The impact of changes to the graduated driver licensing program in Queensland, Australia on the experiences of Learner drivers

Abstract

The enhancements to the GDL program in Queensland appear to have achieved many of their intended results. The current-GDL Learners participating in the study reported obtaining a significantly greater amount of supervised driving experience compared to former-GDL Learners. Encouragingly, the current-GDL Learners did not report any greater difficulty in obtaining supervised driving practice, and there was a decline in the proportion of current-GDL Learners engaging in unsupervised driving. In addition, the majority of Learners do not appear to be attempting to subvert logbook recording requirements, as evidenced by high rates of self-reported logbook accuracy. The results have implications for the development and the evaluation of GDL programs in Australia and around the world.

The psychosocial purpose of driving and its relationship with the risky driving behaviour of young novice drivers

“…Whilst some similarity in results is thus expected, it is important to note that the Study 2 participants were reflecting upon the psychosocial purpose of driving as Learner drivers, whilst in Study 3 they were reflecting upon the psychosocial purpose of driving as Provisional drivers. Fundamental differences in these two licence stages are likely to have revealed differences in the psychosocial purpose of driving reported: Learner drivers must be supervised by an experienced driver (most commonly parents), and a strong focus of driving in Queensland is upon gaining 100 driving hours recorded in the mandatory logbook (e.g., see Scott-Parker, Bates, et al, 2011). In comparison, Provisional drivers are not supervised, and do not have to monitor their driving in a logbook.…”

The association of graduated driver licensing with miles driven and fatal crash rates per miles driven among adolescents

“…The requirements of minimum practice hours may prolong the extended learner permit phase. Adolescents may drive fewer miles during the extended learner permit phase because they have to drive under adult supervision and adult drivers, usually parents, are not always available 33. In addition, the minimum age at which an intermediate licensure can be obtained in many states is usually older than that for full licensure before GDL laws went into effect.…”

Licensing Age Issues: Deliberations from a Workshop Devoted to this Topic

“…In the state of Queensland, the learner period was increased from 6 to 12 months, but at the same time the minimum learner age was reduced from 16 1 2 to 16, so that the provisional licensing age remained 17 rather than increasing to 17 1 2 . Research presented at the workshop indicated that this resulted in no change in the average age at which provisional licenses were obtained (Scott-Parker et al 2011). Jurisdictions considering increasing the learner period from 6 to 12 months will need to consider the greater crash reduction effects that will result from maintaining the existing permit age, because this would in many cases increase the age at which novice drivers can commence independent driving.…”