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Driving and Licensing Experiences of Learner Drivers in Queensland:

Comparing pre-and post-July 2007Presenter: Bridie Scott-Parker (PhD Candidate)

Co-Authors Ms Lyndel Bates, Prof Barry Watson, Dr Mark King, Dr Melissa Hyde

Extent of the Problem

• Young drivers (17-24 yrs), Queensland, 2008 13% of licensed driver/ rider population 20% of persons killed 33% of all fatalities arose from crashes involving

young drivers/ riders

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Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) Novice gains more supervised driving experience

under lower-risk driving conditions over an extended duration

Enhanced GDL for Learners, Queensland July 2007 Minimum age 16 years, minimum duration 1 year Must record 100 hours supervised practice recorded in

logbook, including 10 hours of night driving First 10 hours of professional supervision equates to 30

logbook hours Enhanced GDL for Provisional period at same time

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Study Aims

1. To document the experiences of Learners within the current-GDL program (introduced July 2007)

2. To compare some of the experiences of Learners within the current-GDL program with those of Learners within the former-GDL program (pre-July 2007)

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Method Former-GDL Program Current-GDL Program

Recruitment

• 2006, pre-July 2007• Recruited in-person from Brisbane and Townsville Licensing Centres

• April, May, June 2010• Recruited Queensland-wide with Flyer when progressed from Learner to Provisional Licence

Participants (Provisional licence)

(17-19 years)

149 Novices 75 females74 males

1162 Novices681 females481 males

Design and Procedure

(Longitudinal research)

• 35 minute telephone interview• Second telephone interview 1 year later

• 30 minute online or paper survey• Two further 20 minute surveys after 6 and 12 months

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Methodology

Driving Practice

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Characteristic Former-GDL N = 149

Current-GDL N = 1162

Significance Level

Driving practice (Hours) (M, SD)

63.28 (48.00)

109.61 (25.36)

< .001

Driving practice, parents/ friends as supervisor (Hours) (M, SD)

52.83(45.80)

89.20(43.85) < .001

Driving practice, Instructor as supervisor (Hours) (M, SD)

11.49(15.81)

9.71(11.11) = .09

Duration and Difficulty

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Characteristic Former-GDL N = 149

Current-GDL N = 1162

Significance Level

Duration of the Learner period (Months) (M, SD)

22.44 (6.76)

16.17 (5.67)

< .001

Difficulty getting supervised practice (Difficult)

35.3% 22.4% < .05

“Difficult” Females Males

50.0%19.8%

26.0%17.4%

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Gaining Provisional Licence

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Characteristic Former-GDL N = 149

Current-GDL N = 1162

Significance Level

Provisional licence first attempt (M, SD)

61.5% 68.5% = .09

Number of attempts to gain Provisional licence (M, SD)

1.47 (.68) 1.38 (.72) = .16

Provisional licence type (Manual)

72.8% 70.7% = .60

Self-Reported Behaviour

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Characteristic Former-GDL N = 149

Current-GDL N = 1162

Significance Level

Offences detected 4.7% 2.6% = .14

Crash involvement 6.2% 2.5% < .05

Unsupervised driving 16.9% 11.5% = .06

Additional Results – Current-GDL only

When did you get most of your driving practice? One third “from the beginning”; 50% of males and 60% of females “mainly at the end” of the Learner period

Did you continue practising after submitting your logbook and the practical driving assessment? 94.8% yes

How accurate were the entries in your logbook? 83.2% of novices reported their logbook accurate 12.8% of novices reported some rounding up of hours 4.0% of novices reported including extra hours

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Strengths and Limitations

• Former-GDL/ Current-GDL/ Comparison– Representativeness of samples– Accuracy of responses– Key measures explored– Longitudinal research

• Emerging results need to be confirmed by larger-scale evaluations

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In Conclusion

• Novices gained more supervised driving experience

• Parents supervising Learners more• No change in number of hours of supervision

provided by driving instructors• Novices reported less crash-involvement• No increase in unsupervised driving• Novices reported less difficulty obtaining

supervised driving practice

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Thank-you.

Contact Details: Bridie Scott-Parker, PhD CandidateTelephone: +61 7 3138

7727Email:

b.scott-parker@qut.edu.au

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