Protecting Lives on Australia's Roads with Better Driver Education (Dec. 2004)

Fourteen thousand young drivers in New South Wales and Victoria will undertake a special driver training course after they receive their P-plates, in a trial announced today by the Australian, New South Wales and Victorian Governments.

The course will provide novice drivers with an understanding of their own limitations and an insight into how they can reduce the risks they face on the road. It is aimed at reducing the shocking number of young deaths on Australia's roads. In 2003, 17-25 year olds accounted for a quarter of all road deaths, even though they make up only 12 percent of the population.

The total cost of the trial will be $5 million. It will be jointly funded by the three governments, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, NRMA Insurance and the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria, as follows:

Australian Government (an initial $1 million);
Victorian Government ($1.4 million);
New South Wales Government ($1 million);
Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries ($1 million);
NRMA Insurance ($0.5 million); and
Royal Automobile Club of Victoria ($0.1 million)

The trial course will involve P-plate holders who have between six and twelve months of solo driving experience, and will start in early 2005.

The 14,000 course participants, 7,000 in New South Wales and 7,000 in Victoria, will be recruited on a strictly voluntary basis. An additional 14,000 young drivers will be recruited as a comparison group.

The Australian Government has released a model curriculum for the course; it will now

be discussed in detail with the other funding partners.

Click on the document cover, above, to view the full, 1.4 Mb

pdf report on the Development of a Novice Driver Education Curriculum for the ATSB

Under the model curriculum, the course will be delivered as a series of short modules over a period of weeks, to give drivers time to practice and consolidate what they have learned. It will take about a day in total to complete.

The course will involve a mix of on-road driving with one-to-one feedback and small-group discussions. The model curriculum envisages that it will focus on:

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Regional Services, John Anderson, said: "The trial is the first step in the Australian Government's election promise to work with the states and territories to set up a compulsory national education scheme for P-plate drivers by 2007.

"The course has the potential to save the lives of hundreds of our young people - young people who will, as a result, have the chance to achieve everything life has to offer, rather than being the subject of a few horrendous images on the nightly news.

"The Australian Government will now finalise the trial in conjunction with the funding partners. We are developing this course as a partnership, and we will be working hard over the next few months to make the joint decisions that are needed to get the trial started, including the curriculum and the accreditation process for the trainers who will be delivering the course," he said.

The Minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads, Jim Lloyd, said: "I remember how excited I was when I gained my licence 33 years ago. I also remember some of the close calls I had, which at the time I didn't realise could have so easily ended in tragedy.

"We must ensure that young drivers are fully aware of the responsibility of driving and then give them the skills to be safe drivers. I want to emphasise that our announcement today is a trial. We must ensure that whatever form of education and training is finally developed actually does work and saves lives," he said.

The NSW Minister for Roads and Housing, Carl Scully, said the initiative was a sensible extension of measures he was looking at introducing in NSW to improve safety for young drivers.

"In forums I have held in high schools around NSW, young people have told me they want more driver education. This trial will hopefully give them the right combination of practical and theoretical education they need," Mr Scully said.

The Victorian Minister for Transport and Major Projects, Peter Batchelor, said the Bracks Government had expressed its strong desire to be involved in the trial, and welcomed the opportunity to be a part of this bi-partisan project.

"The over-representation of young people in motor vehicle deaths is unacceptable, and Victoria continues to examine ways to reduce the carnage on our roads. This trial will go a long way to identifying the things we can implement to reduce the number of young people dying on our roads," he said.

The Chief Executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, Peter Sturrock, said: "On behalf of vehicle manufacturers and importers, FCAI is pleased to be able to give its support to this valuable initiative.

"The Australian car industry has a significant stake in supporting the achievement of improved road safety outcomes in Australia. Every year, the industry undertakes a huge investment in the development and deployment of advanced new safety technologies. These advances make vehicles safer to drive but the role of such technologies can only ever be one part of a complete road safety strategy. The importance of driver skills and road quality must also play a vital role in any national effort to reduce the impact of road trauma.

"We believe that there is an urgent need to lift driver licensing standards in Australia and to ensure that young and novice drivers have access to enhanced training opportunities, based on a nationally consistent standard, before they graduate to a full licence," he said.

The Chief Executive Officer of Personal Insurance at NRMA Insurance, Rick Jackson, said that NRMA Insurance was delighted to be a part of this nationally significant safety initiative.

"The statistics are grim. Drivers between the ages of 17 and 20 are three times more likely than drivers over 25 to be involved in a serious or fatal crash," Mr Jackson said.

"Driving does not come naturally; everyone must go through the same processes to become a competent driver. We hope that this programme will assist young drivers in becoming safer road users," he said.

The RACV General Manager Public Policy, Dr Ken Ogden, said: "We are pleased to be a financial partner in the national trial. Most research to date on driver training has shown little if any road safety benefit. However, the approach which is now to be trialed here has shown promise in Europe and we're looking forward to testing its application to Australian conditions.

"RACV pushed hard for the national trial to include Victoria because the circumstances here are unique. Victorians can get L-plates at 16 but can't drive solo until 18. They are then on P-plates for 3 years. The road safety outcomes of the proposed approach may be different in Victoria than elsewhere because our P-platers are older. We certainly look forward to investigating that proposition," he said.

The progress of the drivers in the trial, as well as the comparison group, will be monitored for at least a year after they complete the course, using a combination of telephone interviews and police-reported crash information. The trial will be one of the largest and most rigorous studies ever undertaken of post-licence driver training.