Parent involvement in novice teen driving: a review of the literature

Adult-supervised practice driving for adolescent learners: The current state and directions for interventions

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this study was to quantify and identify correlates to the amount of parent-supervised behind-the-wheel practice hours by novice teen drivers.

METHODS

A national survey of 945 parents of recently licensed teen drivers was conducted. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors related to the number of practice hours completed.

RESULTS

Sixty-one percent of parents reported practicing 50 or more hours with their teen. Two-parent involvement was associated with more practice hours, though use of a professional driving instructor was not. Parents of teens licensed in states mandating 50 or more hours of practice driving were more likely to report at least 50 practice hours than those in states mandating 20-40 hours or in states without mandates.

IMPACT ON INDUSTRY

The findings underscore the integral role of parents in the learning to drive process and provide further support for GDL requirements for practice hours.

The contribution of perceived parental and familial characteristics to attitudes toward accompanied driving among young drivers

One of the main requirements of the graduated driving licensing system in Israel is that new drivers be accompanied by an experienced driver (usually one of their parents) for the first three months after receipt of their license. The current series of studies examined the associations between young drivers' attitudes toward accompanied driving (ATAD) and their perception of their parents' driving styles and parenting modes, as well as dynamic of their family. Young drivers completed questionnaires assessing their ATAD, and either perceived parental driving style (Study 1, n=100), perceived parenting style (Study 2, n=120), or perceived family dynamic (Study 3, n=254). The results indicated significant associations between the young drivers' ATAD of tension, relatedness, avoidance, disapproval, and anxiety, and their own perceptions of the characteristic driving styles of their parents (risky, anxious, angry, and careful). They also indicated significant relationship between youngsters' ATAD and their perceptions of their parents' parenting modes (responsive, demanding, and autonomy-granting). Finally, the results indicated significant negative associations between ATAD of tension, avoidance, disapproval, and anxiety, and family cohesion and adaptability, and a positive association between these two and relatedness. The results are discussed in respect to the relationship between the parental model and the young drivers' ATAD in particular, and risk management in general, and practical implications of these results are offered.

"The little squealer" or "the virtual guardian angel"? Young drivers' and their parents' perspective on using a driver monitoring technology and its implications for parent-young driver communication

INTRODUCTION

In-vehicle driving monitoring technologies have the potential to enable young drivers to learn from self-assessment. However, their use is largely dependent on parental involvement.

METHOD

A total of 79 interviews were conducted with young drivers and parents regarding this technology and its use. Most had the experience of having an in-vehicle data recorder installed in the vehicle driven by the young drivers. Parents and the young drivers expressed both appreciation as well as reservations about its potential as a means to enhance the driving safety of young drivers.

RESULTS

A surprising finding was that some parents did not check the feedback and said they relied on the young driver to do so. Main concerns related to privacy, parent-young driver relationship, self-esteem and confidence, constructive use of the feedback data, and the limitations of the documentation that can be done by the technology.

CONCLUSIONS

Providing parents and young drivers with a support system and tools to discuss and utilize the feedback are underscored. Challenges include addressing the invasion of young drivers' privacy and gender differences, and using the monitoring-capacity of the technology to enhance safe driving practices. Implications for programs to enhance communication and a dialogical approach between parents and young drivers are discussed.

Spying or steering? Views of parents of young novice drivers on the use and ethics of driver-monitoring technologies

In-vehicle technologies that document driving practices have the potential to enhance the driving safety of young drivers, but their installation depends largely on their parents' willingness and raises ethical dilemmas. This study investigated, using closed and open-ended questions, the views of 906 parents of young drivers in Israel regarding their willingness to install such a technology, and their conceptions of social norms and ethical issues associated with the technology and of factors that would encourage or discourage parents to adopt it. Most believed parents should feel morally obligated to install it. When cost was not a consideration, most said they would, and believed other parents would be willing to install the technology. Fewer (about half) expressed willingness to install it after being told about its estimated cost. Monetary cost was rated as a barrier to install it by about half. Environmental considerations were viewed as an incentive. Parents who supported the installation believed it would serve as a trigger for parent-young driver communication but those who did not thought it would erode trust in the parent-young driver relationship. Most said parents should have access to the monitoring data. Policy implications regarding issues of privacy and resources for parents are discussed.

