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ABSTRACT: This 1995 AAA Foundation research project reviewed the state of the art in driver training and education and then explored the possibilities for "reinventing" it in the light of research showing current models don't reduce crash rates, and the wide range of possibilities offered by new knowledge and new technologies for delivery. The authors looked at factors such as skills and abilities needed, behavior, risk perception and evaluation, the roles of parents, and guardians, technology, licensing systems and strategic directions for development.

This is Pam Leicester at NRMA in Sydney Australia.
NRMA is the largest vehicle insurer in New South Wales and we, like everyone else, are interested in improving safety for young drivers. We are also interested in utilising new technologies. Currently, we are developing a CD ROM for young drivers. Reflecting our own and other's research, we will be covering cognitive, perceptual, motivational and even road rule areas. It is being specifically designed to target pre learner and learner drivers (15 to 17 years here). It will be highly interactive and explorative and designed for in-home self-paced education.

Hi
My name is Colin Burton and I am the executive director of the Institute of Driver Development in Western Australia.

For some months now we have been promoting the concept of "Stratigic Driver Planning" and a suitable driver assessment process which allows the profiling of drivers.

One of the problems with current thinking in the design of driver assessments is that there are no real guides as to the appropriate methodology. There have beeen no new modles from which to guage objective research. the closest ins from Nottingham Universtity who have studdied experienced driver eye scanning methods and compared them to novice drivers.

Experience and trabnied driver traiuners have long known that this is the key issue for asssessment however researchers are not trained instructors and they do not understand the vast majority of novice drivers.

Only when Driving Instructors are required to have degree qualifications will there be any form of sensible understanding of the problem.
There is a vast difference between laboritory modles and the real world and in the case of driving, there is no comparison.

The Instititue has done some research into driver risk management processes and compared the novice driver to the experienced. Unfortunately the experienced drivers have demonstarted they are bno better then novices without trianing. Thsi brings on a new dilemer for reserach material.

If most subjects lack competency thenn there is no base line from which to start.

In the case if the IDD we used existing trainerd driver dvelepment officers as the controlo group to meaure the performcne of untrained drivers and novices.

It was interesting that after training both groups improved. We were able to demonstrate that novice drivers can be trained to emply the same skills experienced drivers do in terms of risk management and that this process takes no longer for training than does poor training.

This leads me to the conclusion that:
1: Instructors must be trained to understand and deliver risk management driver tyraining and
2: Authorities must understand what risk mangement in driving means and adopt the kind of driver assessment which seeks out this quality in a novice driver.

Your comments please

Colin R Burton JP
Executive Director
Institue of Driver Development
www.idd.com.au
fax +61 8 92961668

To Pam Leicester: To what extent have you based your CD-ROM on the Model Curriculum Outline, and has it any relationship to the Monash CD-ROM?

Glad to hear from you - In developing the basis of the CD ROM we have used findings from research that we have funded over the past few years under the NRMA Driver Education Research Project, our own scans/review of the international research, background work conducted for the ACT Novice Driver Project (funded by the NRMA ACT Road Safety Trust) and research we funded into the role of interactive technology in road safety. We initially funded research into driver education in an attempt to advance the driver training/vehicle control skills debate in Australia and I guess now we are putting into action our belief in importance of the cognitive/perceptual/motivational components of 'safe driving'.
While there is some overlap with the MUARC CD ROM (eg. hazard detection practice/training) I think our CD ROM is more broadly based and seeks to cover aspects of peer influence/attribution theory/motivation etc. It is hard for me to say as I don't really know what the MUARC product will be like.
We have been very conscious of including elements of gaming/exploration/discovery/problem solving/interactivity as we want young people to want to use the CD rather than have to use it.
It may be of interest to you to know that the CD ROM will be distributed free of charge, primarily for home use, but will also be available in high school libraries and public libraries to assist equity of access.

