence every journey, and stop the Driving App at the end of every journey, throughout the minimum 7-month project. Before commencing every journey during week 1 only of the 4-week cycle, the young driver will complete the Happy App sharing information such as their current mood, the purpose of their journey, and passenger number and relationship to the driver. During the P1 phase of the study, parents will also complete the Happy App, noting their perception regarding the young driver and their journey. At each milestone (baseline, progression to P1 licence, completion of study), young drivers and parents will complete an online survey exploring sociodemographics (e.g., age, gender), driving experience (e.g., licence, crash and offence history), and personal characteristics such as mental health and sensation seeking propensity. Crash statistics and the peer-reviewed literature consistently finds that young driver crash risk is heightened by factors relating to their driving exposure, such as driving at night, driving with friends, driving at excess speed, and driving for social purposes. This highly innovative study captures longitudinal data relating not only to the learner phase and the provisional phase, but through the transition period from supervised to unsupervised driving. In addition, characteristics that cannot be captured through telematics devices, such as the purpose of the trip and how the young driver is feeling, is being captured through the safer supervised period, then the subsequent high risk driving period. The data collected through this pilot project will be able to inform further research within this domain, and will be able to guide the development, implementation and evaluation of exposure-related interventions for young novice drivers.

  • Supplemental Notes:
    • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANB30 Standing Committee on Operator Education and Regulation.
  • Authors:
    • Scott-Parker, Bridie
    • Hansen, Nick
  • Conference:
  • Date: 2018

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: Figures;
  • Pagination: 3p

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01663043
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: 18-03510
  • Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
  • Created Date: Mar 20 2018 5:08PM