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SUPERVISORY DRIVERS should let learners take more responsibility for road safety once they’ve mastered the technical skills of driving, a leading researcher recommends.
Time solo? to go
P
Supervisors: prepare learners for their first solo drive
rofessor Te r e s a Senserrick, from the Queensland University of Technology’s Centre for Accident Research a nd Ro a d S a fet y Queensland (CARRS-Q), believes more attention should be placed on road safety awareness when drivers are accruing the 80 mandatory logbook hours prior to the practical driving test. “When you look at risk curves it is very, very safe at the learner stage but that first six to 12 months on your P-plates sees one of the highest spikes of crash rates that you’ll see throughout a driver’s lifespan,” Professor Senserrick says.
Crash likelihood
Supervisors tended to share too much of the responsibility during instruction, which meant the learner was not gaining the safety skills needed for driving on their own. “They keep managing things for them,” Professor Senserrick says. “Some early research from France talked about driving with two heads because the parent was still going ‘watch out for this’ or ‘you focus on the car and I’ll do this’. “ There’s something that ’s just very fundamentally different when you first go out and you’re driving without a supervisor.” Professor Senserrick said the lack of practical
Driving experience
Source: Austroads 2008
ract.com.au // JOURNEYS
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