Pre-driver Theatre & Workshop Education Research (PdTWER): Reviewing current practice and trialling a new approach in the UK

Pre-driver education is currently delivered throughout the UK, which seeks to reduce the risks experienced by young and novice drivers. This research, which is being funded by the RAC Foundation, the Road Safety Trust, National Fire Chiefs Council, Road Safety GB and Kent Fire & Rescue Services, is being conducted in response to interest from deliverers and the wider road safety community about how to deliver interventions that contribute towards safer driving amongst young drivers.

The purpose of the research is to find out the best way to use pre-driver theatre and workshop education to support young and novice driver safety. The research aims to test how interventions can best help pre-drivers to develop effective strategies for coping with road related risk and have an impact on future collision and traffic offence involvement. Testimonial based interventions, are being compared against research-based alternatives, to determine the most effective way to proceed with delivering theatre and workshop interventions to improve young driver safety.

This presentation will outline the planned three-year research programme and will report on the interim findings from the review of current practice in the UK and describe plans for the delivery of a cluster Randomised Controlled Trial to test the effects of the programmes delivered.

Elizabeth Box, Head of Research, RAC Foundation

Elizabeth Box is Head of Research at the RAC Foundation, a transport policy and research organisation which explores the economic, mobility, safety and environmental issues related to roads and their users in the UK.

Elizabeth sits on a wide variety of government and industry expert panels and is actively involved in national level research and policy development.

A transport planner by training, Elizabeth has an MA in Geography from Trinity College Cambridge, an MSc in Transport Planning from Oxford Brookes University and is currently undertaking a PhD with Cranfield University where she is researching how pre-driver behaviour change education programmes using theatre performance and workshop formats can improve pre-driver strategies for coping with road related risk.