Provisional drivers' perceptions of the impact of displaying P plates

An exploratory study of parent acceptance of sanctions for driving offenses committed by their children

OBJECTIVE

Graduated driver licensing (GDL) systems are effective at reducing young driver crashes but rely on active parental involvement. However, some parents may accept sanctions (e.g., demerit points, monetary fines) for traffic offenses committed by their children, leading to experiences of punishment avoidance by young drivers. This aim of this exploratory study was to investigate several demographic and psychosocial influences that could possibly be associated with parent acceptance of sanctions.

METHOD

An online survey was completed by parents of young drivers (N = 149, M = 48.88 years, SD = 4.76 years; female = 86%) from 3 Australian states. The survey included measures of sociodemographic characteristics and driving history (e.g., crash involvement), socioeconomic status, parenting style, knowledge of their child's driving behavior, perceptions of their ability to manage their child's driving, attitudes toward GDL, and previous or potential acceptance of demerit points or payment of fines for road offenses committed by their child.

RESULTS

Twenty-nine percent of parents had accepted or would accept a sanction on behalf of their child. Number of children overall, number of children licensed, and household income were associated with parent acceptance of a sanction. Parenting style, attitude toward GDL restrictions, parent confidence in their knowledge of GDL restrictions and ability to manage their child's driving, and belief that their child would follow rules were not associated with (non)acceptance of a sanction.

CONCLUSIONS

These exploratory findings suggest that family size and income may be important influences on parent acceptance of sanctions on behalf of their offending children. The findings related to the psychosocial variables are discussed considering other research and the limitations of the study.

Intentions and willingness to engage in risky driving behaviour among high school adolescents: evaluating the bstreetsmart road safety programme

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the impact of a road safety programme on adolescents' willingness to engage in risky behaviour as probationary drivers, adjusted for covariates of interest.

METHOD

The bstreetsmart is a road safety programme delivered to around 25 000 adolescent students annually in New South Wales. Using a smartphone-based app, student and teacher participation incentives, students were surveyed before and after programme attendance. Mixed-methods linear regression analysed pre/post-modified Behaviour of Young Novice Driver (BYNDS_M) scores.

RESULTS

2360 and 1260 students completed pre-event and post-event surveys, respectively. Post-event BYNDS_M scores were around three points lower than pre-event scores (-2.99, 95% CI -3.418 to -2.466), indicating reduced intention to engage in risky driving behaviours. Covariates associated with higher stated intentions of risky driving were exposure to risky driving as a passenger (1.21, 95% CI 0.622 to 2.011) and identifying as non-binary gender (2.48, 95% CI 1.879 to 4.085), adjusting for other predictors.

CONCLUSIONS

Trauma-informed, reality-based injury prevention programmes can be effective in changing short-term stated intentions to engage in risky driving, among a pre-independent driving student population. The adolescent novice driver age group is historically challenging to engage, and injury prevention action must be multipronged to address the many factors influencing their behaviour.

Traffic offending and deterrence: An examination of recidivism amongst drivers in Victoria, Australia born prior to 1975

To deter the performance of illegal driving behaviours, traffic infringement notices may be issued. Whilst there is a substantial body of research that has examined rates of reoffending following a traffic infringement, there have been few studies examining the length of time to next traffic offence. Where this research has been conducted, the findings do not provide current understandings, given the substantial changes in traffic sanctioning over time. The aim of this study was to address this gap, by examining risk factors for recidivism following a driver receiving a traffic infringement notice, as well as the time to next traffic offence. Licensing and infringements data held in the Driver Licensing System (DLS), maintained by the road authority in Victoria, Australia were used. All drivers included in the study were born prior to 1975, and received their first Victorian drivers licence between 1994 and 2016. Data from 203,620 drivers were used. Cox proportional hazards modelling was undertaken to examine factors associated with recidivism within 12 months of receiving a traffic infringement. 131,691 (64.7%) drivers had received at least one traffic infringement in Victoria, Australia since receiving their Victorian driver's licence. Factors found to be associated with longer time to further traffic offending in the year that followed the first infringement included being female; receiving a first Victorian driver's licence when aged 45+ years; and being licenced 10+ years. Traffic infringements deter some groups of Victorian drivers, but not others. If drivers are to be deterred from further illegal driving behaviour, it is important other countermeasures are developed and trialled.

Novice drivers’ experiences of parental encouragement with road rules in Queensland: Scope for a third party policing approach?

This study explored whether a third party policing approach is appropriate for increasing young driver compliance with graduated driver licensing restrictions. Focus groups (n = 3) and semi-structured interviews (n = 24) were conducted with young drivers from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Participants (n = 39 in total) were aged 17 to 19 years and held a Provisional 1 or 2 licence. Many young drivers appreciated the involvement of their parents in their novice driving period and reported that parents provided practical support and planning strategies. There is potential for the use of a third party policing intervention to improve compliance amongst young drivers.

Young Driver Compliance With Graduated Driver Licensing Restrictions Before and After Implementation of a Decal Provision

PURPOSE

In May 2010, New Jersey implemented the first-in-the-nation decal provision to increase intermediate drivers' compliance with Graduated Driver Licensing restrictions and ultimately reduce young driver crashes. We previously found that the provision was associated with a 9.5% decline in crash rates. This study evaluates whether the decal provision was associated with an increase in compliance with passenger and nighttime restrictions.

METHODS

We analyzed New Jersey driver licensing and crash data from 2008 through 2012. We used the quasi-induced exposure method to estimate prevalence of noncompliance among 20,593 nonresponsible 17- to 20-year-old intermediate drivers involved in crashes. Multivariate log-binomial regression models compared the monthly prevalence of noncompliance with restrictions pre and post implementation, adjusted for age, sex, season, and area income and population density. Analyses were conducted in 2016-2017.

RESULTS

Overall estimated noncompliance with the nighttime restriction was 1.75% before and 1.71% after the decal provision (p = .83). Noncompliance with the passenger restriction was 8.68% before and 8.31% after (p = .35). Introduction of the decal provision was not associated with a change in noncompliance rates.

CONCLUSIONS

Compliance rates among New Jersey intermediate drivers were high both before and after the decal provision. Findings do not suggest that the decline in crash rates following implementation was because of increased compliance with nighttime or passenger driving restrictions. Additional research is needed to understand mechanisms by which decal provisions may reduce young driver crashes.