Young driver education programs that build resilience have potential to reduce road crashes.
OBJECTIVE
The research aimed to explore associations between participation in 2 education programs for school-based learner drivers and subsequent road traffic offenses and crashes among a large cohort of newly licensed drivers.


METHODS
DRIVE is a prospective cohort study of 20822 first-year drivers aged 17 to 24 in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Participants completed a detailed questionnaire and consented to data linkage in 2003-2004. Questionnaire items included year of participation in 2 specific education programs: a 1-day workshop-only program focusing on driving risks ("driver-focused") and a whole-of-community program also including a 1-day workshop but also longer term follow-up activities and a broader focus on reducing risk-taking and building resilience ("resilience-focused"). Survey data were subsequently linked to police-reported crash and offense data for 1996-2005. Poisson regression models that adjusted for multiple confounders were created to explore offenses and crashes as a driver (dichotomized as 0 vs >or=1) after program participation.


RESULTS
Offenses did not differ between groups; however, whereas the driver-focused program was not associated with reduced crash risk, the resilience-focused program was associated with a 44% reduced relative risk for crash (0.56 [95% confidence interval: 0.34-0.93]).


CONCLUSIONS
The large effect size observed and complementary findings from a comparable randomized, controlled trial in the United States suggest programs that focus more generally on reducing risks and building resilience have the potential to reduce crashes. A large, representative, randomized, controlled trial is urgently needed to confirm road safety benefits and ensure evidence-based spending and practitioner recommendations in this field.
Senserrick
Teresa
T
The George Institute for International Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. tsenserrick@george.org.au
Ivers
Rebecca
R
Boufous
Soufiane
S
Chen
Huei-Yang
HY
Norton
Robyn
R
Stevenson
Mark
M
van Beurden
Eric
E
Zask
Avigdor
A
D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000293:Adolescent; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000193:education*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009517:New South Wales; D012449:Safety; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods; D055815:Young Adult