A practical approach for applying best practices in behavioural interventions to injury prevention

Behavioural science when combined with engineering, epidemiology and other disciplines creates a full picture of the often fragmented injury puzzle and informs comprehensive solutions. To assist efforts to include behavioural science in injury prevention strategies, this paper presents a methodological tutorial that aims to introduce best practices in behavioural intervention development and testing to injury professionals new to behavioural science. This tutorial attempts to bridge research to practice through the presentation of a practical, systematic, six-step approach that borrows from established frameworks in health promotion and disease prevention. Central to the approach is the creation of a programme theory that links a theoretically grounded, empirically tested behaviour change model to intervention components and their evaluation. Serving as a compass, a programme theory allows for systematic focusing of resources on the likely most potent behavioural intervention components and directs evaluation of intervention impact and implementation. For illustration, the six-step approach is applied to the creation of a new peer-to-peer campaign, Ride Like a Friend/Drive Like You Care, to promote safe teen driver and passenger behaviours.

Adolescent development and risk of injury: using developmental science to improve interventions

In adolescence, there is a complex interaction among physical, cognitive, and psychosocial developmental processes, culminating in greater risk-taking and novelty-seeking. Concurrently, adolescents face an increasingly demanding environment, which results in heightened vulnerability to injury. In this paper, we provide an overview of developmental considerations for adolescent injury interventions based on developmental science, including findings from behavioural neuroscience and psychology. We examine the role that typical developmental processes play in the way adolescents perceive and respond to risk and how this integrated body of developmental research adds to our understanding of how to do injury prevention with adolescents. We then highlight strategies to improve the translation of developmental research into adolescent injury prevention practice, calling on examples of existing interventions including graduated driver licensing.

Perceptions and experiences of participants in a study of in-vehicle monitoring of teenage drivers

OBJECTIVES

To assess the perceptions and experiences of participants in a study of a device that monitored teenagers' driving.

METHODS

A device that continuously monitors and reports risky driving maneuvers was installed in vehicles of 84 newly licensed teenagers. Study groups varied by whether parents had access to a Web site that summarized their teenagers' driving and by whether in-vehicle alerts provided feedback to drivers. Recruitment of subjects and problems with the device were documented. Teenagers and parents were interviewed after removal of the device.

RESULTS

Although the study was conducted in a large urban area, recruitment progressed slowly. Parents who declined to participate usually said their teenagers opposed it, or they were concerned about intruding on the privacy of their children or jeopardizing trust with them. Both parents and teenagers thought in-vehicle alerts helped teenagers drive more safely, although two thirds of teenagers tried to drown out the alerts with loud music. Parents found the Web site useful but reported fewer Web site visits over time. Most parents would prefer receiving information through summary report cards rather than through a Web site. Both parents and teenagers thought the overall system was effective in improving teenagers' driving. Most parents said the Web site and/or device helped them talk to their teenagers about their driving. Parents thought the most effective system would be an in-vehicle alert with immediate parental notification; teenagers preferred a system allowing them to correct behavior before parental notification.

CONCLUSIONS

The difficulties in recruiting families for a study of in-vehicle monitoring and feedback technology suggest that gaining broad acceptance may be challenging. Although many teenagers were annoyed by the technology, most said they drove more safely because of it. Sending report cards to parents and allowing teenagers to correct behavior before parents are notified may increase the usefulness and acceptability of monitoring systems.

