Parenting style, young driver compliance and the imposition of additional driving restrictions within graduated driver licensing systems

Young drivers' early access to their own car and crash risk into early adulthood: Findings from the DRIVE study

INTRODUCTION

Car ownership at early licensure for young drivers has been identified as a crash risk factor, but for how long this risk persists is unknown. This study examined crash hazard rates between young drivers with their own vehicle and those who shared a family vehicle at early licensure over 13 years.

METHODS

The DRIVE study, a 2003/04 survey of 20,806 young novice drivers in New South Wales, Australia was used to link to police crash, hospital and death records up to 2016. The first police-reported crash and crash resulting in hospitalisation/death was modelled via flexible parametric survival analysis by type of vehicle access at baseline (own vs. shared family vehicle).

RESULTS

After adjusting for covariates, drivers with their own vehicle at early licensure had an almost 30 % increased hazard rate for any crash after one year (95 % CI:1.16-1.42) compared with those who only had access to a family car and this attenuated but remained significantly higher until year 7 (HR: 1.1, 95 % CI: >1.00-1.20). For crashes resulting in hospitalisation or death, an almost 15-times higher hazard (95 % CI: 1.40-158.17) was observed at the start of follow up, remaining 50 % to year 3 (95 % CI:1.01-2.18).

CONCLUSIONS

Parents and young drivers should be aware of the increased risks involved in car ownership at early licensure. Development of poorer driving habits has been associated with less parental monitoring at this time. Graduated Driving Licensing educators, researchers and stakeholders should seek to address this and to identify improved safety management options.

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.

Are you with me? The relevance of peers and other social resources for participation in the German voluntary accompanied-driving scheme

In Germany, "Accompanied Driving From Age 17" (AD17) is a voluntary alternative method of formal driver training that demonstrably reduces the crash risk for young novice drivers. This study aims to clarify whether social resources such as peers and novice driver-specific social capital play a role in participation in the AD17 program in Germany. In a nationwide random sample, 17-year-old accompanied novice drivers (n = 2,478) and 18-year-old novices (n = 925) who had conventionally acquired a driver's license were surveyed about their novice driver-specific social resources, using specially developed measurement tools such as a resource generator. The results revealed that the proportion of a young driver's friends currently taking or having taken part in AD17 is a major predictor for participation in AD17. To a lesser extent, family-based social capital positively correlates to voluntary participation in AD17. Future optimization efforts should therefore take into account providing support for family-based social resources, including the possibility of compensation. Additionally, considering the composition of the young driver's peer group is strongly recommended.

At what stages of licensing do graduated driver licensing systems reduce crashes? Example from Queensland, Australia

Evaluations of new graduated licensing systems (GLS) commonly examine pre-post young driver crash rates relative to another driver group. This comparison approach is important to account for other influences on crashes over time, but has limited ability to determine which GLS components are most effective and at what stage during the licensing process. We previously identified declines in young driver crashes in Queensland, Australia, following introduction of a new GLS in 2007. The objective of the current research was to conduct complementary modelling to identify at what points through the licensing process had particular GLS policies contributed to reductions. Crash trends were explored for learner and provisional drivers under the new GLS versus previous system for three time periods relative to the month of acquiring a provisional licence: the preceding learner period, the first month of provisional licensure (when crashes typically peak), and the overall provisional period. Interrupted time series analyses were conducted for the log ratio of crashes per 10,000 licensed (learner and provisional) drivers with the total number of licensed drivers as an offset. The greatest declines were found in the first month of licensure, with indications that a longer learner period, higher supervised driving hours, and a new provisional night-passenger restriction were key contributors to provisional crash reductions. There was also some indication that a restriction on all phone use reduced crashes during the learner period. We conclude that time series analysis focusing on licensing stage, rather than calendar time only, offers a complementary approach to analysing GLS effectiveness by better identifying where and how changes impact crashes.