Research finds voluntary inventions unlikely to succeed at improving young/novice driver safety

The Driver 2020 project has found no evidence that any of the interventions offered to learner or novice drivers reduced collisions in the first 12 months of post-test driving, when offered on a voluntary basis.

The Driver 2020 research project explored voluntary interventions designed to help young and new drivers (aged between 17 and 24 years) to improve their skills and safety.

This project investigated the effectiveness of:

• telematics
• use of a logbook
• extra hazard perception
• classroom-based education
• mentoring agreements

Over 28,000 learner and novice drivers were recruited to take part in the research, which was designed with two arms – one for participants recruited at the beginning of learning to drive and one for participants recruited at the point of passing their test; each arm had its own control group. 

On registration, participants were assigned randomly to one of the groups in their arm of the trial, with those in intervention groups being offered the opportunity to engage with their respective intervention. 

There were minimal or no incentives for engagement with the interventions; this was designed to reflect what would be seen in real-world voluntary delivery.

None of the interventions were found to reduce self-reported collisions in the first year of driving. Based on the trial sample, this finding suggests that offering these interventions on a similar voluntary basis to learner and novice drivers aged 17-24 in Great Britain would be unlikely to lead to any measurable reduction in collision risk.

An important contextual factor to consider when interpreting this finding is that engagement was very low with all interventions. Just 3% of participants offered the logbook intervention used it; the highest engagement was with the telematics intervention – with 16% of participants offered this intervention using it. 

This suggests attempting to reduce risk in newly qualified drivers by relying purely on the voluntary uptake of the technology- and education-based interventions evaluated in this study is not likely to succeed.

However, two findings from the interviews carried out as part of the study are likely to be useful for encouraging engagement with interventions. 

First, participants noted that interventions perceived as being helpful for progressing and improving as drivers were more attractive for engagement, both in terms of passing the test, and helping novices develop as drivers post-test. 

For learners interviewed, helpfulness for passing the test (theory or practical) was a priority. 

Novices interviewed were focused on things that could help with further development when post-test driving began, including adjusting to the differences they perceived compared with learning – the shift in their thinking from ‘passing the test’ to ‘staying safe’. 

The second general finding was that interventions that provided an opportunity for self-reflection were reported as being desirable by participants who engaged.

This research was commissioned by the DfT in 2019 and conducted by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL).

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