Young drivers' attitudes toward accompanied driving: a new multidimensional measure

Four studies were conducted in order to develop and validate a multidimensional instrument to assess attitudes toward accompanied driving among young drivers. Study 1 (n=841) focused on developing the Attitudes Toward Accompanied Driving Scale (ATADS), a self-report scale based on five previously conceptualized domains of attitudes. Factor analysis revealed the five hypothesized factors: Tension, Relatedness, Disapproval, Avoidance, and Anxiety. In addition, significant associations were found between these factors and gender, age, and the assessment of reckless driving as risky. Study 2 (n=651) adopted a developmental approach, comparing the attitudes of participants in various stages of licensure. Disapproval and Tension were found to be higher, and Relatedness lower, among participants who had not yet begun driving instruction than among those who were taking driving lessons or had already obtained a license. Study 3 (n=160) revealed associations between the five ATADS factors and perceived driving costs and benefits. In Study 4 (n=193), associations were found between these factors and driver's self-image, with a combination of ATADS factors, self-image, and gender contributing to the explained variance of two outcome variables: driving self-efficacy, and reported frequency of reckless driving. The discussion focuses on the validity and utility of the new measure of young drivers' attitudes toward accompanied driving, stressing its practical implications for road safety.

Effects of in-vehicle monitoring on the driving behavior of teenagers

OBJECTIVES

The objective was to determine if teenage driving behavior improves when a monitoring and feedback device is installed in the teen's vehicle.

METHODS

Vehicles of 85 teenage drivers were fit with a device that detected all instances of sudden braking/acceleration, speeding, and nonuse of seat belts. Drivers were assigned randomly to one of four research groups, differing in whether or not an alert sounded in the vehicle and whether or not parents were given access to websites containing notification records. Time trends in event rates per mile traveled were compared using Poisson regression.

RESULTS

Seat belt use improved when violations were reported to the parent websites, and improved even more when in-vehicle alerts were activated. Consistent reductions in speeding were achieved only when teenagers received alerts about their speeding behavior, believed their speeding behavior would not be reported to parents if corrected, and when parents were being notified of such behavior by report cards.

CONCLUSIONS

Electronic monitoring of teenage drivers can reduce the incidence of risky behavior, especially seat belt nonuse. More complicated behavior is more difficult to change, however.

IMPACT ON INDUSTRY

Parent participation is key to successful behavioral modification, but it is yet to be determined how best to encourage such participation.

[Evidence-based effectiveness of road safety interventions: a literature review]

INTRODUCTION

Only road safety interventions with scientific evidence supporting their effectiveness should be implemented. The objective of this study was to identify and summarize the available evidence on the effectiveness of road safety interventions in reducing road traffic collisions, injuries and deaths.

METHODOLOGY

All literature reviews published in scientific journals that assessed the effectiveness of one or more road safety interventions and whose outcome measure was road traffic crashes, injuries or fatalities were included. An exhaustive search was performed in scientific literature databases. The interventions were classified according to the evidence of their effectiveness in reducing road traffic injuries (effective interventions, insufficient evidence of effectiveness, ineffective interventions) following the structure of the Haddon matrix.

RESULTS

Fifty-four reviews were included. Effective interventions were found before, during and after the collision, and across all factors: a) the individual: the graduated licensing system (31% road traffic injury reduction); b) the vehicle: electronic stability control system (2 to 41% reduction); c) the infrastructure: area-wide traffic calming (0 to 20%), and d) the social environment: speed cameras (7 to 30%). Certain road safety interventions are ineffective, mostly road safety education, and others require further investigation.

CONCLUSION

The most successful interventions are those that reduce or eliminate the hazard and do not depend on changes in road users' behavior or on their knowledge of road safety issues. Interventions based exclusively on education are ineffective in reducing road traffic injuries.

Preventing Traffic Injuries: Strategies That Work

Motor vehicle crashes result in more than 40 000 deaths and 4.3 million nonfatal injuries annually. Many known effective strategies to address these preventable deaths and injuries are closely related to lifestyle factors. Clinicians can play a large part in supporting effective interventions in their practice, for example, by counseling patients about seat belt use. Clinicians can also have an impact in their community by supporting positive public policy change.

