Literature reviews were undertaken of the development of risk taking; young driver behaviour; substance use including alcohol, smoking and illicit drugs; unsafe sex, and self-harm and suicide to identify and compare common risk factors for local youth and those elsewhere.
The research found that across all locations – Western Australia and elsewhere, there was consistent and good evidence of an increased risk of crash involvement for the following young drivers:
- Males, relative to females.
- Those in their earliest months of licensure (e.g. less than 12 months), relative to more experienced young drivers.
- Those with a history of drink driving offences, particularly those of legal drinking age and older; e.g., 18-25 years in Australia, older than 21 years in the USA because of the higher legal drinking age.
- Those who speed and particularly those who engage in high level speeding.
Relative to the above, there is less developed, less consistent evidence of an increased risk of crash involvement for the following young drivers in Western Australia and elsewhere:
- High sensation seeking individuals, relative to those categorised as moderate or low on the measure.
- Those who use mobile phones or text whilst driving.
- Those who drive without a valid licence or have at some stage driven without one.
Road safety benefit:
This research was beneficial to the extent that it highlights the increased risk of road trauma for learner and novice drivers.
Countermeasures that can be adopted from other risk taking areas and applied to young driver risk taking were also reviewed, and the following recommendations made:
- Strengthen the existing Western Australian Graduated Driver Training and Licensing program through the implementation of additional initiatives such as increasing the required number of Phase Two hours of supervised driving for learner drivers and restricting Provisional drivers from using mobile telephones – hands-free and handheld – whilst driving.
- Support resilience based education and training programs for pre-learner and novice drivers such as Keys for Life.
- Support initiatives that engage the parents and peers of learner and novice drivers to support safe young driver behaviours.
- Development of gender specific mass media campaigns to address problem driving by young males.
- Promotion of a harmonised national ‘best practice’ graduated driver training and licensing program.
