Insert the title of your presentation here Presented by Name Here Job Title - Date Where is the evidence? Pre-driver education and training Poppy Husband Psychologist

Agenda Background Current provision in GB Evidence base Evaluation Where next?

Background

Novice Driver Evidence Review Pre-driver education and training  GDL is effective at reducing collisions and the quality of evidence is high  Evidence from countries where GDL has been implemented is consistent Graduated driver licensing  Almost no evidence in the existing literature on the effectiveness of the New Drivers Act to influence:  Offences  Collisions  Attitudes  Behaviours The Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act (1995) Review and synthesis of evidence in three areas Focus of the current presentation

Definition  Pre-driver education and training refers to interventions for pre- 17 year olds that implicitly or explicitly seek to improve safety by focusing on some outcome variable… -Attitudes -Behaviours -Collisions …related to being a driver or passenger in a motor vehicle

Current GB Provision

Current Provision  Extensive provision of pre-driver education and training in GB via numerous public, private and charitable organisations

Current Provision  Interventions can be categorised as seeking to improve safety by satisfying one or more of the following: -Influencing attitudes -Imparting knowledge -Improving skills

Current Provision  Approaches: -Provision of information -Influencing attitudes to driving -Training of driving skills  Interventions are well-intentioned, but tend not to be based on formal theory and knowledge (e.g psychology)  Due to the number of pre-driver education and training it might be expected that a relatively large evidence base supporting these interventions exists

Evidence base

Evidence of effectiveness  Very few interventions have been evaluated  Most have such low scientific quality and their results cannot be determine as reliable or representative  Evidence base for pre-driver education and training is weak at best

Evidence of effectiveness  No intervention has demonstrated an effect on reducing novice driver collisions  Some evidence of small/temporary changes in attitudes, however the relationship of these with subsequent driving behaviour/collision risk has not been demonstrated

Understanding the lack of evidence  Inappropriate foundation for the intervention  Information deficit model  Dosage  Risk as a value, and pleasure as a pleasure  Social norms  Exposure to risk Based on McKenna (2010)

Lack of evidence of effectiveness  Review of road safety education suggested that the lack of evidence for effectiveness does not mean that…  “…no educational intervention can work, but rather that the evidence must be provided” (McKenna, 2010, p12)

Where next?

What are the gaps in knowledge?  Specific attitudes held by young people  Time required to change an attitude  Transfer of information from a non-road transport environment  Age and the effectiveness of persuasive communication  Factors influencing attitude retention Deighton & Luther (2007)

How can the gaps be filled?  Ensure interventions are theory based -(Stradling, Fylan & Scott, 2012)  Standardised scientific methodologies are urgently required for pre-driver education and training interventions so their potential effectiveness can be assessed (or potential harm)  Focus on interventions with a strong evidence base -GDL is effective at reducing collisions and the quality of the evidence is high (Kinnear et al., 2013)

What can we learn from public health?  Evidence based practice approach EBP Client Preference Research Evidence Professional Judgement

Conclusions

Role of pre-driver education and training  Extensive provision of pre-driver education/training in GB  Some evidence found that pre-driver education/training improves attitudes to driving, however these improvements are generally small and short-term  Issue of interventions causing harm instead of good  Continued use of pre-driver education and training should be seen as an opportunity to build a formal evidence base  Role to support a comprehensive approach to driver licensing

References Deighton, C. & Luther, R. (2007). Pre-driver education. A critical review of the literature on attitude change and development, good practice in pre-driver education and programme effectiveness. Road Safety Research Report. London: Department for Transport. Kinnear, N., Lloyd, L., Helman, S., Husband, P., Scoons, J., Jones, S., Stradling, S., McKenna, F., & Broughton, J. (2013). Novice drivers: Evidence Review and Evaluation. RPN2553. Crowthorne: Transport Research Laboratory McKenna, F.P. (2010b). Education in Road Safety: Are we getting it right? Report No. 10/113. London RAC Foundation Stradling, S., Fylan, F. & Scott, H. (2012). Applying behavioural change techniques to road safety education. Paper International Conference on Traffic & Transport Psychology, Groningen.

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