Athletic participation and seatbelt omission among u.s. High school students

Although seatbelts save lives, adolescents may be disproportionately likely to omit their use. Using data from the 1997 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a national survey of more than 16,000 U.S. public and private high school students, the authors employed a series of logistic regression analyses to examine cross-sectional associations between past year athletic participation and regular seatbelt omission. Controlling for the effects of gender, age, race, parental education, and school urbanicity, student athletes were significantly less likely than nonathletes to report seatbelt omission. Separate gender-specific analyses showed that this effect was significant for girls but only marginally significant for boys; in addition, the effect was strongest for adolescents who participated on three or more school or community sports teams. Possible explanations for the relationship between athletic participation and seatbelt omission, including Jessor's problem behavior syndrome, prosocial sport subcultures, and sensation seeking, are considered.

Parenting and the young driver problem

Crash rates increase sharply at the age at which teenagers begin to drive and remain elevated relative to adult levels until drivers are well into their twenties. Parents have important roles to play in managing the risk for teenage drivers before and after licensure. Parents can be involved in their teenagers' driving, allowing them to test for permit and licensure, supervising practice driving, providing access to a vehicle, and setting and enforcing limits on driving privileges after licensure. However, the management practices of many parents may not be sufficient to provide safety effects. The literature indicates that the two most important decisions parents can make to reduce teenagers' driving risk are to delay licensure and impose limits on high-risk driving conditions (such as driving at night and with teenage passengers) during the first year of licensure. Two intervention programs have been shown to increase parental limit setting as a means of reducing risky driving behaviors and improving driving performance among novice teenage drivers. This article describes the contexts of and opportunities for parental involvement in teenage driving and the effectiveness of interventions to increase and improve parental management of young drivers.

A model for preventing serious traffic injury in teens: or "keep those teenagers out of our ICU!"

Traffic crashes are the leading cause of injury, disability, and death in the youth of the United States. Risky driving, behind-the-wheel behaviors when operating a motor vehicle in a manner that may lead to harm or injury to oneself or others, contributes to the human and economic cost of risky driving. An acute or critical care hospitalization provides an ideal opportunity for nurses to initiate prevention strategies with parents and teens to reduce risky driving.

National young-driver survey: teen perspective and experience with factors that affect driving safety

BACKGROUND

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of fatality and acquired disability in adolescents. Young, inexperienced drivers are overrepresented in crashes.

OBJECTIVE

Our goal was to explore the adolescent perspective on driving safety to provide a better understanding of factors that influence safety and teenagers' exposure to driving hazards.

METHODS

Adolescents generated, prioritized, and explained their viewpoint by using the teen-centered method. These viewpoints were obtained from a school-based nationally representative survey of 9th-, 10th-, and 11th-graders (N = 5665) from 68 high schools, conducted in spring 2006, that included teen-generated items. The main outcome measures were rating of risk and prevalence of witnessing driving hazards.

RESULTS

Drinking while driving was ranked as the greatest hazard (87% of the respondents reported that it made a lot of difference), although only 12% witnessed it often. Ranked next as dangers while driving were text-messaging, racing, impairment from marijuana, and road rage. Sixty percent viewed inexperience as a significant hazard, although only 15% reported seeing it often. Cell phone use was viewed as a significant hazard by 28%, although 57% witnessed it frequently. Only 10% viewed peer passengers as hazardous, but 64% frequently observed them. Distracting peer behaviors, among other distractions, were viewed as more dangerous. Subpopulations varied in the degree they perceived hazards. For example, black and Hispanic adolescents viewed substance use while driving as less hazardous than did white adolescents but witnessed it more frequently.

CONCLUSIONS

Adolescents generally understand the danger of intoxicated driving. However, some groups need to better recognize this hazard. Distractions take teenagers' focus off the road, but not all are viewed as hazardous. Although inexperience is the key factor that interacts with other conditions to cause crashes, adolescents do not recognize what merits experience. Future research is needed to explore how to help teens become safer drivers and how to make clinicians, families, and communities more effective in setting, promoting, and monitoring safety standards.

