Learning With a Supervisor Who has Traffic Offences and Young Driver Crashes: The DRIVE Study 13-Year Follow-Up

Area of Science:

• Road safety research
• Driver behavior analysis
• Public health

Background:

• Young drivers require extensive supervised practice before licensure.
• The impact of supervisor's driving history on novice driver safety is under-researched.
• Varied regulations exist for supervisory driver requirements.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if young drivers supervised by individuals with perceived traffic offenses have higher crash rates compared to those supervised by individuals without offenses.
• To analyze crash records over a 13-year period post-licensure.

Main Methods:

• Prospective cohort study (DRIVE) involving over 20,000 young, newly licensed drivers (aged 17-24).
• Baseline questionnaires assessed perceived traffic offenses of the primary supervising driver.
• Survival analysis linked to crash, hospitalization, and death records up to 2016.

Main Results:

• Drivers supervised by individuals with 2+ perceived offenses had up to 1.67 times the rate of any crash within 2.5 years.
• These drivers also experienced up to 2.01 times the rate of injury crashes within 5.5 years.
• These findings remained significant after adjusting for covariates.

Conclusions:

• Supervision by drivers with multiple perceived traffic offenses is associated with increased crash risk for young drivers.
• Improved supervised driving experiences are crucial, suggesting exploration of mentoring and professional instructor partnerships.
• Policy and interventions should consider the driving record of supervisors.