Re: Pamela Leicester (Pam) on Monday, March 22, 1999 - 08:59 pm:

Your CD ROM sounds very impressive and comprehensive Pam. It appears from your description that the principle difference between the NRMA product and the Transport Accident Commission CD ROM product described in our paper is that the latter is strictly a skills training product whereas yours is a more broad-based educational product. There already exists in Victoria a product that appears to be similar in concept to yours, called Motorvation 2. You may be familiar with it. It was developed a couple of years ago for VicRoads and is designed for pre-learner and learner drivers. Our CD ROM follows on from Motorvation 2 and is designed specifically for advanced learner drivers with a minimum of 50 hours driving experience. It will take novice drivers about three to four hours to work their way through the product. The product is about to undergo an extensive evaluation in which both outcome (simulator-based) and process measures will be collected. A critical issue to be addressed in the evaluation, quite apart from establishing the instructional effectiveness of the product, is whether the product will induce in novice drivers any over-estimation of their driving skills. This has, of course, been a major problem with driver training programs in the past. Instructional techniques to minimise over-estimation have been built into our product, but the proof will be in the pudding.

Mike - we are very familiar with the Motorvation 2 product (as well as other CD's eg. Driverzed) and we sought feedback from the target group about these before we commenced our design. The results of this feedback directed our focus away from a Motorvation 2-type product as it is quite linear in its design. The feedback indicated that the CD would need to be more complex/explorative to retain the interest of the target group. Since Motorvation2 was developed, interactive technology has become more developed and we wanted to reflect this in our product.

Lonero et al.'s curriculum document for new drivers is nothing short of a superb piece of work. It is comprehensive, insightful, and a real pleasure to read. It is sometimes surprising—I had not considered the concept of the ‘baby boomer echo' and its possible effect on young driver safety!

Appropriate research and the subsequent development of policies and programs in young and novice driver education has the potential to offer much to improving road safety, not only in direct application to young drivers but also generally in the formulation of road and traffic safety policies and programs. Improvements in the general understanding of the processes of driving and the characteristics and responses of drivers can have application to a wide variety of road safety issues and problems, including such issues as ‘road rage' and aggressive driving.

Participants in the novice driver forum might be interested in the novice driver curriculum developed in New South Wales. During a previous inquiry into young drivers by the STAYSAFE Committee, a committee of the NSW Legislature (see STAYSAFE 17, 1990; STAYSAFE 18, 1990), the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority developed a novice driver curriculum (Collingwood & Adams, 1991). This novice driver curriculum was used as a basis for the development of the TAFE commercial driving instructor course, including both theoretical and practical components. The novice driver curriculum was used in limited form as a reference document for developing the Driver Ability Road Test (DART) that is used for the practical on-road driving in New South Wales. The Driver Ability Road Test is a variant of the ADOPT; other versions of the ADOPT are used in Australia (e.g., in Victoria and in South Australia). The novice driver curriculum was used as a source document for other driver education programs, including as a tool or input for development of school education materials developed in recent years—notably the ‘Road Whys' school education program, and the ‘Young Driver' school education program. The novice driver curriculum was also used in the development of the Licence to Drive book, which was designed as a resource book for parents, relatives and people who are helping young people to drive. Some driver education courses have used the novice driver curriculum in their development. The Australian Driver Trainers' Association had developed national competency standards for learner drivers, and was concerned to ensure that the Roads and Traffic Authority's novice driver curriculum and the Australian Driver Trainers' Association's national competency standards for learner drivers were essentially in accord. However, individual driving instructors were ambivalent about the use of the novice driver curriculum: some were supportive, but others were not.

The original novice driver cuuriculum has been developed and refined. In its most recent form, it has provided the foundation for the development of a driver education strategy and action plan (Roads and Traffic Authority, 1997), which together with the creation of a driver education task force by the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority should assist in developing better methods of driver education and training (STAYSAFE 37, 1997). Not only is the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority continuing to use the novice driver curriculum as a source document in developing its policies, programs, and materials in driver licensing and driver education, it is also being recognised and applied as one of the foundations of road safety in New South Wales. This said, it has to be accepted that the novice driver curriculum developed by the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority is but one of a number of curricula that have been developed to address issues affecting young and novice drivers. Lonero et al.'s major report would be, I would think, a significant contribution to this process..