Attitudes of teenagers and their parents to Pennsylvania's graduated driver licensing system

OBJECTIVES

To determine the attitudes of teens and parents in Pennsylvania (PA) towards the enhanced graduated driver licensing (GDL) system implemented in 2000, and to assess their understanding of teen crash risk.

METHODS

Cross-sectional survey of teen drivers and their parents. Eligible teens were 16 or 17 years old when they obtained their first learner's permits in 2000. A simple random sample of 2500 was obtained from 48,372 meeting inclusion criteria. Questions were based on previous surveys and pre-tested in focus groups.

ANALYSIS

Chi-square, McNemar, or t-tests, as appropriate.

RESULTS

A total of 1561 surveys (811 parents and 750 teens) were included in the analysis. There were no differences between the sample and teen respondents. Their junior license had been achieved by 735 (98%) teens and had been driving unsupervised for a mean of 14.1 months (SD 4.89). Greater than ninety percent (90%) of parents approved of the overall system, the six-month learner phase, and the requirement for parental certification of 50 hours of supervised driving. The teens' reactions were less positive than the parents' (p < 0.001), but only 16% reported a negative overall reaction. 31.4% of the teens reported not completing the required 50 hours of supervised driving. 70.6% of parents felt the nighttime driving restriction was "just right" at 11 pm but 54.0% of teens preferred that it be returned to 12 mn (p < 0.001). When asked about the crash rate for teen drivers, 72.8% of teens and 74.0% of parents chose rates 2 to 100 times less than the reported crash rate (p = 0.8).

CONCLUSIONS

In PA, the primary stakeholders, teen drivers and their parents, were poorly informed about teen crash risk. Parents were very positive and teens are generally neutral or weakly positive about the new restrictions imposed by the enhanced graduated driver licensing system. Better understanding of the crash rate for teen drivers might increase approval of system restrictions, enhance compliance, and further strengthen the system.

Parent attitudes toward integrating parent involvement into teenage driver education courses

OBJECTIVE

The widespread adoption of graduated driver licensing (GDL) policies has effectively reduced crash risk for young drivers; however, parents must support, reinforce, and enforce GDL for it to be effective, and research indicates that parents need better information and instruction for adhering to GDL requirements, conducting supervised practice driving, and restricting independent teenage driving. Because teenagers in most states must take driver education to enter the licensing process prior to age 18, integrating parent involvement into driver education may be an effective way to inform and instruct parents on a large scale about teen driver safety. This study assessed parent attitudes (overall and by rural status, minority status, and income level) toward integrating parent involvement into teenage driver education classes.

METHODS

In this study, 321 parents of teenagers enrolled in driver education classes across the state of Montana completed surveys about current involvement in driver education and attitudes toward required involvement.

RESULTS

The results indicated that parents were not very involved currently in their teenagers' driver education classes, but 76% reported that parents should be required to be involved. If involvement were required, parents would prefer having written materials sent home, access to information over the Internet, or discussions in person with the instructor; far fewer would prefer to attend classes or behind-the-wheel driving instruction. There were few differences in parent attitudes by rural or minority status but many by income level. Compared to higher income parents, lower income parents were more likely to endorse required parent involvement in teenage driver education classes and to want parent information from driver education about many teen driving issues.

CONCLUSIONS

That the majority of parents are open to required involvement in their teenagers' driver education classes is promising because doing so could better prepare parents to understand and adhere to GDL policies, supervise teenagers' practice driving, and manage teen independent driving, all of which could further increase teen driver safety.

Age of licensure and monitoring teenagers' driving: survey of parents of novice teenage drivers

OBJECTIVE

To assess parental decision making regarding the timing of teenagers initiating driving and monitoring teenagers' driving after licensure.

METHODS

About 300 parents were interviewed during spring 2006 in Minnesota, North Carolina, and Rhode Island, states with varying licensing provisions, while teenagers took their first on-road driving tests.

