Young Drivers

ACRS Policy Position

Young drivers under the age of 25 are the most vulnerable road users in Australia.   ACRS supports measures to better prepare new drivers before licensing and to enhance their capacity to consolidate driving skills under low risk conditions during the provisional licence period.   This includes:

• measures to encourage learner drivers to make the most effective use of the minimum (six months in most jurisdictions) learner permit period
• measures to encourage learner drivers to obtain at least 100 hours driving practice while holding a learner permit, in addition to any formal lessons, under a wide range of road, traffic and environmental conditions.   Such practice should be 'graduated' from simplest, least risky situations to begin with through to normal road and traffic conditions as competence is gained
• measures to provide resources and educational opportunities to parents, carers and learners to help them achieve the above goal
• measures to encourage parents and carers to take a pro-active role in helping learners to practice and gain constructive and directed driving experience
• measures to help all parties to understand that learning continues well past the award of a driver's licence
• measures to encourage motivation to drive safely rather than to take risks
• measures to improve safety during the provisional licence period.

Objective

To reduce the over-representation of young drivers in road trauma.

Discussion

Young drivers under the age of 25 are the most vulnerable road users in Australia.   They make up about one sixth of all drivers but close to one third of drivers killed. 

Presently available licensing and training methods have not succeeded in giving new drivers the skills that are believed to be most important for survival:   anticipation and judgement; the ability to observe, understand and make sense of the road and traffic environment, to make judgements and take the 'right' actions to overcome hazards.   Research suggests that this has much to do with the process of learning and the fact that it takes time and experience to develop the mental 'maps' of the road and traffic environment that permit the development of cognitive and perceptual skills.

Problems of learning to drive are exacerbated by the fact that young persons' ability to perceive and make correct judgements about risks and hazards is underdeveloped, and further that the teenage years are when young persons are more likely to take risks.

ACRS advocates that learner drivers and their supervisors and instructors make maximum use of statutory learner permit periods to obtain as much driving experience and practice as possible under controlled conditions in which the risks are reduced as much as possible.   The experience should be 'graduated' to more complex and demanding driving and traffic conditions as the learner gains experience, under as wide a range of driving conditions as possible. 

The range and depth of the experience to be obtained should be such that when the new driver obtains a provisional licence he or she will have already encountered and driven under all the conditions a driver can normally expect to meet.

The aim should be to actively and constructively prepare the learner for the point at which he or she will go 'solo' on obtaining a provisional licence, while getting across the idea that obtaining a licence is just the beginning of a lifetime learning process.

ACRS encourages the professional driver training industry to develop materials and resources to help parents and non professional supervisors to work in partnership with professional driver trainers in integrated and cooperative programs.

There is need for continued research into the driver learning process and the way in which driving skills, attitudes and motivation are acquired, and how to reduce the vulnerability of provisional licensees.   There is also a continuing need to identify and develop innovative programs and projects that effectively address young driver over-representation in road trauma, and to constantly re-evaluate them for effectiveness and in the light of new research.

Note:   This policy statement does not apply to motorcycle riders, for which different learning and licence acquisition requirements apply.