References cited
Collingwood, V. & Adams, A.S. (1991). Draft curriculum for novice Class 1A driver training: Edition 1. Research Note RN 1/91. Rosebery, NSW: Roads and Traffic Authority.
Roads and Traffic Authority (1997). A framework for driver education: An essential guide for the production of driver education programs and assessment systems. 3rd edition. Sydney, NSW: Roads and Traffic Authority.
STAYSAFE 17 (1990). Novice drivers: the student's view. Sixth report of the Joint Standing Committee on Road Safety of the 49th Parliament. Sydney: Parliament of New South Wales.
STAYSAFE 18 (1990). Steering novice drivers towards safety. Seventh report of the Joint Standing Committee on Road Safety of the 49th Parliament. Sydney: Parliament of New South Wales.
STAYSAFE 37 (1997). Driver licensing in New South Wales: First entry into the driver licensing system. Tenth report of the Joint Standing Committee on Road Safety of the 51st Parliament. Sydney: Parliament of New South Wales.

Mention was made in earlier discussions of the multimedia products developed by VicRoads, the Victorian roads agency, under the Victorian road safety strategy 1995-2000, ‘Safety first'. These products include ‘Motorvation 2', ‘CrashStats', and ‘RoadSmart' CD-ROMs. The CD-ROMs have been designed to supply varying task difficulties for learners of different abilities, but within the context of interactivity with realistic road and traffic situations. There is, to the best of my knowledge, no similar range of CD-ROM products in other Australian jurisdictions.

The reasons these products are significant is that they reflect a very strong theme in the Australian approach to road safety, that sees the beginning of novice driver, or new driver, education as being integral with the processes of normal schooling (In fact, road safety education probably commences with education focussed at parents about road safety and infants, i.e., literally from the cradle). For children, there is an integration of road safety education into school curricula from pre-school ages through to the ages when adolescents are obtaining learners licences and provisional driving licences. The focus changes as the children become older: from an initial focus on safety as a passenger and as a pedestrian, to a focus on safety in riding a bicycle, through to safety as a new driver or a passenger with a new driver. The long term effects of this sustained education process—which might be termed ‘generational effects' on road safety—have not, to date, been discussed widely. However, the effects on social norms and enculturation are almost certain to be profound. In the STAYSAFE 37 (1997) report, the STAYSAFE Committee, a committee of the NSW Legislature, commented in relation to pre-driver education issues:
"STAYSAFE was concerned to examine the pre-driver stage of the driver management system, as a description and understanding of this phase will contribute toward setting the driver licensing system in its proper context. STAYSAFE has argued in previous reports (see, e.g., STAYSAFE 34, 1996) that the general community-wide achievement of safe road use is dependent on generational shifts in attitudes and beliefs about particular aspects of road use. For example, the impact of the changes to attitudes about the acceptability of drink-driving resulting from the introduction of random breath testing is being felt fifteen years later, as adolescents now become new drivers after never experiencing a driving environment where drinking and driving were countenanced in any form. In New South Wales, much effort has been devoted to getting the best possible preparation of drivers before they achieve full licensure. In particular, attention and effort has been devoted to the years immediately preceding driving, not only in an attempt to address the high crash rate amongst provisionally licensed drivers and drivers in the first years of full licensure, but also because education based upon a life-long focus on driving is considered most effective and useful at the time when drivers are inexperienced." (STAYSAFE 37, 1997, p.34)

It is worthwhile, I think, to discuss the Victorian multimedia products in more detail.