RESULTS

States' differences in ages of obtaining learner's permits and licenses reflected different licensing laws, but most teenagers obtained permits and took road tests within the first few months after they became eligible. Common reasons for delaying obtaining permits were fulfilling driver education requirements and lack of readiness/immaturity. Insufficient practice driving most often delayed licensure. Among the parents interviewed, 33-49% believed the minimum licensure age should be 17 or older. Almost all parents planned to supervise teenagers' driving after licensure, and most wanted to know about speeding or distractions. When asked about in-vehicle devices to monitor teenagers' driving, 37-59% of parents had heard of them. Parents were least interested in using video cameras and about equally interested in computer chips and cell-phone-based GPS systems. Disinterest in monitoring devices most often was attributed to trusting teenagers or respecting their privacy.

CONCLUSIONS

Licensing laws influence ages of initiating driving. Although many parents support licensing at 17 or older - higher than in all but one state - most teenagers initiate driving soon after reaching the minimum age. Parents plan to supervise teenagers' driving, and many say they are open to using in-vehicle monitoring devices.

IMPACT ON INDUSTRY

Many parents support a minimum licensing age of 17 or older and would consider in-vehicle devices to extend their supervision of teenager's driving.

Extending parental mentoring using an event-triggered video intervention in rural teen drivers

Teen drivers are at high risk for car crashes, especially during their first years of licensure. Providing novice teen drivers and their parents with a means of identifying their risky driving maneuvers may help them learn from their mistakes, thereby reducing their crash propensity. During the initial phase of learning, adult or parental supervision often provides such guidance. However, once teens obtain their license, adult supervision is no longer mandated, and teens are left to themselves to continue the learning process. This study is the first of its type to enhance this continued learning process using an event-triggered video device. By pairing this new technology with parental feedback in the form of a weekly video review and graphical report card, we extend parents' ability to teach their teens even after they begin driving independently. Twenty-six 16- to 17-year-old drivers were recruited from a small U.S. Midwestern rural high school. We equipped their vehicles with an event-triggered video device, designed to capture 20-sec clips of the forward and cabin views whenever the vehicle exceeded lateral or forward threshold accelerations. Preliminary findings suggest that combining this emerging technology with parental weekly review of safety-relevant incidents resulted in a significant decrease in events for the more at-risk teen drivers. Implications for how such an intervention could be implemented within GDL are also discussed.

Understanding adolescent development: implications for driving safety

PROBLEM

The implementation of Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) programs has significantly improved the crash and fatality rates of novice teen drivers, but these rates remain unacceptably high.

METHOD

A review of adolescent development research was undertaken to identify potential areas of improvement.

RESULTS

Research support for GDL was found to be strong, particularly regarding early acquisition of expertise in driving safety (beyond driving skill), and to limitations that reduce opportunities for distraction. GDL regimes are highly variable, and no US jurisdictions have implemented optimal regimes.

SUMMARY

Expanding and improving GDL to enhance acquisition of expertise and self-regulation are indicated for implementation and for applied research. Driver training that effectively incorporates safety goals along with driving skill is another target.

IMPACT ON INDUSTRY

The insurance industry will benefit from further GDL enhancements. Benefits may accrue to improved driver training, improved simulation devices during training, and automated safety feedback instrumentation.

Passenger effects on teenage driving and opportunities for reducing the risks of such travel

OBJECTIVES

To review the research evidence concerning the effects of passengers on teenage driving and crash involvement, and to explore ways to reduce negative effects.

METHODS

Review of the international literature on these topics.

