This project aims to reduce the number and severity of crashes involving newly licenced drivers.

Freebott have been engaged in the curriculum development and piloting of the program. A large scale trial of the program will be conducted from October 2011 and is scheduled to run for approx 18 months with an evaluation report expected to be released in 2014.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Background

Young drivers in their first few years of driving have a much higher risk of crash involvement that results in death and injury than experienced drivers. This phenomenon has been reported in many countries and has led road safety bodies to target young driver crash involvement as a key public health and road safety issue.

In Australia, there is popular support for driver education programs. Disappointingly however, driver education and training programs have not been shown to have a significant impact on young newly licensed driver crash involvement. Indeed, there is consistent evidence that inappropriately targeted education and training programs for young drivers could potentially be harmful.

There has been however, growing interest in the possibility that well planned and researched young driver programs can have a positive impact on safety outcomes. To optimise success it appears that such programs need to be developed and delivered in a way that reflects current understanding of the young driver problem, the target group itself, and proven behaviour change principles and practices.

The P Drivers Project presented below represents best practice as it is currently understood. The development of the structure and content of the program has been informed by relevant research in the domains of road safety, injury prevention, psychology, health and adult education.

The Approach

The high level of crash involvement of young drivers is a complex phenomenon. It is difficult to influence all of the risk factors associated with young driver crashes in a relatively short program of 8 hours duration. Extending the program to address more of the phenomena creates a different set of challenges and practical implementation problems and is also likely to see attrition of participants.

The P Drivers Project therefore has focussed on identifying a set of "target behaviours" that are known to have a key role in crash involvement and that may be amenable to change (or improved management) through a program using behaviour change principles.

The key objectives of the program are not to increase knowledge or to changes in attitudes - they are behavioural. Achieving behavioural change and a resulting improvement in safety outcomes requires a program philosophy and methodology that makes use of appropriate behaviour change strategies. The program does not aim to change values, attitudes, or personality traits. Although there is a small correlation between them and crash involvement, psychological research indicates that relatively stable factors like these are difficult to change, especially in a short term intervention.

This approach has raised significant challenges for program and curriculum development given that there is little prior research or application of behaviour change based "education" programs specifically targeted at reducing crash risk in young drivers. Consequently a theoretical approach was required which drew on research and experience from other successful health and injury prevention related interventions targeting behaviour change in young adults. This has been supplemented by "expert opinion" within the fields of road safety, adolescent psychology and health.

Project Aims

The overall goal of the P Drivers Project is to generate sustained changes in the behaviour of young drivers of a kind that will substantially reduce their risk of crash involvement, particularly during the first year of driving when the risks are highest.

The specific aims are:

· A reduction in the number and/or severity of crashes. Meeting this aim will be a significant challenge as there is little research evidence available that supports the effectiveness of education programs in road safety. Drawing on recent research and evidence of best practice from other fields increases the chances of success.

An improvement in safe driving behaviours among young drivers. A reduction in crash involvement or severity will only occur when there is an improvement in safety-related behaviours among young drivers. The emphasis of the program is therefore on behavioural change and the curriculum content and activities are directed towards achieving positive changes in driving behaviours.

Increased awareness by young drivers of the risk factors that contribute to their high crash risks. Young drivers can reduce their crash involvement by making decisions that alter their exposure and management of risk.