How did you become a driver: differences in history of traffic offenses and accident involvement?

Abstract

Novice drivers are considered as the riskiest group of drivers due to caused accidents and injuries related to inexperience and propensity to take risks on the road. Thus, prospective analysis of importance of driving learning history for the novice drivers' future involvement in traffic violations or road accidents is extremely encouraged. This study is aimed to evaluate the importance of learning to drive experience and driving test (theory and on-road) performance for the prediction of objective traffic rules violations and later accident involvement in Lithuanian novice drivers. 598 learner drivers who obtained their driving licence for the first time participated in the longitudinal study. Information concerning their learning to drive experience before taking driving test, theory test and on-road driving test performance was obtained in the first stage of the study. Later information on the number of recorded traffic offenses committed by participants and number of accidents during the first year of their independent driving was obtained from the police records. The results showed that worse driving theory test performance, but not on-road driving test performance was related to the fact of being fined for traffic rules violations. While age and experience of learning to drive were not important predictors of being a traffic offender. Gender and length of independent driving were also important predictors for later traffic violations. This research was funded by a grant from the Research Council of Lithuania (grant No. GER-005/2015).

Keywords

• learner drivers
• traffic rules offences
• accident involvement
• driving theory test performance
• on-road driving test performance