RESULTS

Passenger presence increases crash risk for teenage drivers, especially when the passengers are other teenagers and especially when they are male. Female passengers do not have the same effects. Teenagers are more susceptible to peer influences than adults. The combination of passenger-induced distraction and driving inexperience can disrupt driving behavior, and there is evidence that teenage driver risk taking increases in vehicles with multiple teenagers. Possible ways to reduce the resulting crash problem include altering the in-vehicle behavior of teenagers or influencing their selection of travel partners. Legal restrictions on passengers with teenage drivers have been found effective in reducing the crash problem. Parental monitoring of teenage driving behavior, and programs aimed at teenagers themselves, could be other options but their efficacy is unproven. It currently is unknown why female passengers have a different effect than males or if that might offer clues about future interventions.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite passenger restrictions in the majority of states, 42% of 16- and 17-year-old drivers in fatal crashes in 2005 were transporting teenagers with no adults in the vehicle; 61% of teenage passenger deaths (1,222 in 2005) occurred in vehicles driven by other teenagers. Wider application of passenger restrictions is indicated.

IMPACT ON INDUSTRY

Ways to make passenger restrictions more effective are needed, and other techniques for reducing this major problem need development and testing.

Parent involvement in novice teen driving: rationale, evidence of effects, and potential for enhancing graduated driver licensing effectiveness

Motor-vehicle crash rates are highly elevated immediately after licensure and then decline gradually over a period of years. Young age, risk taking, and inexperience contribute to the problem, but inexperience is particularly important early on. Driving is like other complex, skilled behaviors in which subtle improvements in perception and judgment develop gradually over a period of years. After all, safe driving is more a matter of attention and perception than physical management of the vehicle. Inexperience is particularly linked to driving performance and safety outcomes under certain driving conditions, with driving at night and with teen passengers as the most important cases. Surprisingly, driving outcomes do not appear to be affected by the pre-license training or supervised practice driving. Given the limits of training, safety effects can best be achieved by countermeasures that delay licensure or limit novice teen driving under high risk driving conditions while novices gain experience and develop safety competence. The two complementary approaches of Graduated Driver Licensing policies and parent management have been shown to provide safety effects by limiting the driving conditions of novice teenagers.

Young driver risk factors: successful and unsuccessful approaches for dealing with them and an agenda for the future

The extent to which various interventions to deal with the young driver crash problem have worked are discussed, and promising interventions that should be tried are identified. Traditional forms of driver licensing and driver education have not worked. Graduated licensing reduces the problem and existing laws need to be strengthened. Programs involving parents and police have shown some potential to increase compliance with graduated licensing restrictions. Insurer discount programs also have potential. In other public health areas, comprehensive programs have worked better than those based on single components. There are continuing efforts to develop new driver education and training programs and methods of delivery that can combine with graduated licensing and contribute to reductions in the young driver problem. The most promising intervention strategy is likely to be a coordinated community based program in states with strong graduated licensing laws as a foundation, involving modern education and training techniques, insurance discount programs, and well publicized enforcement and education programs featuring parents and police in combination, with as much input and participation as possible from the target group of young drivers.

Reducing young driver road trauma: guidance and optimism for the future

This paper highlights lessons from each of the Expert Panel papers in the present supplement that provide guidance for future research and initiatives. Although some shortfalls still remain in our understanding, it is argued that much has been learned and we are ready for more translation, implementation, and evaluation of multilevel interventions to help reduce young driver road trauma. Non-use of restraints, speeding, driving at night and with passengers, and fatigue are highlighted as key risk factors to address. "Best practice" intervention is proposed as implementing and strengthening graduated driver licensing systems and complementary candidate programs and research, such as hazard perception training programs. A schematic cognitive-perceptual model to explain the crash sequence process is explored. There is optimism that meaningful impacts can be made, especially coupled with the advances in vehicle technologies, but caution is necessary in the absence of targeted "real world" evaluations and broader implementation and diffusion strategies.

Competent independent driving as an archetypal task of adolescence

Supplement Editor, Dr Flaura K Winston, and Co-Editor, Dr Teresa Senserrick, introduce 10 papers covering the current science of safe driving among adolescents from the varied viewpoints of an international panel of experts. This Expert Panel, convened by the Center for Injury Research and Prevention (formerly TraumaLink) at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance Companies(R), working jointly on the Youthful Driver Research Initiative, represents a wide range of expertise, thereby providing a broad understanding of driving, adolescence, and adolescent driving.