Published online October 5, 2009
PEDIATRICS Vol. 124 No. 5 November 2009, pp. 1287-1292 (doi:10.1542/peds.2009-0659)
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ARTICLE

Young Driver Education Programs That Build Resilience Have Potential to Reduce Road Crashes

Teresa Senserrick, PhDa, Rebecca Ivers, PhDa, Soufiane Boufous, PhDa, Huei-Yang Chen, MSca, Robyn Norton, PhDa, Mark Stevenson, PhDa, Eric van Beurden, PhDb and Avigdor Zask, Grad Dipb

a The George Institute for International Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
b Health Promotion, North Coast Area Health Service, Lismore, New South Wales, Australia

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 ≥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.

Key Words: driver education • resilience • motor vehicle crashes • traffic offences • cohort study

Abbreviations: RR—relative risk • CI—confidence interval • SES—socioeconomic status • RCT—randomized, controlled trial • NSW—New South Wales

Accepted Jun 4, 2009.


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