‘Motorvation 2' is the CD-ROM developed for new drivers—learner drivers and provisionally licensed drivers—an addresses issues such as alcohol use, vehicle speeds, and fatigue and tiredness. The product tries to integrate driver licensing information with the delineation and discussion of driver competencies, within the framework of the general school curricula. The options for students to examine, interact with and learn, include ‘Start Me Up' (including a risk calculator, an animated representation of a road crash and the subsequent police report, and a learner drive component that has the user positioned behind the wheel and asked to make driving decisions in a variety of situations and locations), ‘Licensed to ...?' (Incorporating hazard detection tasks, information on drinking and driving and self assessment of sobriety, a simulated drive which challenges the user about driving decisions, and safe vehicle purchasing information), ‘The Great Adventure' (about planning for a long rural drive), ‘Full Metal Body' (about motor vehicle safety features), ‘Learner Challenge' (featuring multiple choice questions similar to those in the Victorian learner driver knowledge test), and ‘Information'

‘CrashStats' contains the records of all reported road injuries in Victoria for the past five years, compiled from the VicRoads road crash database, the Federal Office of Road Safety's database, and data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The CD-ROM allows presentation of the data as State-wide and for local areas, as well as allowing data extraction and analysis. ‘CrashStats' is also available through the VicRoads internet site at http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au

‘RoadSmart' is a road safety education package designed for children of primary school age in understanding the road and traffic environment and their interaction with that environment.

A good description of these CD-ROM products can be found in Corrine Leadbeatter's (1998) paper to a recent traffic education conference. Leadbeatter commented:
"VicRoads' multimedia educational resources enable traffic safety education to be addressed through self-paced and flexible learning with particular focus on risk taking behaviour." (p.115)

Later she said:
"Being able to access and use contemporary technologies is an expectation for children and young people. It is out challenge as providers of road safety education to take advantage of all possible avenues for making this educational material available in a user friendly and meaningful manner. ‘CrashStats', ‘Motorvation 2' and ‘Road Smart' are examples of how multimedia can be used to address road safety issues to a variety of audiences in different educational settings." (Leadbeatter, 1998, p.125)

References cited:
Leadbeatter, C. (1998). ‘Safe' education through multimedia. In: J. Clarke (Ed.). Proceedings of the Seventh Biennial Australasian Traffic Education Conference—SAFE: Speed Alcohol, Fatigue, Effects. Armidale, NSW: EMU Press. pp.115-125. [NOTE: The proceedings can be obtained from EastAust Management Unit, PO Box 1213, Armidale NSW 2350 Australia for about AUS$25.00 plus postage and handling. I understand that the proceedings of the previous six conferences are also available.]
STAYSAFE 34 (1996). A 50 km/h general urban speed limit for New South Wales. Seventh report of the Joint Standing Committee on Road Safety of the 51st Parliament. Sydney, NSW: Parliament of New South Wales.
STAYSAFE 37 (1997). Driver licensing in New South Wales: First entry into the driver licensing system. Tenth report of the Joint Standing Committee on Road Safety of the 51st Parliament. Sydney, NSW: Parliament of New South Wales.

I have already talked about the developmnet of a CD ROM for young drivers which NRMA is currently developing, however Ian's latest message prompts me to mention our new interactive road safety exhibition which we are also developing. About 5 or so years age we NRMA developed an interactive road safety exhibition called Tomorrow's Drivers which targeted 9 -13 year olds. Given that 5 years of technology had passed and thousands of kids have been hands-on with the exhibition, we are now developing a new exhibition which will be ready later this year. The themes which underly the CD ROM such as causal attribution, optimism bias, motivation, risk taking, decision making, peer influence etc. also underly the development of this new exhibition so we also see that driver safety starts earlier than the time of licensing. In the new exhibition the emphasis is on pedestrain , bicyclist and passenger safety (which is relevant to the target group) and for the CD ROM the focus is driver education. However although different road user groups are the focus, the principles are the same.

You may also be interested to know that the CD ROM forms part of NRMAs Young Driver Education Program. Earlier this year as part of the program, NRMA dropped the additional insurance premium which was payable if a learner driver was added to the policy (when accompanied by a fully licenced driver)and the excess which applied if the learner had a crash. These were seen as detterents to gaining more experience/practice as a supervised learner and therefore these charges were removed as an encouragement for parents/carers to provide more supervision.

There will be further initiatives later ........