Young drivers pose a risk…

From the IAM…

Young drivers not learning to avoid crashes with vulnerable road users quick enough – IAM RoadSmart report finds

FOR
IMMEDATE RELEASE: 10 JANUARY 2018

A
new report by the UK’s leading road safety charity IAM RoadSmart and TRL into
crashes involving young drivers has concluded that they need to learn quicker
how to avoid crashes with the most vulnerable users on our roads.

The
report found that while they learn much quicker than expected to avoid single
vehicle loss of control collisions, they learn a lot slower how to deal with
vulnerable road users, be safe on the motorway and safely complete low speed
manoeuvres.

IAM
RoadSmart said these findings proved a surprise, as the classic young driver
crash usually involves going too fast on a country road. It would seem that new
drivers themselves soon pick up the skills to stay safe on our highest risk
roads.

The
report, titled Young
Novice Driver Collision Types , makes several key recommendations to improve new
driver training particularly in hazard perception around vulnerable road users
and around other vehicles.

The
report underlines the critical importance of gaining driving experience in a
wide variety of traffic situations. In their first year on the road experts
suggest an average 17-year-old driver can expect their risk of being involved
in a crash to reduce by 36% as a result of driving experience, but only by 6%
owing to ageing and maturity.

This
report set out to try and identify which aspects of driving are learned
quickest and which take more time. Targeting those skills that they struggle to
take in could bring the largest benefits to road safety for new drivers.

Some
positive news is that analysis of collision trends suggests a substantial
reduction in crashes overall for the two youngest age groups between 2002 and
2015. The accident rate for 17-20 year old car drivers reduced by 49% in this
time, while the rate for 21-29 year olds reduced by 33%.

Existing
research found the following factors led to a higher rate of crashes amongst
younger people:

·Inexperience and poor judgement in more
difficult driving conditions (poor weather, poor visibility, minor rural roads)

·Inadequate control of the car (single
vehicle accidents, skidding, overturning, leaving the road)

·Lifestyle factors (social driving
particularly at night and at weekends, when factors such as alcohol and peer
pressure affect where and how young people drive)

·Economic factors which result in young
drivers being more likely to have cheaper older cars which offer them less
protection from injury than newer cars would do

The
report also concluded:

·Travel behaviour has changed with 17-20
year olds driving less and walking or cycling more

·Those aged 21-29 years travel further
than 17-20 year olds each year, with largely employment related journeys

·The collision rate for drivers aged
17-20 years declined more quickly than the rate for 21-29 year olds between 2002
and 2015

·Compared with the overall rate of
learning, young drivers learn more quickly to avoid crashes involving a single
vehicle, loss of control, on a B roads, at night or where the vehicle leaves
the carriageway

·Possibly related to these crash types,
young drivers also learn more rapidly to avoid contributory factors such as
speeding, driving too fast for the conditions, swerving, loss of control,
inexperienced and anxious

·The trend for crashes on motorways is
unique and initially increases before demonstrating
a possible delayed learning curve. Results also suggest that learning to safely
use slip roads take longer than the general learning rate

·New drivers also appear to be slow at
learning to avoid collisions in certain conflict scenarios in slow manoeuvring
situations and with vulnerable road users. This might be indicative of poor
hazard perception skills

And
it recommended the following actions:

·Further research to understand why
novice drivers are involved in and learn quickly to avoid single vehicle loss
of control type crashes. This can inform the development of targeted
interventions and possible training.

·Consider options for reducing young
driver crashes at night (e.g. additional experience gained during the learner
phase)

·The government’s plans to allow
learners on motorways are fully justified by the report as it is clear new
drivers are likely to benefit from practice on motorways. .

·Explore the role that advanced hazard
perception training might offer in reducing the threat young drivers pose to
Vulnerable Road Users.

·Explore the apparent trend of young
drivers’ vehicles being more likely to be hit from the rear. There may be
practical, hazard perception or anticipation training that could be of benefit.

Sarah
Sillars, IAM RoadSmart Chief Executive Officer, said: “It is really useful to
learn more about how young drivers are gaining the experience they need to have
a safe driving career.

“However,
analysing the results, it is vital that government, road safety bodies and the
driver instruction industry work together to generate new strategies to target
those skills that are not being learned at the fastest rate.

“It
also shows that in the formative years of driving, there is clearly a need for
post-test training to continue, to build experience that can reduce the number
of needless tragedies on our roads.”

For
more information about IAM RoadSmart’s bite-size modules click here: https://www.iamroadsmart.com/on-road-offer

And
for more information about the advanced driver course click here: https://www.iamroadsmart.com/courses/advanced-driver-course-

Link to picture: https://dmscdn.vuelio.co.uk/publicitem/fa8b1140-1bbf-4e68-8ad3-bc3c85897507