Methodological problems associated with surveying unlicensed drivers

Abstract

Unlicensed driving continues to represent a major road safety problem. Besides undermining the integrity of the licensing system, it has been linked with a cluster of high-risk behaviours, such as drink driving and speeding. The limited research into unlicensed driving has largely utilised crash statistics to establish the scale and characteristics of the problem. This reliance on crash statistics reflects methodological problems associated with directly surveying unlicensed drivers. For example, due to various legal and logistical constraints, very few roadside surveys of unlicensed driving have been conducted. Although some self-report interview/questionnaire surveys have been conducted with disqualified/unlicensed drivers, the results are questionable given their low response rates. Nevertheless, surveys represent a means of gathering important information not readily available through other methods. This paper overviews work in progress toward the development of two surveys: a roadside survey to establish the prevalence of unlicensed driving and a self-report survey to explore the factors contributing to the behaviour. Following a discussion of the methodological difficulties involved, a proposed method is presented for each of the surveys.