Young Driver Research Program: A technical and strategic overview of exposure reduction measures as a means of reducing young driver crashes

Federal Office of Road Safety - Contract Report 130

Abstract:

There are potential road safety benefits to be obtained from reducing the opportunity for young drivers to be involved in road crashes, that is, by reducing their driving exposure. This report identifies a range of technical and strategic issues which are relevant to a comprehensive discussion of such measures. This is an area in which there are no "right" answers: ultimately, an effective, efficient and equitable balance must be reached between a range of competing objectives in order to achieve a consensus policy position on the desirability of exposure reduction measures as one method for reducing your driver crashes.

Executive Summary

It is a truism to say that road crashes could be reduced if people stopped driving: similarly, the frequency of young driver crashes could be reduced if the legal licensing age was raised by several years. Before these extremes are reached, however, there are still potential road safety benefits to be obtained from reducing the opportunity for young drivers to be involved in crashes. The principle underpinning such measures, exposure reduction measures, has wide acceptance from a public health perspective. Such reductions should be directed at those types of exposure of greatest risk of crash involvement. Despite this status, there is a remarkable lack of information in road safety circles, at both a conceptual and practical level, on exposure reduction. To date, the discussion of exposure reduction countermeasures as a means of reducing young driver crashes has been superficial and fragmented.

This report has attempted to place exposure reduction countermeasures in an appropriate context and identified a range of technical and strategic issues which are relevant to a comprehensive and valid discussion of such measures. The road safety system has the immediate capacity to reduce the incidence of crashes involving young drivers by reducing their exposure, primarily through restrictions on night-time driving.

As noted in the report, however, this is an area in which there are no "right" answers.

Even though most road safety practitioners would place greatest emphasis on the potential public health benefits, a reduction in the number of young driver crashes does not necessarily indicate the best outcome from a community perspective. Ultimately, an effective, efficient and equitable balance must be reached between a range of competing objectives in order to reach a consensus policy position on the desirability of exposure reduction countermeasures as one method for reducing young driver crashes.

On the basis of this review, it appears that young driver exposure reduction measures fall into one of four categories, viz:

measures likely to be effective but which are unlikely to be implemented, despite strong technical support, In this first category fall measures such as raising the driver licensing age, raising the legal drinking age and night-time driving restrictions;
measures which are unlikely to be effective and may, in fact, be disbeneficial, but which have some policy support. Occupancy restrictions would be in this category;
measures which may be effective, especially if developed further, but which are likely to have marginal effects on young driver crash frequencies. Vehicle power limits fall into this category;
measures which have the potential to reduce young driver crashes but which may require further research and development. Measures in this category include vehicle transmission type restrictions and Zero BAC legislation.

The alternative strategy, specifically reducing the young driver risk of crash involvement, remains an 'in principle' strategy at this point in time; there are no strategies currently available which have technical support, although research is proceeding.