title: Required hours of practice for learner drivers : a comparison between two Australian jurisdictions
creator: Bates, Lyndel J.
creator: Watson, Barry C.
creator: King, Mark J.
subject: 150703 Road Transportation and Freight Services
subject: 111799 Public Health and Health Services not elsewhere classified
subject: 139999 Education not elsewhere classified
subject: 160500 POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION
subject: Graduated Driver Licensing
subject: Teenage Drivers
subject: Learner Licence
subject: Hours of Practice
subject: Road Safety
description: Problem: This study considers whether requiring learner drivers to complete a set number of hours while on a learner licence affects the amount of hours of supervised practice that they undertake. It compares the amount of practice that learners in Queensland and New South Wales report undertaking. At the time the study was conducted, learner drivers in New South Wales were required to complete 50 hours of supervised practice while those from Queensland were not. Method: Participants were approached outside driver licensing centres after they had just completed their practical driving test to obtain their provisional (intermediate) licence. Those agreeing to participate were interviewed over the phone later and asked a range of questions to obtain information including socio-demographic details and amount of supervised practice completed. Results: There was a significant difference in the amount of practice that learners reported undertaking. Participants from New South Wales reported completing a significantly greater amount of practice (M = 73.3 hours, sd = 29.12 hours) on their learner licence than those from Queensland (M = 64.1 hours, sd = 51.05 hours). However, the distribution of hours of practice among the Queensland participants was bimodal in nature. Participants from Queensland reported either completing much less or much more practice than the New South Wales average. Summary: While it appears that the requirement that learner drivers complete a set number of hours may increase the average amount of hours of practice obtained, it may also serve to discourage drivers from obtaining additional practice, over and above the required hours. Impact on Industry: The results of this study suggest that the implications of requiring learner drivers to complete a set number of hours of supervised practice are complex. In some cases, policy makers may inadvertently limit the amount of hours learners obtain to the mandated amount rather than encouraging them to obtain as much practice as possible.
publisher: Elsevier
date: 2010-04
type: Journal Article
format: application/pdf
relation: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/31042/1/c31042.pdf
relation: DOI:10.1016/j.jsr.2010.02.006
relation:    Bates, Lyndel J., Watson, Barry C.,  & King, Mark J.   (2010)    Required hours of practice for learner drivers : a comparison between two Australian jurisdictions.  Journal of Safety Research, 41(2), pp. 93-97.    
identifier: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/31042/
rights: Copyright 2010 Elsevier
source: Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety - Qld (CARRS-Q); Faculty of Health; Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation